With its tenth record, the Italian label RadioSpia releases an object of great curiosity and value that, also acknowledging the undoubted value of all its previous ones, is in many ways a highlight of this young and very innovative music company. The track, written by the bass player Giovanni Mastrangelo with Marco Maffei and Lucio Pentrella to pay homage to Albert Camus, is both artistically and technically certainly a big score: difficult to be reduced to a musical genre (anyone cares about genres, anyhoo?), it swings between the oriental taste of its main theme, an elegant and mature rock mood, and some contemporary jazz tinged improvisations. To make some comparisons one could try and mention some John Zorn’s Masada or some rather extreme compositions by Marc Ribot trio. But while in the formers is the guitar to take the lead, here we find some fretless bass (there are actually three of them) that unravels the keynote theme, with other musicians (acoustic and electric guitars and piano by Lucio Pentrella and sax by Paolo Gaudiano) playing repartee with the bassist, guiding us towards the Camus’ “invincible summer” while moving between different tempo changes, which alternate a regular four quarters with various odd times all masterfully managed by drummer Antonio Cicoria (who here plays some analog synths too). Haunting is also Marco Maffei’s production, whose craftmanship, in the two channels of the stereo mix, recreates around the listener a unique 7.1 surround sound that’s never just a technical showcase, but operates indeed as a booster for the musicians’ work. (Gianpaolo Maria Ruotolo) The sound: The production of "Albert Camus" is a sort of a "special issue" of a comic collection: Marco Maffei wanted a special milestone for the tenth RadioSpia release, which would have further enhanced the composition and the sounds perception. Thus, the studio recording had a very creative approach, different from the usual techniques and functional to the idea of immersive sound that Marco had clear in mind. The song, then, was first mixed in normal stereo, in order to test its artistic path as effective. After a few weeks of testing and reserved listenings, it was mixed in 7.1 and encoded in order to donate a new way of listening for an audiophile audience.