Sensations' Fix

Music Is Painting in the Air

— First edition black vinyl. [SOLD OUT]
— Each purchase includes a multi-format download redeemable via Bandcamp.

Notes
Tracklist
Notes

CAT #: RERVNG02
September 25th, 2012

Music Is Painting In the Air is a collection of new mixes and unheard music from Sensations’ Fix’s prolific output between 1974 and 1977. Revered as one of the great articulations of progressive music, Music Is Painting In the Air offers guide posts to those familiar with Sensations’ Fix’s amorphous catalog and an approachable primer to those just journeying on the sensational trip.

The story of Sensations’ Fix begins – and never quite ends – with Franco Falsini. Born in Florence, Italy in 1948, Falsini became a teenage rock ‘n’ roll convert through a steady supply of 45s sent home by his London-based sister. Following his sister’s footsteps to swinging 60s London, Falsini put his love of music into practice, fronting a space blues trio that riffed its way from the UK back to Italy in a Ford Transit.Falsini became smitten by Vinnie Sherman, an American woman, at a nightclub in Florence where Falsini was holding down a residency. The newlywed lovers made their way to Alexandria, Virginia in the summer of 1969. Arriving on August 15th, the first day of Woodstock, a spirit of freedom filled Falsini and fueled his creative proclivity.

Falsini blazed a trail for home recording that has impressed upon inward resourcing and reflecting musicians and DIY enthusiasts in the decades since. A technology stalwart, Falsini employed a floor model MiniMoog and a tricked-out Teac 4-track machine to transform the Virginia basement of the house shared with Sherman into a cosmic conduit and launch pad for Sensations’ Fix.

The reach for space from a personal place is nowhere more apparent than on Fragments of Light, early basement recordings solicited by Falsini as deal demos and surprisingly flipped into the first of six Sensations’ Fix albums released over the next five years. The up-close fidelity of Fragments – coupled with Falsini’s emotive guitar leads and sparse, sentimental vocals – creates a private quality that separates the album from other extravagant progressive rock productions contemporary to its 1974 release.

Relocating back to Italy on the heels of Fragments’ release, Falsini, alongside drummer Keith Edwards and bassist Richard Ursillo (both American expats), charged through another two Sensations’ Fix albums, Portable Madness in 1974 and Finest Finger in 1976, and a stunning solo album Cold Nose (Naso Fredo) in 1975. Without marketing or tour support to expose Sensations’ Fix to a wider European audience, Falsini and his band of psychedelic renegades left Italy for the golden shores of California and their possible salvation. In 1977, Sensations’ Fix released Vision’s Fugitive on an independent label and fulfilled their major label obligation shortly after with Boxes Paradise.

Falsini spent the next couple decades between New York City and Paris, creatively contentedly creating above par electro-pop (The Antennas) before returning to Florence to launch the Interactive Test dance music label. Meanwhile, the legend of Sensations’ Fix grew. On his 2002 album, The Private PressDJ Shadow sampled from two Sensations’ Fix songs. More recently, Sonic Youth curated a career retrospective titled Sensational Fix at Life Gallery in Saint-Nazaire France.

For Music Is Painting in the Air, Falsini and his son Jeyon set forth on a year-long voyage to restore and revisit the original Sensations’ Fix analog tapes. Honoring Falsini’s tradition of autonomy, this collection, as with the majority of the Sensations’ Fix catalog, was mixed solely by Falsini. The sequence is chronologically defiant, encouraging the listener to free associate the recurring themes’ origins and immerse in the body of music as its own universe.

Once this celestial body suit is occupied, it becomes apparent why the forward-thinking yet emotionally-accessible quality of Sensations’ Fix’s music is still finding the universal audience for which its intended. Falsini’s disregard for time and insistence on reinvention provides an infinite reach for his music. The end-goal was seemingly unmarketable by the industry then, but perfectly harmonious with a culture constantly evolving now.

Sensations’ Fix’s Music Is Painting in the Air is available now on 2xLP, 2xCD, and digital formats via RVNG Intl. Physical formats come housed in elaborate packaging, including a unique reverse bound record jacket and full color liner notes by Franco Falsini and Joshua da Costa.

Tracklist
DBL LP

Side A (33 RPM)
A1. Barnhause Effect
A2. Cold Nose Part 3, 4th Movement
A3. Leave My Chemistry
A4. Acudreaming
A5. Grow On You

Side B (33 RPM)
B1. Scraping Delay
B2. Warped Notions Of A Practical Joke (Instrumental)
B3. Dark Side of Religion
B4. Cosmic Saudade
B5. Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 2
B6. Fragments of Light
B7. Into The Memory

Side C (33 RPM)
C1. Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 5
C2. C’e Nessuno
C3. Map
C4. Moving Particles
C5. Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 3
C6. Music Is Painting
C7. Left Side Of Green

Side D (33 RPM)
D1. Chelsea Hotel (Room 625)
D2. Fix A Water Fountain (Instrumental)
D3. Overflowing Ashtrays
D4. Strangelands
D5. Cold Nose Story
D6. Slow Motion Movie
D7. Fortune Teller
D8. Fortune Teller Coda

DBL CD

Disc 01
01. Barnhause Effect
02. Cold Nose Part 3, 4th Movement
03. Leave My Chemistry
04. Acudreaming
05. Grow On You
06. Scraping Delay
07. Warped Notions Of A Practical Joke (Instrumental)
08. Dark Side of Religion
09. Cosmic Saudade
10. Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 2
11. Fragments of Light
12. Into The Memory
13. Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 5
14. C’e Nessuno
15. Map
16. Moving Particles

Disc 02
01. Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 3
02. Music Is Painting
03. Left Side Of Green
04. Chelsea Hotel (Room 625)
05. Fix A Water Fountain (Instrumental)
06. Overflowing Ashtrays
07. Strangelands
08. Cold Nose Story
09. Slow Motion Movie
10. Fortune Teller
11. Fortune Teller Coda
12. Crossing Berlin
13. Darkside 1 & 3
14. Darkside 2

DIGITAL

01. Barnhause Effect
02. Cold Nose Part 3, 4th Movement
03. Leave My Chemistry
04. Acudreaming
05. Grow On You
06. Scraping Delay
07. Warped Notions Of A Practical Joke (Instrumental)
08. Dark Side of Religion
09. Cosmic Saudade
10. Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 2
11. Fragments of Light
12. Into The Memory
13. Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 5
14. C’e Nessuno
15. Map
16. Moving Particles
17. Cold Nose Part 3, Movement 3
18. Music Is Painting
19. Left Side Of Green
20. Chelsea Hotel (Room 625)
21. Fix A Water Fountain (Instrumental)
22. Overflowing Ashtrays
23. Strangelands
24. Cold Nose Story
25. Slow Motion Movie
26. Fortune Teller
27. Fortune Teller Coda
28. Crossing Berlin
29. Darkside 1 & 3
30. Darkside 2

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