Marcello Napoletano: From the Depths of My Mind
Yore

“I am large, I contain multitudes,” wrote Walt Whitman in Song of Myself. In a non-literary sense, so too does Italian producer Marcello Napoletano, based on the aural evidence documented on his Yore debut From the Depths of My Mind. Maximal in the extreme, the three effervescent tracks (which arrive only months after his debut album, The Space Voodoo, appeared on Jamal Moss's Mathematics Recordings) teem with so much detail they come to resemble live jams laid down in packed clubs.

Even the very title of the opener, “Mother Earth,” alludes to the all-encompassing character of the material. The banging cut barrels out of the gate with a bass-heavy thump while all manner of birds, wildlife, ands voices chatter in the background and sparse Rhodes chords warm the proceedings. Over the course of its swirling run, the mix grows ever denser with Napoletano adding claps and tribal percussion to the churning groove. Equally epic in spirit, “Black Sea” brings dub into the mix by draping echoing chords over a dizzying array of tablas, hi-hats, and pounding kick drums, and things take a ‘70s fusion-flavoured turn halfway through when a Jan Hammer-like Moog solo surfaces. But as solid as those tracks are, the most irresistible of the three is “Rage Against,” a funky, booty-bass throwdown that anchors Muhammad Ali-esque braggadocio—repeated protestations of “I am the greatest / You must listen to me”—with a deliciously slinky funk-house swing that Napoletano fleshes out with synthetic strings and percussion. It's the kind of dance voodoo that fills the club floor the instant the tune kicks in.

April 2010