The film "Stridulum" (Aka "The Visitor") was directed in 1979 by Giulio Paradisi. Starring Mel Ferrer, Glenn Ford, John Huston, Franco Nero, Shelley Winters, Sam Peckinpah, Joanne Nail, Lance Henriksen, Paige Conner, Ja Townsend, Jack Dorsey, Hsio Ho Chao.

Franco Micalizzi has written one of the most beautiful scores of his entire career (and one of the favourites of the composer himself), where a main theme quoting ''Also sprach Zarathustra'' in the introduction then develops into a powerful and driving funky music piece that recalls so many famous police movie themes of this author, alternated with a romantic love theme, action music and dissonant symphonic-electronic atmospheres.

A proper rescue and preservation of the Italian Silver Age and of the music art of Franco Micalizzi.

Thirty years later, Art Bears' diminutive discography is considered a seminal and highly influential part of the avant-prog/RIO movement. A series of small, independent occurrences including the 30th anniversary of the group's formation and the 25th anniversary of FIMAV created a most happy happenstance—Art Bears Songbook. Rather than a reunion (Krause was not available), which all-too-often implies by-rote replication of music for nostalgic baby boomers, Frith and Cutler decided to re-examine the trio's repertoire and refashion it for a thoroughly modernistic and expanded group that included three of Frith's four Cosa Brava band mates—keyboardist/accordionist Zeena Parkins, violinist/singer Carla Kihlstedt and sonic manipulator The Norman Conquest—along with singers Jewlia Eisenberg and Kristin Slipp. The result was a performance that rang true to the spirit of Art Bears, but avoided excess reverence. The powerful emotional depth of the material (and its once again all-too-relevant lyrics) was not only enthusiastically received by FIMV festival goes, but was so compelling that some were quite literally moved to tears.

Book-ending a performance of the Winter Songs cycle with choice material from Hopes and Fears and The World As It Is Today, the show was an all-too-brief 75-minutes. But, opening with a high-energy version of Hopes and Fears' "Joan," with Kihlstedt's overdriven electric violin setting a high bar for the whole performance, it was immediately clear that the group was going to deliver on the audience's expectations, a remarkable feat considering the build-up of anticipation that took place over the months since FIMAV first announced the show.

NUOVA IDEA came from Genova and their roots lie in a 60's band called ''Plep'' (from its members names). By 1970 they were renamed to NUOVA IDEA and even participated at the Viareggio Pop festival the next year, having a great success. The same year they release their debut ''In the beginning'', a decent proto-prog/psychedelic album, but not of particular interest for prog fans. After the album guitarist Marco Zoccheddu leaves to form Osage Tribe, replaced by Antonello Gabelli for the recordings of their second work ''Mr. E Jones'', released in 1972 on Ariston (as their debut), re-released on CD by the Italian Mellow Records.

Far from the familiar symphonic sound of most of the Italian prog bands of the time, NUOVA IDEA developed their early melodic style in a more intricate form, mixing their music with elaborate vocal harmonies. The closest comparisons might be early NEW TROLLS with a more demanding musicianship, 70's DELIRIUM, even BLOCCO MENTALE on their lighter side. The songs in this album differ so much, twisting from beautiful ballads (containing nice percussions and symphonic keys) and rockin' attacks with dated guitars (fuzzy-sounding at moments) to demanding instrumental passages, featuring complicated organ,delicate piano, sudden breaks and even some jazzy lines. What is of great notice is the vocal work in here, as all members contribute, resulting tons of attacks by melodic harmonies, recalling NEW TROLLS. Despite the mixed sounds, the album grows in you with each listening and all compositions are nicely executed with good melodies and a fair amount of complexity. (apps79)

Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Effects, Loops – Lars Björk

Acoustic-Electric Drums, Percussion, Computer – Hasse Bruniusson

Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Tapes, Loops, Effects, Voice – Håkan Almkvist

Viola, Violin, Voice – Kirk Chilton

In 1996 Stefan Carlsson parted ways with Ensemble Nimbus, although he was present as a guest on the band's second album ''Scapegoat'' (1998, TonArt Production/Record Heaven).Most of the keyboard parts were played Håkan Almkvist with special guests Stomu Imazawa on bass and Tomas Bodin on keyboards.This was a less chaotic and more focused R.I.O. effort by the Swedish combo, heavily influnced by Univers Zero and Samla Mammas Manna, with leading instruments being the bass, drums, strings and keyborards, although there are some ice-cold guitar moves in here with a definite King Crimson edge.Despite a more compact style, Ensemble Nimbus' music remains odd, mysterious and at moments dark.Suprising dissonances, dives into Chamber Music with omnipresent violin/viola parts by Kirk Chilton, unusual keyboard lines and light piano themes and a mechanical rhythm section.The arrangements are trully professional with lots of intstrumental intercations, bizarre breaks into experimental soundscapes and more clean Chamber-like orchestrations.A solid, deeply progressive R.I.O. effort. (apps79)

San Francisco collective Other Music (1975-86) and their offspring, American Gamelan (1978-81), emerged from the local tradition of special tuning and self build instruments instigated by Harry Partch and Lou Harrison, and some members actually studied Gamelan at UC Berkeley in the 1970s with teachers Daniel Schmidt and Jody Diamond. Carola Anderson and partner Henry Rosenthal housed Other Music’s rehearsals in their South-of-Market district loft in San Francisco. The originality of Other Music was its flexible use of various special tuning systems such as Hungarian minor scale or Ancient Greek Ptolemaic scale, in addition to their signature scale of fourteen unequal intervals per octave. They published two LPs and contributed two more tracks to the Tellus #14 – Just Intonation cassette. Other Music member David B. Doty wrote a history of the band where some of my information and illustrations come from. Incidents Out Of Context, Other Music’s second LP, is a varied and accessible introduction to Just Intonation music. From exquisite duets to ensemble playing, the varied instrumentation, unusual sounds and the musicians’ perfect sense of timing captivate the listener. Thanks to the use of strong rhythm structures, electric guitar and Prophet V synthesizer, the music is sometimes closer to Tuxedomoon than Lou Harrison, yet Other Music definitely explores alternative tuning strategies. Track #5 The Spirit Is Willing, starts with Gipsy-like, hammered dulcimer notes, until unexpected, Gamelan-like keyboard sounds in special tuning send the track into another dimension. Unlike Wendy Carlos in her own Gamelan explorations, 1987’s Beauty in the Beast, the synthesizer in Other Music focuses more on timbre than rhythm programing. On tracks #3 & 4, It Is It Part One and Two, an electric, just intonation guitar solo reminds King Crimson’s Lark’s Tongue in Aspic.