London-based indie-rock singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Vittorio Tolomeo, aka Quarry, has an electrifying, zanny new album, Super Arcade. It’s quite a ride.
The lead single from the album is the title track, “Super Arcade,” which was recently chosen as Song of the Day by Rolling Stone (France).
With a hard-hitting, gritty romp, rebellious vibe, quirky, sometimes creepy, vocals, and fuzzy guitar riffs that are connected to many pedals, it’s understandable that the magazine editors picked this stomping, rocking track to present to its readers. In addition, they created a nifty and artistic music video as well.
“It was fun making this stop-motion video. There are marvelous drawings and the director had a brilliant idea. There are two parallel worlds. I’m based in an ideal environment within the underground world.”
“There is the transition from cartoon to human when I come down from the messed-up world above, through a porthole,” Tolomeo explains.
“Many people asked if we shot the video inside of a boat because of the porthole. But we filmed that in the illustrator’s bathroom where there is a porthole,” he says, adding, “I think that the video conveys the idea of detachment from many unnecessary things of this age perfectly.”
Super Arcade has many other surprises and intriguing moments.
It’s important for context to set the scene that led up to the recording and release of Super Arcade. It was a project long ago planned by the British rocker. We need to go back a bit.
The setting is a quiet warehouse filled with dozens of old pinball machines and arcade games. For Tolomeo, a longtime video and arcade game fanatic, it’s heavenly.
Combining games like pinball machines and music may lead one to think of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” but that is not what we have here.
While Tolomeo casts himself as “an occasional pinball wizard,” neither his love for arcades and video games, nor music, was the result of The Who. The combination was completely manifest within his own interesting universe from childhood into adulthood.
The master plan for the album started with the idea to construct a recording studio in the warehouse and amongst the pinball machines and video games. Once the studio was set-up, Tolomeo started a musical journey many musicians do not experience.
What followed was years of experimenting with sound effects and compositions.
It was in his new recording studio that Tolomeo found his techniques and skills were improving and maturing the more he experimented. It was the perfect environment for his creativity and talents to blossom.
“For a musician, a place to make music is a continuous journey in unexplored galaxies, it’s freedom, it’s shelter,” explains Tolomeo.
It wasn’t just video games, sound effects and unique compositions that he had on his mind.
“Making the record in such a strange place was necessary to stop time and detach myself from the unnecessary things of this age. I realized that I wanted to express the value of awkwardness.”
“When I think about the invasion of bloggers of nothingness, talent shows, false myths and ephemeral notoriety, I get comfortable with being out of place and out of time.”
Such observations are plentiful on the 10-track album.
Take the second track, “Inside The Morning Light.” It also opines on modern life. The stomping, distorted sound may remind some of the Black Keys or Cage The Elephant. That technique, paralleled with riveting guitars and percussion, gives the track an unmistakable overall ominous vibe. One will notice while listening to the album the effective stomping sounds; techniques Tolomeo employs often and with great effectiveness.
That’s followed by the frenzied song, “Everything And Its Opposite.” The track is a fast-moving, spiraling rocker driven by Tolomeo’s intriguing guitar playing and techniques.
The song presents a surreal, even terrifying, “picture of giant corporate digital monopolies” whose precious algorithms, unfortunately, influence every aspect of daily life. The lazy, mystical track, “Man With The Scars,” pays tribute to David Bowie, he says.
Other tracks like the zany, grooving and rocking “Haters Online” (another hater online/that’s what you’ll find) and “Firefighter,” with its infectious and unforgettable guitar riffs, take direct target at social media and “the border between virtual and real,” Tolomeo says.
Then there is the infectious, oddly-titled visionary ballad, “Sweet Alien On Creamy Skis,” which Tolomeo says celebrates people who still hold out hope that the planet might be saved from visitors from beyond. However, in reality, that’s a bad strategy.
Tolomeo’s vocals sometimes remind me of Tim Curry’s voice in the cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie. His voice is often deep and sometimes creepy while at the same time perfectly fit for the sonic landscapes he creates. He can even hit high notes, although he rarely does.
The track, “London Cloak,” creates a strange, almost surreal, vibe, starting out in slow-motion almost, percussions until the track hits the chorus. Then things get crazy musically and vocally. It’s funk and rock mixed with a Frank Zappa-like approach and veins of psychedelic music (that take on so many shapes and textures throughout the album that it truly is amazing). Tolomeo is totally free to create the sound he wants and it’s not your ordinary fare.
Songs like “Longest Years,” have so much going on and so many elements that it would be quite a challenge for anyone to replicate or cover most of his songs. This track also has bongo drums and mystic, almost Middle Eastern like chanting along with a riveting set of electric guitar notes that are fed through a number of pedals and filters.
The album closes with, “Reborn,” a sinister-sounding track with a precious pairing of note changes between his powerful guitar and the bass. As the track progresses it dives head-first into shifting notes, story-telling, and Tolomeo’s distinctive vocals.
Tolomeo’s years of experimenting with sounds in order to make this uniquely sounding, engaging, entertaining and rocking album. It’s not hard to say that it’s one of the best albums we’ve heard this year in as far as musicians who are intent on making rich, ingredient-filled, textured, layered and totally different music by taking advantage of their artistic freedom.
Afterall that’s the greatest aspect of the indie rock genre – that musicians who can’t, or won’t, fit into a nicely formed genre identity, are allowed to experiment and genre-mix as much as they want. And often what comes from such freedom is good stuff.
But no matter how heavy or sarcastic a subject is, the music is infectious all the way through, combining heavy-hitting drums, slashing guitars with melodic hooks, distorted, chunky bass lines with an alternative pop-rock confection.
Tolomeo played all the instruments for most of the tracks on the album. He and his band plan to tour Europe and the U.S. in the spring and summer of 2020.
