Ranestrane

RanestRane is an Italian prog band from Rome that was formed in 1996. The aim of the musicians involved in this project was to compose and perform a rock-opera, so they chose a famous Werner Herzog's film, "Nosferatu The Vampyre", and commented it with music and original lyrics. They started their live activity in 2000 and conceived their shows as a "cineconcerto", with the images of the Herzog's film flowing in the background. In 2007 they released their rock-opera on a self-produced studio album, a double CD called "Nosferatu il Vampiro", and they have continued with works based on "The Shining" and "2001: A Space Odyssey". Among their musical influences you can find bands like Goblin, PFM, BMS, Genesis, and Marillion, to name a few. Incidentally, the band makes up a large part of the reorganized Il Rovescio della Medaglia.

The Pink Floyd masterpiece reinterpreted by Italian band Ranestane.
Ranestrane have, with the minor exceptions produced an almost reverently authentic reproduction. It's in their own idiom of course, but recognisably taken directly from the original.
The vocals and instrumentation are superb. As always, with Ranestrane, production is crystal clear.

Fans of progressive rock music already have it hard enough as it is. The casual music listener already thinks we’re pretty snobby, a little elitist, kind of neurotic, and well, pretty strange. (Pun intended.) But when a progressive rock enthusiast tells a friend they are listening to the third and final album in a trilogy based on Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke‘s film 2001: A Space Odyssey…

Ranestrane is a Rome 'based Italian group that does NOT fit into the classic RPI mode, as they opt for a more conventional methodology, staying away from the classic RPI ingredients of injecting such influential details as operatic vocals, pastoral acoustic tinges, wild changes of pace and mostly, the tried and true influence of canzone, Italian folk/popular music that gives it such character. Though they are listed here as RPI, the focus is more on Floydian soundscapes, elongated mood samples on which the soloists (Massimo Pomo the guitarist and the talented keysman Riccardo Romano)…

Nine Skies are a French progressive rock band inspired by many influences: rock, pop, progressive, classical, jazz… The first album “Return Home” was released on the 30th November 2017 via Anesthetize Productions. The second album, called “Sweetheart Grips” is a double album released on the 1st of November 2019, with guests such as Craig Blundell (Steven Wilson, Steve Hackett, Frost …), Clive Nolan (Arena, Pendragon …), Dave Foster (Steve Rothery Band, Dave Foster Band …), Riccardo Romano (Ranestrane, Steve Rothery Band …) and others. This title refers to the practice dating back to the Second World War, when soldiers were known to take precious family photos (and Pinup Girl photos) and put them under clear grips on their 1911 pistols, called ’Sweetheart Grips’.

“Feelings are good,” a vocoder-soaked John Mitchell tells us at the beginning of Lonely Robot’s fourth album. The sentiment of this album’s title, and its opening title track, could not have come at a more appropriate time, as in 2020 people all around the world find themselves awash in a sea of myriad feelings, considering everything happening in the world these days. And, as much as 2020 feels like we should get a “do-over” or a mulligan on this entire year so far, as if these past six or seven months were just some cruel joke, somehow time marches ever onward; in the music world, it has suddenly been nearly a year-and-a-half since Lonely Robot‘s most recent album, “Under Stars”. In the world of John Mitchell, one of the most prolific song-crafters in all of progressive music, that might as well be an eternity…

Three years after the debut "Les Châteaux de la Loire" Ellesmere are back, still led by the Italian multi instrumentalist Roberto Vitelli, who wrote the music and the lyrics of every song and took care of most of the bass and keyboards parts on the seven tracks that are part of the concept. Every song deals with a different aspect of the complex relationship between man and sea, from man's curiosity and fear towards what is hidden deep inside the sea to the call for adventure and for traveling to the end of the known world… and beyond. The sea, the unknown, the infinity grandeur and the human soul are the key themes that tie together the concept that feeds the album…