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LISFRANK was an obscure one-man project from Savona area, Italy, active from 1980 onwards but not releasing much music ever since apart from a few tracks via the own Mask Productions label in 1982 and 1983. The first and only LISFRANK stand-alone release was the 12”EP “Man Mask” (Mask Productions, MKX 01, 1982), definitely one of the best and rarest early 80’s minimal electro 12”s ever and on top of most want lists ever since, including the super hit “It’s Life”, as well as “Violence in my Mind”. “Man without Limits” appeared on the label’s equally rare and sought-after vinyl LP sampler “First Relation” (Mask Productions, MKLP 02, 1983). Another very experimental track called “Ombre” was released on the cassette compilation “The Voice/La Voce” (Area Condizionata AC2, 1983). That was the official story so far, even though LISFRANK was truly a pioneering project with a live appearance at the so-called “New Wave Party” in Savona, already in November 1980! So they were almost as early as Florentine stars Neon. Anyway, it took Anna almost a lifetime to track down LISFRANK, but with the key hint by Fulvio Delprato (thank you so much again!), he was finally found and convinced to release an album which has been entitled “Mask Rewind”. It captures the majority of available recordings from 1980 onwards. LISFRANK’s music is completely analogue electronics with drum machine (or real drums on two tracks), very unique and each a track a classic of its own kind. The early tracks until 1983 are rough and dark, and form the 12” album together with similar early composed but later recorded tracks thus creating an overall and coherent dark atmosphere throughout the whole album. As the 1984/85 tracks “Stay with me” and “My Toy” were more pop-oriented they didn’t perfectly fit to the album’s atmosphere and were thus put onto the accompanying 7”. LISFRANK’s lyrics are very dark and full of despair, dealing with personal fears, self-perception and the problems arising from this and other human interactions (“My mind is like a stormy sea – violent”, “Here is all my bitterness”, “Man without limits – Sees hope die - Man without limits – Sees darkness fall within”, “Imprisoned in a nightmare - My terror becomes desperation” or “Your true identity upsets me”), or other topics like ecological pollution (e.g. “I don’t want to breathe your smog - I don’t want to breathe your poison”). All in all, this release is maybe one of the most important and interesting albums coming out of Italy, made by an intelligent person and great composer who is now occasionally recording again. An alternative mix of “Identity” is also going to be released these days on the LP sampler “Danza Meccanica – Italian Synth Wave 1982-1987” (Mannequin/In The Nighttime, MNQ 005/NT012, 2009). |
