Best Italy Schallplatten & CDs

Review: For this sublime release, legendary Italian label Best Record has raided the archives of 'private recordings' by multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Pino Presti. Sharade was apparently inspired by the work of painter Tania Cantone and features Presti alongside keyboardist Claudop Calzolari, his son Andrea, bassist Andrea Verardi and organist Guido Mazzella. The results are colourful, sonically vivid and musically rich, with the quintet variously blurring the boundaries between ambient, jazz-funk, Balearic, Mediterranean deep house, downtempo, library music, cinematic soundtracks and slow-motion leftfield pop. It's hard to accurately pigeonhole, but that's no bad thing - especially as the album's varied tracks are united by a classiness and a wholeheartedly enjoyable sun-baked mood.