Avant 18 ITALIAN SURF ACADEMY: Barbarella Reloaded — reinterpretations of the score to the Roger Vadim film starring Jane Fonda
Italian Surf Academy:
Marco Cappelli – guitars
Luca Lo Bianco – bass guitar
Francesco Cusa – drums, percussion
with
VJ Andrea “Lapsus” Pennisi – visuals
JD Foster – piano, toy piano, Farfisa organ, music box, sound effects
Italian Surf Academy has been exploring the sound related to 1960’s cinema since its first record, The American Dream (Mode Avant 13), a collection of music from Italian noir, horror and spaghetti western movies.
In 2013 the Italian/French festival “Suona Francese” commissioned us to make a monographic program, but with the concept that it must somehow relate to French culture. We choose Barbarella — the classic 1968 sexual revolution icon directed by Roger Vadim, and starring Jane Fonda — because of its visionary soundtrack with music and lyrics composed by Bob Crewe and Charles Fox, featuring The Bob Crewe Generation Orchestra and The Glitterhouse.
The collaboration with visual artist Andrea Pennisi (aka VJ Lapsus) enhanced the live version of the project with creative projections integrated into the musical process. We recorded the music in Paris during our European winter tour at the very end of 2013. Later in 2015 — thanks to the generous and personal contribution of Mr. Luca Di Vito, who appreciated our performance in Oslo, Norway — the edited music went through post production by JD Foster who gave it a very specific “vintage touch,” working at the amazing Montrose Studio which is fully equipped with unique vintage gear. Finally it was remixed and mastered by Brian Brandt, director of Mode Records, and engineer Paul Howells.
In rearranging and de-constructing Barbarella’s music we keep finding its corrosive freshness and unpredictability, triggering memories and pushing boundaries at the same time.
—Marco Cappelli, September 2017