Mastica

Alla fine, dite quello che volete, ma non ci sono più in giro gruppi come i Mastica. Ragazzi cresciuti a pane, progressive e psychedelia. Che amano i Goblin o il Balletto di Bronzo più di qualsiasi altra cosa. Che riescono acostruire, inventare, immaginare nuove melodie italiane da asservire alle tipiche strutture hard barocche del Prog. Forniti del classico armamentario Hammond, ARP synth e piano elettrico Rhodes, i Mastica si costituiscono comeun complicato, lambiccato incrocio tra prog, psychedelia e blues satanico. Bitt in garage è una raccolta di vecchio e nuovo materiale del gruppo,tra cui si fa nostalgicamente ascoltare una versione di ragazzo Solo Ragazza Sola, testo di Mogol e musica di David Bowie. Molto più interessanti e consistenti di tanta altra roba in giro spacciata per indie creativo.

Claudio Sorge - RUMORE (settembre '06)

Combattuto sono combattuto. Seguo i Mastica dai loro primi passi e sapevo esattamente cosa attendermi da questo disco. Però a conti fatti, i Mastica continuano a spiazzarmi. Non so se trovarli irresistibili o, a volte, troppo leziosi. Forse, come al solito, la verità sta nel mezzo. Loro vivono di accenti prog, inserti blues, una visceralità tipica della maledetta musica nera, alcuni accenni (per altro ben distinguibili) alla psichedelia. Una sorta di tappeto multicolor, dilatato alla vista di un comune garager. Eppure, al di sotto, conservano quella vena, non dico garage, ma quasi. C'è ma non si sente. E i brani. Alcuni da applausi, altri forse un pizzico sottotono. Quasi trattenuti. Anche se assolutamente non da rivedere. Ci sono margini di crescita molto ampi.

Mario Ruggeri - ROCKERILLA (ottobre/novembre '06)

Already gaining quite an attention among late '60s/early '70s acid rock fans,this Italian bunch doesn't actually offer too much of a "restyling" of what they've been doing most of the time, which doesn't happen to be a bad thing at all, since there's not too many of them on the global scene paying suchan attention to details, starting from the songs themselves, through the actual arrangement, to the vintage equipment itself, making their sound pretty hard to separate from the originals of the above mentioned timespan. I don't know if it's been done intentionally or not, but the four tracks featured herewith, seem kinda devided between the hard'n'heavy "shades" ofDeep Purple Hammond organ-isation, with more than an audiable progressive touch to them ("Sotto cielli lontani", "Seventrando") while the remaining pair ("Lettera aperta a il ragno", "Uccidio il blues") leans a bit more towards an even more proggy sound, and more melodic at the same time, occasionally being reminiscent of Andromeda and the like, with the closing number opening with a groovy Nicky Hopkins-styled "stoned" piano, suggesting a more good time-ish, into your "faces" rawk-out, before turning into another, just as progressive riff-laden piece of r'n'b, complete with some raving harmonica, leading into an almost post-Syd-Floyd-like ambiental vibe, with a hint at The Yardbirds' "Still I'm sad" as well, and all of this happening within the same song! Obviously, another point making Mastica a bit more exotic than usual, are the Italian lyrics, somehow also managing not to make things even more quirky.
Goran Obradovic / POPISM radio show; - POPISM Radio Show

El hecho de que MASTICA sea un grupo que mantiene activa la Era de la psicodelia, hace que aunque su álbum "Bitt in Garage" contenga temas tanto “inéditos� como actuales, éste suene homogéneo. Con líricos en italiano, "Bitt in Garage" te transporta a aquélla época alucinada y llena de propuestas musicales diferentes. ¿Contradictorio? No lo creo… retomando las palabras en la entrada de KARFAGEN, “los escépticos dicen que Cartago fue destruida y que toda la música está escrita�, y cuando uno escucha música como la que ofrece MASTICA, uno nota que quedó mucho que escribir, y el hecho de que haya quien esté escribiendo algo de lo que quedó pendiente me parece confortante, sobre todo cuando uno observa que la propuesta de MASTICA ha incluido siempre un aspecto que resulta una constante que le da coherencia al hecho: un vocalista (Mad) excepcional capaz de modular por muy diversos rangos tonales, reforzada por una batería expresiva (Pacio) que ha estado junto al grupo imponiendo ritmos pegajosos y explosivos. En su más reciente versión (temas 1 a 4) el grupo se complementa con la guitarra eléctrica hechizada de Andrea GARBO, que alucina y que ofrece riffs frenéticos y muy buenas distorsiones y efectos de sonido, además de unos teclados impactantes a cargo de Apollo NEGRI (LINK QUARTET, WICKED MINDS) y un estupendo soporte musical en el bajo eléctrico de Paul quien es parte de la banda desde 2004. "Bitt in Garage" contiene cuatro temas 2006 (1 a 4) en la más pura tradición rock psicodélico/progresivo temprano y una buena selección (5 a 19) de material que MASTICA había grabado anteriormente en formato LP. Es como un viaje musical hacia el pasado, donde uno redescubre sus años maravillosos y lo llenan de nostalgia y buenos recuerdos. - MANTICORNIO

Their newest recordings (four incredibly cool Hard Psych/early prog compositions) plus a selections of their best material from their past vinyl releases. All songs for the first time on CD. It's the best psychedelic Italian band, pure late sixties sound, between the last fires of the late beat era and the strongly psychedelic hard blues rise. They're young, with a spectacular look, impeccable during the live shows. Their songs are direct and incisive. They're the original witnesses of a musical era called 'underground' during the late Italian sixties. Their sound is born from an original vintage equipment. The lyrics are in Italian. The singer's prodigious voice and the very high technical level are enriched by the Hammond organ recent entry, Apollo Negri (from Link Quartet, Wicked Minds) with his unbelievable sound impact, by the new guitar player Andrea Garbo (former Slowtime Mondays) with his great distortions and sound effects. Mastica are well known in the mod-sixties European scene thanks to the several live shows in important festivals (Euro Ye Ye, A Hazy Shade of Winter, Le Beat BespokÞ, Go Lleida, Magic Festival, Beat Epoque etc.). - SOUNDFLAT - Germany

MASTICA - Bitt In Garage (Teen Sound; CD)After my instant reaction to these Italian guys Crusher 45 I wasinitially a little despondent to this full length CD. Why? I dunno. Maybe Iexpected more after the fab single -- and the album's a bit too lengthy; thelast three early recordings are really not necessary. Still, by the thirdlisten the songs were starting to jump out of the speakers a bit more.'Lettera Aperta A 'Il Ragno'' is a bona fide dose of heavy progressive rockwith some manic 'oomp ah' vocal segments and choppy Deep Purple changes and'Mi Fai Stare Bene' goes all '70s Who with a nice falsetto call and responsevocal. Very stadium! The mood is pretty varied throughout with moves towardsboozey R&B, hard garage/rock, psych and later period anglophile mod stuff,but I'm not too sure about the Italian language cover version of 'SpaceOddity' or the crisp, clean production. As one of the elder SD scribescommented 'These sound like a third rate band that played at my Youth Clubin 1970'. For many, that's a good enough recommendation. And yes, thisreally does have some fine moments, but it just doesn't kick like thesingle... still, these hairy Itis are a band to definitely watch out for. Jon "Mojo" Mills - SHINDIG! - UK

The mighty Mastica are back. You certainly get your money’s worth with "Bitt in Garage", the new album from Italy’s finest, which offers new tracks, fresh workings of tracks from the first album (Treize Cigarettes), and some early demos. The new material features a different Mastica to that of the first album, exhibiting a little less of the frivolous edge and more no nonsense song writing determination. While we miss the glorious, ridiculously shrill vocal flexing of Mad (our favourite hairy vocalist, with our favourite hairy vocalist name), the whole sound is now solidly augmented by some super fine Hammond organ work by Apollo. Remarkable restraint is shown in songs like S(e) V’Entrando and Uccido Il Blues, which have a big, bold freeform live performance written all over them, waiting to happen. If the title Bilt in Garage seems somewhat unbefitting for a band more noted for its heavy riffs and high octane vocals, it probably has its origin in the early demos – Black Way, No Right No Way and In The Dark – raw and punk edged tunes dating back to 1997. Of course the fidelity on these is low. Several tracks from the first album are also included, reworked with more Hammond (this time from Alessandro Bombardini). Curiously, these tracks predate the versions on Treize Cigarettes (released in 2004), for which the organs were dropped. Not everything on this album is brilliant – Karma seems more suited to being a hidden track, and a lyrical reworking of Bowie’s Space Oddity a single b-side – but that’s it, everything else is acid rock gold dust. - HEADPRESS - UK

This is really nice surprise!!!! Mastica are from Italy and they are inspired by late 60s/early 70s heavy psych!! It's not progressive rock, but more in style of Cream, Hendrix, Yardbirds, early Deep Purple, ... 1968-1969 sound, but Mastica do it really original with Italian lyrics and both tracks are real killers. And as usual with such great bands, one 7" is not enough!!! I want to hear more!!!! I already played this 7" 20 times and now I'll do it again. Great vocal, great fuzz guitar, manic Hammond, groovy rhythm section, bluesy harmonica too, ... Guys hurry up with LP. Keep in mind Crusher Records - great label. - NO BRAINS ZINE -

MASTICA - Uomini 7" (mastica.it) ... kannst Du möglicherweise hier kaufen! Wild und heftig treiben es MASTICA aus Italien. "Uomini" donnert irgendwo zwischen derbem 70s Psychedelic, Krautrock und leichten Swamp Blues-Klängen. Da fällt es gar nicht auf, dass die auch noch in der Heimatsprache singen. Auf der B-Seite mit "Seemo chi spara" dann ein richtiges Freudenfest. Assoziationen zu solchen Sixties-Legenden wie THE LITTER, THE ELECTRAS oder THE HAUNTED kommen auf. Wer gerne etwas aktuellere Vergleiche lesen möchte, der sei auf die Reinkarnation THE FUZZTONES verwiesen. Wer deren wildere Frühphase zu schätzen weiß, der sollte sich diese Single dringendst anschaffen. Info unter mastica.it. (08/10) - Acid Rockets

MASTICA, acid rock still burning and very much alive amidst Italy’s favourite masters. By far the most popular psych band in Italy, and much appreciated by their frantic fans across Europe this acid rock band has its major influences in both theearly rock music of the mid to late 6ts of such super groups as Led Zepplin,Who, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Deep Purple, Beatles, and the more freakybeaty sounds of The Small Faces, Nazz, the neder Outsiders, and the ‘fireman’ Arthur Brown to name a few, all put toghether with italian lyrics in self penned numbers that will blow your hair back . Their discography includes their debut cd"(12) Treize Cigarettes", a freshly released 7" by Crusher Records and are already working on an EP due out next spring. In august guest stared in the famous 60's festival Euro YE YE in Gijon, Spain, appeared at Le Beat Bespokè 2005, amongst a number of concerts throughout Europe.Heavy Hammond organ, Wah-wah injected fuzz guitar, acid bass with thumping beat line topped by a whaling voice - this is what Mastica will be serving for the evening, along with a live show that will have you screaming for MOLTISSIMO more! - LE BEAT BESPOKè 2