Clap! Clap! – Liquid Portraits [Black Acre Records; June 2020]

Italian electro has never been so global. It’s been a few years since Italian producers and DJs have started to ride the global dance wave and the results are, more often than not, inspiring.

Despite Clap! Clap!, one of its most imaginative interpreters, being far from being a new name on the scene, Liquid Portrait, his latest album is a breath of fresh air for the entire global beats panorama. Cristiano Crisci, Clap! Clap!’s real name, literally travels with notes. From Tuscany (his roots) to Salento and the Kif Mountains of Morocco to Hokkaido in Japan, he accompanies us in an inner-directed journey setting his recent-past personal experiences in sound.

The twelve chapters of the album are distinct musical landscapes. Just like the title expresses, Liquid Portraits is composed of twelve fluid short stories forming an eclectic and dancy depiction of the music world, embracing and re-moulding far-off styles like pizzica as well as cumbia, and hip-hop as well as gnawa.

Marco Canepari