Sprut

Giustino Di Gregorio's album Sprut is a series of three "progettos" in which he takes dozens of samples and deconstructs, reconstructs, and superimposes them on each other. Unlike hip-hop style sampling where vocal or musical themes are often used to provide a refrain in a song, these samples are rarely long enough to go anywhere melodically, and they're also varied enough that repetition is limited. This is not necessarily a fault in the music — rather, the music acts as a tease, pulling up an image in the listener's mind, then snatching it away as soon as she recognizes what it is. The result is a kind of strange, hyperactive musical slide show, unified by the relative commonness of many of the samples. Di Gregorio does not discriminate toward any one kind of music — samples here can be found from pop to punk to jazz, but he seems to have a preference for jazz of the '50s and '60s. Indeed, the pieces that are most often superimposed over shorter samples to tie them together are jazz pieces, especially solo sax works. Music fans will have a great time with this album, as Di Gregorio sticks his fingers in a lot of pots and pulls out a great collection of bits with which to play.