Italo Brutalo – Second Horizon LP (out now)

Kicking off with City Sight, every synth is a joy. Warm tones, clear, crisp symbols and snares. A beautiful melody intertwined with acid tweaks and dreamy vocoder vocals, sounding almost more keys than voice. And that 80s drum machine line. There are five different decades where this modern classic would feel right at home.

A Synth-Driven Odyssey Across Time, Genre, and Imagination

You want it darker? Here comes Memory Sync, bursting through your loading screen like an end of level baddy. Press ‘play’ and you will know exactly what I mean. The hi hat and kick drum pattern on Digital Freedom is to die for, the acid bass and Italo disco melody giving your day an instant serotonin boost.

Surveillance State kicks the tempo up more than a notch, this eerie 3-D soundscape literally makes you feel as though you are being watched by a Machiavellian force. You can literally feel the paranoia oozing from your speakers. Technology is like a souped-up Kraftwerk 33 played on 45. Close your eyes and imagine stop-frame footage of robots in a car factory. Just brilliant. Heiss Oder Kalt (Hot Or Cold) is a perfect title for this lush mix of warm and cool synths, with a vocal sample reminiscent of a mad scientist.

From Acid Lines to Robotic Dreams — A Masterclass in Modern Italo Sound

Chasing Shadows, The first single to be released from Second Horizon, is just damn well exciting. It’s like you’re driving K.I.T.T. on turbo boost, in pursuit of the Midnight Express. Strap yourself in as Italo Brutalo hits the TB-303 button on the console for an acid fuel injection. Just when you thought it couldn’t get better, the joyous robotic vocal kicks in. I dare you to try and stay still whilst Chasing Shadows plays. It’s impossible.

Free To Move takes the tempo down a notch, robotic melodies dancing with each other in beautiful synchronicity, giving life to a beautiful android, leading perfectly into Black Gold, a soundscape rich enough to deserve to grace a Hollywood masterpiece.

Human Code is a perfect companion piece to City Sight. Drop this one in a club and see the reaction. Pure bliss. Then comes dark and sleazy low tempo I am a creator pulls you into the thought process of Italo Brutalo, before Tonight finishes this perfect long player off to a joyous, satisfying conclusion.

Musical visionaries often find it difficult to write that difficult second album. With Second Horizon, Italo Brutalo has brought you an original masterpiece. Enjoy.

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