MP3 The Migrators - Goodbye Uncle

Concept album of a new Rock Opera. Power pop, psychedelic soulful drive, combined with modern technology that at times seems to sum up the coolest alternative sounds of the last decades. Vintage flavour, contemporary inspiration for an enlightening story.

19 MP3 Songs
POP: Power Pop, ROCK: Psychedelic



Details:
The Migrators have recently launched a premiere of their original Rock Opera, entitled Goodbye Uncle, whose concept album has just been released for A.d.R. publisher.

Goodbye Uncle CD package contains:

1. 19 songs CD (70 min.)
2. 16 x 20 cm, 40 pages full color Photo Booklet,
with 19 artistic photos that tell the story, plus
complete lyrics

NOTE: No synth sounds on the album! All real vintage instruments, enriched by creative digital technology. In other words : may sound so, but its not!

Story:

"Goodbye Uncleâ is a modern day fable. It is about the sudden realization of one person âShiny Kid, that the city he lives in is a Rubber city. He finds out something stunning â that the rubber is real and its production a plot, behind which there is someone - Uncle. His victims are the inhabitants of this city, who by Uncles deceptions become the very producers of the rubber, his slaves, and enemy to themselves and each other- therefore, Rubberons. Moreover, they dont have a slightest idea about what is happening to them, but it is Shiny Kid who will urgently set off to tell his fellow-citizens about the amazing discovery that can set them free. How will good win over evil, where will the good come from; why didnât Shiny Kid become a Rubberon; how can Uncle be defeated ? These are some of the main issues...

Music:

The Migrators power pop, mod psychedelic and soul roots, combined with modern technology have blended into a specific sound that at times seems to sum up the coolest alternative pop and rock music styles of the last decades. The music, the lyrics and the various visual forms (artistic photos, stage design, choreography, use of multimedia for live performances) underline, sustain, and give the playful depth to this virtual-true story.

The Migrators are lead by Roberto and Ana, who met in Beijing in 1997... but read more about everything in their biography... just a few lines below...


Biography:

* The Migrators became a band in the most unexpected way and place, considering their origin and background. In 1997, in the very centre of million populated capital of China - Beijing, Ana, from Belgrade and Roberto, from Rome, became friends. They didnt suspect that their love for alternative music and desire for adventure would become the crossroad of their lives.At that time, Robertos 79 mod revival band, The Underground Arrows, was playing its last two concerts in Rome and released a collection of works on a CD. Also another Robertos involvement - with Beijing based experimental band "The Nightmares", a live band in which together with Roberto featured Marco and Eddie, both playing with China rock star, Cui Jian, was over.
The two newly met lads decided that it was time to go back to Europe to work on new ideas, which ended up in a demo album and a concert in Rome in 1999. The line up, under the name of Never&TheLess, had Alessio Santoni (ex Underground Arrows) on drums, Marco Hsu (The Nightmares) on percussions, and Andrea Chionne on bass.The music of that time was Power Pop with extensive use of sequencers, but however fresh, that line up didnt continue. Never&TheLess became The Migrators and the band was approaching a new and more original road.

*The new songs were created in the atmosphere of Ana and Robertos strong personal and artistic changes caused by a sudden and great crisis, which eventually led them to have a new perspective on life. As they didnt stop making music, soon, in 2000, they released a limited edition album called Love Today- the album of personal spiritual awakening and creative joy - which included also a spoken story titled "Goodbye Uncle".

*For The Migrators, these are the years of exploration of new and exciting meaning they saw in their own lives and the lives of others. The feeling of boundless penetrated them and their music. The music was enriched with new approaches, like jazz chords, minor - major overlapping harmonies, Middle East tunings and powerful percussive rhythms, still all based on their power-pop, mod and psycho-soul background. The creative base were Belgrade (ex-Yugoslavia) and Rome, in turns. This daily journey in the "inner fields", full of tough & sweet effort, brought out to the surface many answers, consistent demo material and a full album, too. The chain of 13 new soul- riders got entitled Let Love Back Home.Let Love Back Home album had its official release in 2004 for a major Italian record label, but it was , for still unknown reasons, never promoted, nor distributed ... something that is to be probably understood only in the future. Besides, despite the undoubtedly fruitful musical outcome, The Migrators public appearance remained something of a seclusion. Although they performed new songs live on various occasions, it seemed that the time was not there yet for the band to fully show up.

* However, not too long after the release of Let Love Back Home, a wonderful idea came - to turn the story of "Goodbye Uncle" (written in 1999) into something more than an album... a concept album... a musical... no... a real Rock Opera! What a challenge for two-members band (shall we run away!?), but the undercurrents were stronger than the fears, and the work on the music started at the very end of 2004.
From getting down decisively on the "task" of the concept album, came a 19 tracks demo album. The music has one immediate impact: it seems to be taking the listener through various epoques of pop and rock music, from 60s R&B and Freakbeat, Funky & 70s Disco, and sure77 Punk, Power Pop, heading for the 80s&90s. The performance on the vintage instruments, like Vox Jaguar organs + Leslie, Rhodes electric piano, Framus, Rickenbacker, and Hoffner guitars, with the use of vintage amps, was combined with great possibilities of digital editing, in order to come out with original sounds that underline the soul of the story. This choice was intentional to the point of venturing into the import of new and special instruments, like Rhodes piano, for instance.The lyrics were extracted directly from the story, influencing both composing,arranging and recording of the songs. All that was done within a year time, in The Migratorss studio in Rome, but the final mixes showed the need for a bigger and analogue studio.

* In the meantime, unexpectedly an opportunity came to test the stucture of the story and the new music with the production of the Rock Opera as "a work in construction". The 50 minutes Goodbye Uncle premiere was staged on 19 April 2006 in Rome, after only a month and a half of production period and one day of rehearsals! The idea was to make the main evening show a climax of a whole day of dress rehearsals open to public. The 8 piece band, teenage dancers, and actors, with full volume PA & Lighting, steered by a crew of ready-for-action engineers, showed up inside the walls of an 18th century gothic Anglican church, All Saints, whose central geographical position made possible for the "unusual" sounds to come out of the church into the busy super commercial street, inviting an intrigued crowd in to see the show !The premiere was something of an unexpected success. A Roman monthly in English language put it this way: " All told, the musicians, the actors,director and producer have come with quite a slick production... halfway between bizzare and brilliant.." The atmosphere, which was surprisingly warm and emotional, had a powerful impact both on the participants and varied audience. It was a great kick for the continuation of the work on both the album and the performance, as well as to start thinking of using various multimedia forms close at hand.

* When the album was entering the final phase and the Rock Opera premiere was done, new forces joined the enterprise.Wishing to give the songs even more powerful sound as well as a rock solid rhythm section to the live performance, came the need for two crucial figures: bass player and drummer. Gianni Colaiacomo (John), an ex- "Banco del Mutuo Soccorso" (Italian70s Progressive most influential and loved band), a friend, and a creator of some great passages on The Undeground Arrows 80s recordings, was D - choice. He came to The Migrators recording place with his Warwick bass and only in a few evenings all "Goodbye Uncle"s bass lines were pumping up... Entering the Rock Opera live show, too, was a "sure thing" for him. Max, or rather Massimo Rosari, the "quickest learning drummer", and as his name was promissing, did a maximum job at the live performance. Considering that he had only three days to wrestle up 8 songs (the firstly appointed drummer left the project just a week before the show!), surely added on the joy to find such a musician - and such a good-humoured person too! Put together, those two guys made some heat.(If you would ask some people who saw the premiere, they would surely mention that the rhythm was the best thing there, awesome, or something like that...!)

In June 2006, Ana, Rob and Max are on their journey to Belgrade, to enter "Sky" studio for the recording of the drum tracks and the final mix-downs. Unorthodox sequence of recordings (not done on purpose) - rhythm section kept for the very end - was definitely a challenging thing for both the bass player and the drummer, but it was worth all of their effort and they made it. The choice of Vlada Negovanovic as a co-producer and of his studio, was just for one main reason : communication! Artistic and personal relationship, desired strongly from both sides, including, of course, the assistant engineer Boris, definitely rounded up the sound and the spirit of the songs and largely justified this latest migration to Belgrade. Back to Rome, the work on the final "Goodbye Uncle" sound happened in Mastering "Reference" Studio with Fabrizio De Carolis, an experience similar to the one at "Sky" studio, with friendly and professional cooperation recommended warmly to all people!

*By the time the sound of "Goodbye Uncle" was carried out in full, the question of graphic identity arised and there came the idea of the Photo Book in a larger than standard CD booklet format. The idea behind was simple - vynil records once had big, spacious sleaves, where you could for ever and again watch, examine, stay, with your favourite photos and lyrics - no problem with small fonts and small-size photos. You wished to have the record both for the music and the sleeve, so the record would become something of a treasure. Why not do the same in 2007? To try and tell the story of the Rock Opera through photos, giving it a recognizeable image as a whole, almost "naturally" came along. The PhotoBook was to be a series of 19 artistic photos, one for each song of the album.So, The Migrators and another surprise child, Massimo Paradiso, photographer and cameraman (made Goodbye Uncle premiere pilot DVD), in August 2006, put their immagination to work, in order to produce the story board. Then, they went around the urban scenery of Rome, to carry out the phtographic work. Once shot and before they went in print as the album booklet, the photos (veeery large format!) went public, and were presented at the Photo Exhibition, again at All Saints in Rome, November 2006.

The ltest news "Goobye Uncle" has been released, January 2007. Stay close and tuned for more...