Materya (Italy): Crossover Prog

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This looks like a decent little project... 

From Kinesis Progressive Rock CD & DVD Store: http://kinesiscd.com/storeframe1.htm (It's a big page, so scroll down the list on the left hand side to 'Materya' and left click on their name to locate them on the page)

A great find for the White Knight label (co-owned by Magenta’s Rob Reed), who 
are now expanding their range with Materya’s Case (2012, digipack). 
Materya are Italians Andrea Stagni (piano/keyboards, guitars, bass, vocals) and 
Betty Copeta (vocals), with the assistance of drummers Claudio Trotta (Deus ex 
Machina) and Marcello Bellina. (There are drums on 7 of 12 tracks.) Stagni, 
Copeta, and Bellina are all members of Italian prog band AltaVia. Materya is to AltaVia as Aries is to La 
Maschera di Cera. Betty has a gorgeous, crystalline voice, delivering lyrics in 
both English and Italian. Stagni also sings, and as a keyboardist sounds 
influenced by Tony Banks / Genesis. It’s mandatory to mention Renaissance in all 
cases of prog with pure female vocals, and we comply, but references to Magenta 
and Karnataka are also apt. This is the most beautiful album we’ve heard this 
year, with Materya’s version of Stella Splendens the highlight. 
Stella Splendens is a late medieval song that appeared in a manuscript 
from 1399 or thereabouts. The song has been recorded by just about every band 
doing medieval music, including Adaro, Blackmore’s Night, and Companyia 
Elèctrica Dharma, but Materya’s arrangement is the best we’ve heard, with a slab 
of Genesis sympho-prog inserted. OK, just listen to it.
Then we have: http://altaviamusic.com/Materya.htm
"Welcome, this is Materya: Andrea Stagni and Betty Copeta as a duo.

It all 
came from an idea by Francis Dunnery who, in 2008,  asked us to start this 
project under his supervision having heard a song originally composed for him. 

In the past we've been part of the electro-pop band "Memoria Virtuale" based 
in Milan, but  we had no material except for a couple of songs we demoed 
together as a duo, so we spent a lot of time writing the songs for this project. 
In the meanwhile also the AltaVia's starting up, writing and recording was 
taking a lot of time,  so this Materya thing has been idle for a while. 

In Spring 2011 all the songs were demoed, and we were ready to record 
the songs. 
We decided to stop collaborating with Francis, though, because 
there were a few differences about the direction the work was going to take, but 
the preproduction sessions with him and Dorie Jackson taught us a lot of things 
and were incredibly fun.
We  recorded 14 songs in our home studio, a couple 
of friends helped with drumming: Marcello Bellina from AltaVia and Claudio 
Trotta from Deus ex Machina have been so kind to help us with their exceptional 
talents. 

A few quiet songs are present too, one of them "Braccialetti di 
diamanti" is pretty old:  the lyrics are by well known writer and poetress Mitì 
Vigliero, who wrote them after seeing a photo shoot I (Andrea) took by river 
Arno. 

This work is very much like us, it speaks about many things: our 
homes, our feelings, our pets. In "Case nella bassa" you can also hear the 
breathe of a real ghost living outside the window of our home studio. It was recorded one August's night while trying to catch the screech of the barn owl living near the house.

In the player you can hear a medley of some of the songs of the album, thank you for your visit."

Andrea & Betty 

Materya's debut album 'Case' went on sale from October 15, 2012

1. Hide from an angry heart (4:30)   
2. The deed is done (4:44)   
3. Braccialetti di diamanti (2:47)   
4. Across the light (3:14)   
5. Alberi e foglie (5:07)   
6. Domenica (6:42)   
7. Case nella bassa (6:57)   
8. Stella splendens (6:16)   
9. Emozioni ad uso personale (3:11)   
10. Dormi sola (4:58)   
11. Flowers and lies (5:51)   
12. Uomo (5:52)

Total time : 60mins 

The player on the Altaviamusic site has a medley (about six minutes) of all the songs on the album.

You can buy the album for a tenner (GBP 10.00!) from http://www.whiteknightrecords.co.uk/,  where there are three full mp3 samples to listen to (the link in the Kinesiscd text pasted above points to one of them), or from http://www.caerllysimusic.co.uk for GBP 9.00 (plus postage).

Materya on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Materya/306621672755347.

Sorry - No YouTube samples at the moment...  

Edited by yam yam - November 09 2012 at 14:19

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yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 7066	Topic: Materya (Italy): Crossover Prog Posted: November 09 2012 at 14:17
	This looks like a decent little project... From Kinesis Progressive Rock CD & DVD Store: http://kinesiscd.com/storeframe1.htm (It's a big page, so scroll down the list on the left hand side to 'Materya' and left click on their name to locate them on the page) A great find for the White Knight label (co-owned by Magenta’s Rob Reed), who are now expanding their range with Materya’s Case (2012, digipack). Materya are Italians Andrea Stagni (piano/keyboards, guitars, bass, vocals) and Betty Copeta (vocals), with the assistance of drummers Claudio Trotta (Deus ex Machina) and Marcello Bellina. (There are drums on 7 of 12 tracks.) Stagni, Copeta, and Bellina are all members of Italian prog band AltaVia. Materya is to AltaVia as Aries is to La Maschera di Cera. Betty has a gorgeous, crystalline voice, delivering lyrics in both English and Italian. Stagni also sings, and as a keyboardist sounds influenced by Tony Banks / Genesis. It’s mandatory to mention Renaissance in all cases of prog with pure female vocals, and we comply, but references to Magenta and Karnataka are also apt. This is the most beautiful album we’ve heard this year, with Materya’s version of Stella Splendens the highlight. Stella Splendens is a late medieval song that appeared in a manuscript from 1399 or thereabouts. The song has been recorded by just about every band doing medieval music, including Adaro, Blackmore’s Night, and Companyia Elèctrica Dharma, but Materya’s arrangement is the best we’ve heard, with a slab of Genesis sympho-prog inserted. OK, just listen to it. Then we have: http://altaviamusic.com/Materya.htm "Welcome, this is Materya: Andrea Stagni and Betty Copeta as a duo. It all came from an idea by Francis Dunnery who, in 2008, asked us to start this project under his supervision having heard a song originally composed for him. In the past we've been part of the electro-pop band "Memoria Virtuale" based in Milan, but we had no material except for a couple of songs we demoed together as a duo, so we spent a lot of time writing the songs for this project. In the meanwhile also the AltaVia's starting up, writing and recording was taking a lot of time, so this Materya thing has been idle for a while. In Spring 2011 all the songs were demoed, and we were ready to record the songs. We decided to stop collaborating with Francis, though, because there were a few differences about the direction the work was going to take, but the preproduction sessions with him and Dorie Jackson taught us a lot of things and were incredibly fun. We recorded 14 songs in our home studio, a couple of friends helped with drumming: Marcello Bellina from AltaVia and Claudio Trotta from Deus ex Machina have been so kind to help us with their exceptional talents. A few quiet songs are present too, one of them "Braccialetti di diamanti" is pretty old: the lyrics are by well known writer and poetress Mitì Vigliero, who wrote them after seeing a photo shoot I (Andrea) took by river Arno. This work is very much like us, it speaks about many things: our homes, our feelings, our pets. In "Case nella bassa" you can also hear the breathe of a real ghost living outside the window of our home studio. It was recorded one August's night while trying to catch the screech of the barn owl living near the house. In the player you can hear a medley of some of the songs of the album, thank you for your visit." Andrea & Betty Materya's debut album 'Case' went on sale from October 15, 2012 1. Hide from an angry heart (4:30) 2. The deed is done (4:44) 3. Braccialetti di diamanti (2:47) 4. Across the light (3:14) 5. Alberi e foglie (5:07) 6. Domenica (6:42) 7. Case nella bassa (6:57) 8. Stella splendens (6:16) 9. Emozioni ad uso personale (3:11) 10. Dormi sola (4:58) 11. Flowers and lies (5:51) 12. Uomo (5:52) Total time : 60mins The player on the Altaviamusic site has a medley (about six minutes) of all the songs on the album. You can buy the album for a tenner (GBP 10.00!) from http://www.whiteknightrecords.co.uk/, where there are three full mp3 samples to listen to (the link in the Kinesiscd text pasted above points to one of them), or from http://www.caerllysimusic.co.uk for GBP 9.00 (plus postage). Materya on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Materya/306621672755347. Sorry - No YouTube samples at the moment... Edited by yam yam - November 09 2012 at 14:19

seventhsojourn Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: December 11 2009 Location: . Status: Offline Points: 4006	Posted: November 11 2012 at 01:31
	Many thanks for all the info, David! I'll pass this on to the Crossover Team.

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 7066	Posted: May 24 2013 at 12:47
	Bumped by Chris in the Crossover team thread - thanks buddy! - I'd forgotten all about this one, and it was suggested before I joined the team...Anyhow... http://progfreak.com/Materya-156502.html?path=pa/recent.

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 7066	Posted: May 25 2013 at 06:46
	And we now have some tubes: Track 1: Track 4: Track 8: Track 1 (live):

Marty McFly Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: March 23 2009 Location: Czech Republic Status: Offline Points: 3968	Posted: May 29 2013 at 07:03
	And YES vote from me (one more needed). Lovely piano driven Prog.
	There's a point where "avant-garde" and "experimental" becomes "terrible" and "pointless," -Andyman1125 on Lulu Even my

Aussie-Byrd-Brother Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: October 12 2011 Location: Melb, Australia Status: Offline Points: 7951	Posted: May 29 2013 at 07:06
	I gave their lovely album another spin again yesterday, really weaves it's charm around you when you get used to how piano-driven it is! Perfect album to listen to when you don't want to get knocked around by endless time-changes and complex arrangements!

Windhawk Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: December 28 2006 Location: Norway Status: Offline Points: 11401	Posted: May 29 2013 at 15:57
	added
	Websites I work with: http://www.progressor.net http://www.houseofprog.com My profile on Mixcloud: https://www.mixcloud.com/haukevind/

yam yam Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Special Collaborator Crossover Team Joined: June 16 2011 Location: Kerberos Status: Offline Points: 7066	Posted: December 12 2013 at 14:49
	And for all the background info about this fine project, don't forget Michael's great interview with the duo, which he posted on here about a month ago.