Cratere Centrale - S/T

Roots Underground Records

£16.20

Format: EP - 140 grams standard black vinyl - full printed sleeve - Limited 200 Copies
Catalogue No.: RU011V
Release Date: 18 Nov 2022
Genre: Jazz-Funk / Mediterranean Fusion / Jazz-Dance

Repress: 09 Jun 2023 (LTD 100 COPIES)

Cratere Centrale, a Sicilian band formed between the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna and the urban area of Catania, debuts on Roots Underground with an EP consisting of five tracks with a strongly Mediterranean flavour in which jazz, funk and club culture come together for a surprising result.

The group, made up of DJs, producers and musicians Dario Aiello (guitar) and Andrea Normanno (drums), together with Daniele Salamone (keyboards) and Sicilian jazz scene veteran Cristiano Giardini (sax and percussion), create incandescent rhythms from the very first bars of Grooveland (A1), eight intense minutes of syncopated and sunny disco-jazz topped by an overwhelming citrus-scented sax that opens the album.

With I Know my Kitchen (A2) the rhythm becomes much more bubbly and housey, as if Lars Bartkuhn had a stall at the historic Catania fish market, while in My Guitar (A3) the atmosphere becomes definitely warmer and more seductive, thanks also to the beautiful soulful voice of the English singer of Nigerian origin Derane Obika of Living Sound, who completes side A of the album.

Side B starts with the catchy groove of the self-titled track Cratere Centrale (B1), jazz-funk mixed with Afro and hip hop influences, which creates a certain electricity in the atmosphere, as if we were on the foothills of Mount Etna, and closes with Catania Experiment (B2), in which the band flirts again with the most refined house music that, while maintaining a live feel, has the incendiary power to hit the dance floor.

By combining their different musical backgrounds, these four guys from Cratere Centrale have been able to create a unique mix that fuses the Mediterranean jazz fusion tradition of the past with the freshest and most current sounds of contemporary clubbing, for a result that will be confirmed by the imminent release of their first ep on Roots Underground Records.