ROLLER

My primary exposure to instrumental music (other than classical composers) before this point has been almost limited to Univers Zero. I am a big fan of Univers Zero and listen to their music almost daily.

To discover an Italian band who shares similar sensibilities to Univers Zero, yet seems to diverge in incredibly ambitious directions, has been nothing but an audial blessing.

What I appreciate most in Goblin is what I refer to as their "drops"... those points in song in which the music has reached some point of ecstasicial apex, a manic high if you will, and then suddenly "falls"... suddenly drops in pitch, tone, or even volume, then immediately picks up. This "pick-up" could be in the form of a brief mellotron solo, or it could be in the sudden arisal of an orchestral movement. At any rate, from there it *moves* -- it aligns itself with higher purpose and gyrates erratically.

The jazz intonations of Goblin are definitely not lost on this listener. Through "Roller"'s use of time signature changes and emphasis on down-beats, one can easily see how the band drew from Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk -- pulling their influence out of America and into some fantastic, almost mystical Italian flood of musicology. What has been fantastic and mystical from the opera is incorporated into what is definite and "real" in jazz. Goblin somehow manages to incorporate this dynamic clash into something beautiful and altogether explosive. One cannot help but commemorate "Roller" for its ambitiousness, and upon several listens, drown in it for its aesthetic enclosure.

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