Published
Thu, Jul 22, 2010, 16:52
- The Diaphanoids don a new guise for their next LP on Bear Funk.
Italian duo Andrea Bellentani and Marco Maccari, typically known as The Diaphanoids, will release their next album this fall under the name Blakula!.
In the past, Bellentani and Maccari's music has been driven by an insatiable love of vintage synthesizers–the pair claimed to have used more than 50 on their last album, Astral Weekends, including one that once belonged to kraut-rock pioneer Klaus Schulze. As Blakula!, the duo trade their cosmic vibes for something darker and dirtier, taking inspiration from psychedelia and New York No Wave as well as disco, jazz and blues. Every track on the album was performed by live musicians, including a choir and an orchestral ensemble.
According to a press release, Blakula! is more than just a moniker for Maccari and Bellentani–he's a full-blown character on which the album is based. The story goes something like this: A black vampire was frozen in Transylvania, and then, for some reason, thawed out in New York City in 1977. He bummed around town for a while, going on a string of adventures before being "crushed by the city sickness." In his brief and glorious run, Blakula!'s exploits including posing for Robert Mapplethorpe, writing poems with William Burroughs, sharing spray cans with Jean Michel Basquiat, jamming with The Velvet Underground, dancing with Andy Warhol at Studio 54, getting addicted to hard drugs, pursuing erotic fantasies, etc., etc. A curiously vivid tale for a record that's entirely lyric-free, but given the album's overall vibe, it's not as far-fetched as it sounds.
Tracklist
01. Witches Crew
02. Vampire State Building
03. Where the Angels Fear to Tread
04. Any Soul You Could Buy
05. Miss Morgue
06. Feed Your Demons
07. Blood Supreme
08. Slash Me Tender
09. Surrender to the Shadows
10. Permanent Midnight
Bear Funk will release Permanent Midnight on September 13th, 2010.