a thread for Italians Do It Better

i am really loving the Tess Roby album, it's perfect sunset music. it's bringing to mind Hannah Peel's Awake But Always Dreaming, Kate Bush's A Sky of Honey, and Emeralds' Does It Look Like I'm Here? which are all favourites

minor regret from this year is hearing the tess roby album immediately after she played a show

just re-ripping my IDIB cd collection and listening to the 'music to drive' compilation.
feeling the urge to dive back in and pick up the more recent stuff, but from their website other than the soundtrack stuff by johnny, i dont think i have missed out on that much actually.
seems to be mainly the tess roby/twisted wires/jorah chalmers releases.
or is there something i have missed via their hard work website?

yeah I think there's been a bit of a lull since Twin Peaks. Maybe they're saving their time and energy for Dear Tommy which they claimed several times was coming this year.

.@chromatics are releasing a new album—their first in seven years—tomorrow https://t.co/9qUIjKpq5Y

— Resident Advisor (@residentadvisor) October 1, 2019

Hmm...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUVy3MfVFaY

!

No.

nice playlist of recentish IDIB stuff

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2SvPXTfpvL18BXAnH6jQEq?si=rtJB_EqsSsqTd4rrXmHhIQ

After Dark 3 out Friday.

Excelente

wait....Guy Gerber?!

Such a great compilation. Watched the twitch stream a couple nights ago. Loved the Causeway song, the Desire cover of Boy, the Orion track and both Chromatics songs the best, but the Gerber track was good too. Reminded me of a softer Orbital from the early 90s.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/777809883 - here's the twitch stream. Causeway is at 50mins. Kind of like Anything Box with more eyeliner but less hairspray.

it's on Spotify today:

https://open.spotify.com/track/6CNlEHjmcyGP2JBjPhcTsi?si=UWRob6C2Ruy1DaJVW9Uk2g

Yeah, this is a great compilation. Everything I love about IDIB basically.

Also very adequate time of the year to release anything IDIB related.

Definitely. Got the windows open to a rainy fall night. All I need is a little neon and I'd be good to go.

Worse Things Than Feeling Lonely = anthem for our times

lovely little record
think it's better than 2

its still mad how this label still sells the digital editions of their releases for $1 no matter what.
ep, single, expanded album etc.
all $1 each.
guess they know their market is all about the vinyl editions.
(very similar business model to the synthwave, blood music, crew i guess.)

New Causeway single 'Hide and Seek' is pretty good. Wonder if they'll release an album. Two very catchy singles so far.

why are you mad about that?

this is still one of the better run labels that I ever engage with. Love ordering from them, love their packaging, they are super responsive and all their shit looks great.

cos its insanely brilliant how they have priced their digitals for those of us who purchase etc.

(and yeah, even when i have ordered cds etc, they have always added extras into the package .. )

FTR he said “it’s” not “I’m”

ahh.
cheers evan.
the penny drops as to that response.
i was wondering etc.

Johnny Jewel’s love life always seemed a bit sketchy to me - he has pretty much had a romantic relationship with every one of his collaborators/signed artists: Ruth Radelet, Ida No, Megan Louise - to name the most important ones. It almost seems to be a requisite to date him if you want to be in his label/band/production credits. And he bounced between these projects involving his set of ex-wives/ex-lovers as if it’s business as usual. It’s too much of a red flag.

That said, I really hope there’s no weird abusive powerplays for anyone involved because I really love the musical / aesthetical aspect going on in every one of the projects in this label.

l didn’t have to date him to be on the label at one point! :D

Come on - he’s truly one of the sweetest, most genuine dudes running a label. Has always been nothing but nice when we communicate. Why do some folks always look for the worst?

I’m honestly very relieved to read that coming from a direct source. It’d be painful to hear otherwise. I think he’s lowkey a musical genius and it’s easily one of my favorite labels of the past 20 years.

What’s your band/project name?

He's honestly a very nice guy from my dealings with him.

I had a few things on the label as Professor Genius - one of their first 12"s and After Dark Vol.1 - and have released a bunch of stuff on other labels under that name since.

Had no idea! I like your tracks on After Dark 1, especially the closer.

Thanks, tipsy! Yeah that closer track - “Pegaso” - is actually a short edit of the full track found here: templo.bandcamp.com/album/professor-genius

Oh love your songs on that comp! I think they really sold the concept at that point and somewhat rare for the label in that they’re synthwave. Discovered the silver & kane remix of Pegaso a couple of months ago via some spotify playlist and that one is great too.

Thank you! To be honest at the time they were made I was swimming in Italo and Cosmic sounds as influences. Synthwave is a term I’ve only come across in the last couple of years reading stuff online but I’d be hard pressed to tell you what it sounds like. It’s just electronic music to me.
“Nu Disco” was the term used in press and some shops for this stuff then (‘07, ‘08).

But Mike S and Johnny championed my stuff from the beginning and were excited about putting it out there. I think it was a case of the right place, right time :)

Yeah I love “pegaso”!! That one squiggly italo synth lead part makes my heart sing

thread delivers.
had no idea re the ILM vs IDIB connections.
to have a couple of tracks on such a seminal compilation like AD vol 1 is quite a thing.
and yeah, as others have said, they are cracking tracks CJV.
been loving AD vol 3 today.

There’s other connections. Mike might deny it but I’d say I contributed a great deal to mike and by extension probably Jonny’s interest in italo. I mean they both like to deny the influence of Italo on Italians do it better but that’s just silly anyway.

xpost Thanks fellow ILMers. Making hearts sing is what it’s all about ! Very happy to know the music means something to you!

late to the convo, but after dark vol 1 is connected to a lovely time in my life and "pegaso" in particular is connected with a special memory of playing it at one of the first big parties i ever DJ'd, i have incredible images in my mind of my friends dancing to that song as fog and light spill out of the back of a moving truck in the woods :)

RIP Chromatics 🙁

1. After a long period of reflection, the three of us have made the difficult decision to end Chromatics.
We would like to thank all of our fans and the friends we have made along the way – we are eternally grateful for your love and support. #Chromatics #ThanksForTheMemories pic.twitter.com/y7nkKUmUTe

— Adam Charles Miller (@MrAdamMiller) August 10, 2021

I have been receiving emails all morning from media people asking for a statement about Chromatics breaking up. All I have to say is, I’ve known about this for months, and im genuinely happy that they are out of there. @chromatics

— Mike (@MikeSimonetti) August 10, 2021

Johnny Jewel’s love life always seemed a bit sketchy to me - he has pretty much had a romantic relationship with every one of his collaborators/signed artists: Ruth Radelet, Ida No, Megan Louise - to name the most important ones. It almost seems to be a requisite to date him if you want to be in his label/band/production credits

tbf, couldn't it just be the other way around? As in, he likes to involve the people he's romantically or socially involved with in his music? Which, if true, is pretty cool

As much as I would like to spill the tea, It is not my place. If Ruth, Adam, and Nattie want to tell their story, that is up to them.

— Mike (@MikeSimonetti) August 10, 2021

the statement very much gives the impression that the others didn't want to deal with jewel anymore. he's never given the impression of being the easiest to work with

so i guess Dear Tommy is never coming out

I mean Mike Simonetti has had a beef with Johnny Jewel for years now:

https://www.factmag.com/2016/11/02/mike-simonetti-says-johnny-jewel-owes-money/

I wouldn’t really trust what he has to say on the breakup. He has also thrown snide remarks at Adam and Ruth as well so I doubt they talked often if at all.

Not taking Johnny’s side as we don’t really know what happened there, but honestly those series of tweets don’t really make me root for his side of the story.

The most telling thing is Jewel's own statement, which says he's proud of his work with "the project" — not even "the band," just another Johnny Jewel project. That kind of thing could grate on anyone. (Especially since it wasn't his band to start with.)