Sergio Messina, The Four Twenties - Sensual Musicology (2022)

Legendary Italian musician Sergio Messina serves up his 13 track Sensual Musicology on Hell Yeah this March. It comes a couple of years after he first released on the label's Buena Onda compilation and takes in everything from demented waltz to grown-up jazz, groovy beach music to heart-aching melancholia with artwork by virtuoso Italian AD DeeMo.

Now based in Lombardy, Sergio was there at the birth of pirate radio in the mid-seventies and eventually produced Radio art for national broadcaster Rai. At the same time, his DJ career took off and he helped establish Hip hop in Rome before taking his own live show to the stage with a mix of PCs, samplers and tape recorders as early as 1989. Frank Zappa declared himself a fan and in the years since Sergio has done everything from radio art to producing Neapolitan reggae and hip hop band 99 Posse, producing his own solo albums and writing for monthly music magazine Rumore.

The multi-talented Sergio has delivered talks on Realcore, the digital porno revolution, contributed to an Italian TV show about technology called Mediamente and worked as a strategy consultant for several brand and artist websites. He teaches History of Pop Culture at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, lectured on his research on amateur pornography, and has written books such as Real Sex, Alt Porn is the New Rock'n'roll. All this makes him a truly original creative thinking who has long been immersed in many niche facets of popular culture.

Sensual Musicology took several years and four different locations to happen. Its release has been delayed by the pandemic, during which Sergio lost many friends and relatives close to him. As a result, the album is dedicated to all of them. It is a record that addresses many topics from economic migration to jazz piano, 60s blues motifs to corruption, pollution and racism via Michael Jackson covers, odes to West Coast guitar albums and spaced-out pieces of electronica.

Opening with the beautifully delicate Mingus melodies of 'Goodbye Porkpie Hat' the album roams through the bluesy Italo-American-Jamaican groove of 'Amara,' slow melancholy of 'Sometimes Remember' with classy vocals from chanteuse Valeria Rossi and 'The Way You Make Me Feel', an acoustic rebuild of Michael Jackson's hit song. Then comes the serenade that is 'Just Because You're Dead,' and 'Sono Stufa di Tutto' which is based around a protest speech recorded from the radio in the 1980s.

The second half of the album opens with 'Jon Hassell Beach Bar,' a musical hybridisation for dancing pleasure, then takes in 'Ouana Di lambo' which is the Four Twenties taking you to a cocktail bar in the tropics. 'Benjamino Placido' is a melody for a man who inspired Sergio to start writing his columns, 'Nowhere Special' is a tribute to West Coast guitar albums and 'Switchblade Bolero' then has a Zappa-esque theme.

The album also includes two digital-only Bandcamp exclusives - 'Kroom Boom Waltz,' which features absurd instrumentation and is inspired by the canals and street organs of Amsterdam, and 'In A Silent Way,' a live, drone-y electronic track crafted with a mandolin, bass and open-tuned guitar.

Sensual Musicology is a rich and diverse musical world that is as thought-provoking and deep as it is emotionally rewarding.