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The project Neo originated in 2001 when two jazz educated musicians, guitarist Manlio Maresca and drummer Antonio Zitarelli, join Fabrizio Giovampietro’s bass to create an instrumental avant-blues trio.
The geographic epicenter of the project is the sunny beach of Terracina, a truthful town of southern Lazio, although the trio is harmonically
and rhythmically closer to Northern Europe’s contemporary music, except
for the overseas influences of Frank Zappa, Fred Frith, John Zorn
or Minuteman.
They begin to propose their destructured and madly ironic sound to the small clubs of Lazio, rewriting the traditional blues and effectively experimenting an unconventional blend of jazz, rock and punk who leads them in a few years to major artistic achievements and a brilliant reputation in Italy
and abroad.
After two selfproduced albums, Neo are chosen by Wallace Records
and incorporated in the P.O. Box 52 compilation, while in 2005 they release their first album La Quinta Essenza della Mediocrità, produced
by the florentine label From Scratch and immediately welcomed
as an excellent and unexpected start by the best specialized press (enthusiastic reviews on Rockerilla, Blow up, Mucchio Selvaggio, Rumore, Losingtoday, Music Club, Ox Fanzine).
Following the 2003 edition of Arezzo Wave, they continue to perform
at brisk pace on the stages of the best clubs in Italy: Circolo degli Artisti Rialto Sant’Ambrogio, Init, Jailbreak, 360Gradi (Roma), Lazzaretto (Bologna), Melos (Pistoia), Target (Bari), Area Fenderl (Treviso), Ambasciata di Marte (Firenze) and many others.
In 2006 their second album Problemi Dubbi Perplessità (From Scratch)
is released, and in the same year, the trio takes a new form, replacing
the bass with Carlo Conti’s tenor sax, musician of completely jazz extraction from the mainstream background of the capital.
With the new line-up, the sound of Neo takes on a different form, always maintaining the distinctive counterpoint between the two voices (now sax and guitar) and the melody at the edge of the harmonic structure, with short solo improvisations of jazz nature and unexpected sound excursions.
The challenge that Neo seems to face is to attack the essence of sound, destructuring it in paradoxical
and unconventional forms, among excited Balkan flavoured rhythmic spasms and a review of that New Orleans blues from the’20s.
Various and important collaborations with artists of international renown, have contributed over the time
to broaden Neo’s audience beyond any restriction of musical genre: beginning from Luca Mai, Zu’s saxophonist, which occurs in the first album to add sharp colour to the joint of crazy cubist rhythms
in the song Terrore Vigile. Then with Marco Di Gasbarro and Fabiano Marcucci, drums and bass in Squartet, involved in the song “Il Sempliciotto” of the same album, then finally with Remo Remotti’s live participations,
Steve Piccolo & The Crowdofone (USA), Flying Luttenbachers (USA) Sabot (USA), The Hub (USA).
After more than two years of preparation, Neo is releasing the third album, produced by Megasound
and distributed by Megasound / iTunes / Nokia.
Looks like 2009 will be a year full of projects and commitments for Lazio’s trio, who continues his tireless work on the live stages of the most interesting Italian clubs, proceeding on international stages in Germany, waiting for the new album scheduled for May.
DISCOGRAPHY
2001 Neo “DemoNeo” (cda)
2002 Neo “Neo” (cda)
2003 Neo Wallace Records cd “Distratto” po.box 5.6
2003 Neo Arezzo wave cd compilation
2005 Neo From Scratch Records cd “La quinta essenza della mediocrità”
2005 Neo C.N.I. (Compagnia Nuove Indie) cd remix
2006 Neo “Problemi Dubbi Perplessità” From Scratch Records
Press Review
“When rock becomes a universal language, it’s not surprising that young Italian groups are able to explain with surprising effectiveness the blend of jazz, prog and punk that fascinates those who try to find new creative ways far away from the common clichés.
This is the case of Squartet and Neo; two groups linked by deep relations, proved by sharing the same guitarist, Manlio Maresca”.
(Blow Up)
“Fulminating opening proof of a nu-jazz education in the wake of so many other great Italian bands of the last generation (from Pin Pin Sugar Memory to countrymen Memoria Zero), guitar/bass/drums triangle that follows a sharp instrumental cross-linking, very dry tone-colour and rhythmic hypervirtuos reckliness.
Declared references are Dr. Nerve (for the sound) and Zorn (for the hyperkinetic aggressiveness), but in Neo’s blender all is crushed, from the zeppelinian riff (La giornata Della gioventù) to rock n’roll (l’appagamento viene sempre dopo) to blues. “
(Rockerilla)
“Neo looks at the most marginal America to create new languages: Neo’s America is that of Minutemen, John Zorn and Zu (as a matter of fact saxophonist Luca Mai is a guest). Call it no-wave, punk-jazz, avant-punk, here you can listen to a cascade of jazzcore seamlessly fragments. Enthusiastic music for attentive brain. “
(Rumore)
Not only the trio’s music - Fabrizio Giovampietro (bass), Manlio Maresca (guitar, also in Squartet) and Antonio Zitarelli (drums) - leaves no room for compromise, but also attracts for the pure quality. Just to establish the stylistic scope, it can be said that the territories are those fought in the so-called jazzcore:
in other words, a fast commingling of jazz, punk aesthetic, blues, funk and avant-garde, for a result full of waste and corners, rough and nervous and, at better times, unpredictable.(…) The three leave you breathless, and they mix styles and gendres only they know how, thanks to the help of friends like Luca Mai of Zu, a guest with his sax in “Terrore Vigile”.
(Il Mucchio Selvaggio)
“Avant Italy you don’t expect. Furiously from Terracina, the young Neo offer an interesting and personal reworking of musical themes that start from jazz and blues, contaminated with the post-punk sound to get them where even they don’t exactly know.
Having the Zu a few kilometers away, undisputed masters along with John Zorn, certainly had an impact, but this could be considered valid only up to a certain point, as this line-up will definitely make his.
The three create instrumental patterns in which they often play to chase and catch up, completely destructuring the rhythmic bases dedicated to the still available spaces in sound exploring.
All this, however, led not by a snob look, but with a healthy dose of irony. “
(Losingtoday)
