Electronic Designs

Released

Italian Library Music is having a bit of a moment, but all the recent reissues barely scrape the surface of what seems to be a bottomless well of weird and wonderful music. Labels like Sonor Music Editions and Four Flies Records keep doing the good work, unearthing obscure LPs once destined for film and TV. Gianni Safred’s 1977 Electronic Designs is one such gem, which for decades sat hidden behind a nondescript cover that gave no hint of the incredibly forward-looking, experimental tracks it contained. Though, as the title would suggest, Safred lets loose on a variety of different synths and electronic equipment, his jazz background enables him to compose complex harmonies and enveloping atmospheres, whether at his most experimental (“Mystification”, “Planetarium”) or more pop and funk cuts (“Hastly Chant”).

Megan Iacobini de Fazio