In Movimento [FBN 26 CD] | Surprize

fbn62cd.jpg

Surprize \ In Movimento [FBN 26 CD]

Factory Benelux presents In Movimento, a mini-album by Italian funk group Surprize, originally released by Factory Benelux in April 1984.

Formed in Bologna in 1980, Surprize issued two singles in Italy (Nu-Clear Dance and The Secret Lies In Rhythm) before supporting New Order on tour, and joining Factory Benelux in 1983. That same year the sextet travelled to Manchester to record mini-album In Movimento at Revolution Studios, produced by Bernard Sumner (New Order) and Donald Johnson (A Certain Ratio). Surprize also played shows with New York hipsters Konk; three members later formed Slava Trudu!!, a conceptual art project produced by Yello.

This 2013 remaster also includes all six tracks from their early Italian singles. The CD booklet contains archive images and a short essay by guitarist Luca Patini. Cover art by Igort.

Tracklist:

1. In Movimento
2. Parador Style
3. Over Italia
4. Stavolta
5. Leaves Me Blind
6. Don't Want Be Easier
7. I Feel I Fall
8. Dark Days
9. Nu-Clear Dancer
10. Empty House

Available on CD and digital (MP3 or FLAC). CD copies ordered direct from FBN are slipcased. To order CD please first select correct shipping option (UK, Europe or Rest of World) and then click on Add To Cart button below cover image.

Or, you can order with the option of tracked shipping from our friends at Burning Shed (click here to order)

"We started off as a high school band in Bologna in 1979, fusing punk and reggae, then added some ska elements when 2 Tone exploded. Our sound only really matured once we started listening to 70s funk, African rhythms, Fela Kuti, Miles Davis, Headhunters, but Eno/Byrne My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and Remain In Light by Talking Heads turned on something inside us. Our second single, The Secret Lies In Rhythm, is probably the most representative Surprize record. By then we were aiming for hypnotic riffs and repetition, kind of trance music, like Sufi whirling. In June 1982 our manager Fran Tomasi organised a short Italian tour by New Order, on which we were the opening act. Bernard Sumner liked our energy and rhythms (and I hope also my guitar style, since I was experimenting with feedback a lot), and afterwards he offered to produce a record for Factory Benelux. In fact Donald Johnson of A Certain Ratio was the main producer, and went for a very heavy bass and rhythm sound. So In Movimento is really a producer's record, very electronic, cut at Revolution Studios with the aid of a phrase book!"

"Surprize played some shows in Belgium in 1983, in Bruxelles at the Ancienne Belgique with Konk, and in Hoogstraten. But by then we were already unsure about our future direction. Half the band wanted to try to get into the dance charts, half wanted to steer a more minimal, arty course. So by the time In Movimento came out in 1984 the band was pretty much finished. After Surprize Roberto Serra (aka Wud) wrote lots of songs but never seemed to want to record them, and is now a sound designer, working mainly in films. Luciano Graffi is a sound engineer. Together with Igor Tuveri (our sleeve designer) and Francesco Garau (the percussion player) I had fun with a conceptual art project called Slava Trudu!!, for which we adopted the guise of three exiled Russian constructivists. Dieter Meier of Yello supervised the records we released on Mercury in Germany, and in 1993 we even got to take part in the Venice Biennale, sound-tracking a section curated by Pedro Almodovar and Christian Leigh. No big hits. But so what? Today, all the members of Surprize are now working together again as Volkwerk Folletto. I guess something keeps us together!

Gian Luca Patini