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| Nino Moschella's Debut LP Ubiquity Records will release Nino Moschella's Debut LP 'the Fix' On May 23, 2006. Recorded entirely at his roundhouse studio outside of Yosemite & handling all the instruments & vocals himself, Moschella opts for home-made noises, beat boxing, and broom-handle-banging over drum machines and studio trickery. The result is a forward thinking blend of backyard funk, psychedelic soul, and '60's rock reminiscent of Sly Stone and early Prince. Fellow Bay Area crooner Bart Davenport (DJ Greyboy) brought Nino Moschella to Ubiquity. He mailed them a demo of tracks that had been recorded at Moschella's home studio. Working on only a 4-track tape machine, hand claps and broom-stick banging took the place of the usual computer driven drum loops. Innovating with limited resources his lo-fi studio situation provided the perfect gritty back-drop to a big and bold vocal talent. Moschella's demo was a series of well-written songs with a unique and blend of 1960s soul and funk mixed with even a little bit of indie-pop and folk. Moschella carries his DIY demo spirit through to his debut album, The Fix, to be released late May 2006. Leading off with "Better Off", Nino plays almost all the instruments (as with most of his tracks) and makes most of the noises from drums to beat boxing. It's a minimal production keeping only the most essential elements in a bass-line driven rock n'soul style. On "Are You For Real" lo-fi stoner grooves on top are backdrop for Moschella who starts off subtle in falsetto but slowly builds to climatic scream. And on "Believe In Yourself" he adds a little gospel to the mix with a trippy organ section mid-way through. The Fix album continues the EP's fusion of genres and eras. With one foot firmly planted in the present Moschella's musical mash-up is also a reminder that there were days when artists like Jimi Hendrix played on the same bill as bands like Led Zepplin, The Grateful Dead and Sly and The Family Stone. On The Fix he has found his own way of blending rock, soul, and funk genres and blurring the lines between electronic and acoustic music. Born into a musical family Moschella's father was perhaps his first musical influence. "My dad sings and plays guitar. He started out in the choir and singing doo-wop in the Bronx, " explains Moschella. "My mom sings lullabies, I had a great uncle Nino who played the violin and my grand folks were always singin'. You know, typical loud Sicilian folks always carrying on." Nino Moschella now lives with his wife Mia and recently born daughter in Friant California, close to Yosemite, in a round house his father built with friends in the late 1960s. They also built a music studio on the property which is where most of his album is being recorded. There's nothing much but trees, creeks, coyotes, the sun, moon and stars to keep them company. Moschella's first musical outing was at the tender age of 5 years old. His father told him to keep time on the snare drum for his rhythm and blues band because their drummer failed to show up for practice. "It was a rim shot on the three. I couldn't reach any of the peddles, so I kept it simple, " jokes Moschella. But his drumming aspirations grew, and before deciding he'd write and sing, Moschella was set on being a jazz drummer. In fact he plays drums, beatboxes and bangs random items around the studio all over the album in-progress in addition to playing the majority of the instrumentation, too. "I play drums, bass, guitar, stuff with strings, stuff with skin, hand claps, string bass on my sweat shirt tassels, " lists Moschella. "I'm workin' on my keys. I'm workin' on all that shit... always." Moschella is currently working on collaborations with Shawn Lee and Peder from The Prunes, and has recently opened for dates as part of the sold-out Greyboy Allstars re-union tour. The Fix will be released on CD & LP May 23, 2006. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |