The Dining Rooms, one of the stranger band names I have come across lately consists of the Italian duo Stefano Ghittoni and Cesare Malfatti. Their sophomore effort Numero Deux was originally released in 2001 but has now been reissued on Schema Records.
Before the formation of The Dining Rooms Ghittoni and Malfatti played in numerous bands in Milan's underground music scene before forming their current outlet of musical exploration. Their first album Subterranean Modern Volume 1 was released in 1999. With Numero Deux the duo's cool trip hop grooves continue. The songs very much bleed together featuring hypnotic drum beats, layered keyboards for atmosphere and samples and effects. The sound palette is quite minimal with percussion and drums up front in the mix and everything else taking a back seat.
The first track "Pure & Easy" is trip hop mixed with a cinematic feel as the guitar rhythms take on a Spaghetti Western vibe. The music flows nicely as it does throughout the disc as the duo have a smooth trippy sound. The drum intro in "Invocation" is a little more frantic but the trip hop elements are still there complete with shimmering keyboard textures and trippy trance-like beats. On the mellow "Sei Tu" gentle acoustic guitar and repeating keyboard melody makes for another trance inducing number which some might consider the main flaw with this recording. The songs sound very similar and I had trouble distinguishing between song titles and did lose some interest as the last track finished. That said, I suppose that's one of the main characteristics of this particular type of music. I am still a little unsure of what to make of this but it should be an excellent representation of the genre. Fans of trip hop and chill out music will probably want to check this out.
Track Listing:
1. Pure & Easy (4:34)
2. Invocation (4:12)
3. Sei Tu (3:40)
4. Numero Deux (4:34)
5. False Start (4:42)
6. Invocation II (0:50)
7. Cosi Ti Amo (4:22)
8. Lucy (3:30)
9. Verso Il Sole (5:26)
10. Maria (4:20)
11. Catania City Blues (3:44)
12. Chorus Of Flames (5:12)
13. Speak Into The Microphone (3:20)
Bonus Tracks:
14. The Waiting Room (2:54)
15. Cinemaroma 4 (Pierpa Touch) (2:44)
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The Dining Rooms, one of the stranger band names I have come across lately consists of the Italian duo Stefano Ghittoni and Cesare Malfatti. Their sophomore effort Numero Deux was originally released in 2001 but has now been reissued on Schema Records.
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