The Obscure Side of Italian Cinema: Sample Forgotten Master Tapes by Four Flies

We’ve always been on a hunt for rare or lost material, and we’ve often found ourselves exploring uncharted territories. Particularly in the early days, Pierpaolo (founder & CEO of Four Flies) and Andrea (our A&R) manically went through films, TV, and radio broadcasts from the 70s and early 80s with their ears sharpened. Looking for beautiful but obscure or forgotten music that—as long-time Italian genre film enthusiasts—they knew was there. And they found it, even though in most cases there was very little if no information at all about it.

One of the “music mysteries” they solved at the time is the soundtrack to Mario Caiano’s 1972 giallo film L'occhio nel labirinto (Eye in the Labyrinth). Pierpaolo and Andrea had been hunting for a recording of Roberto Nicolosi’s original score across multiple official archives, unsuccessfully, when they finally came across a library album called Atmosfera (1973). Not only did they realize that the album contained the complete soundtrack, but they found out that Nicolosi’s score had been used also in an Italian television show called Alchimia! Two examples of that soundtrack are “Reality,”, which features an epic brass intro and a stunning rhythm section, and the song “Breath”, which is especially notable for its hypnotic bassline and psychedelic sax passages.

To cut a very long story short: Italian ‘golden age’ film and library composers enjoyed both creative freedom and financial support. This means they could experiment and be eclectic to a degree that is simply unthinkable today. On top of that, most of them were also performers and played instruments that contemporary producers would die for: synths such as the Moog, ARP 2600, and the EMS VCS 3… and even proto-samplers like the one invented by Mario Nascimbene in the early 60s, which he used in the album Psycorama.

Or take a record like Oscar Rocchi’s Dramatest. How would you categorize it nowadays? Sci-fi horror? Or maybe, music for a cave-diving documentary...? The fact is, it’s a typical example of Italian library music: a mixture of ambient, industrial, concrete, and mood music. A total delight!

The first title that comes to mind is “Sweet Lullaby” by Fabio Fabor, a track that remained unknown to many before we rescued it from the composer’s archive. It has a rich, sweetly childlike quality to it. The song’s memorable melody and its magical-sounding electric piano parts are perfect for sampling.

It’s all about the way Italian soundtracks and libraries resonate with today’s listeners and creators: DJs play them, people dance to them, producers and beatmakers sample them, and composers draw inspiration from them to write new music. Somehow, they’re extremely modern—even timeless, if you pass me the term. Think of Giampiero Boneschi’s “Dune” and Fabio Fabor’s “Landscape.” Both tracks transcend the era in which they were produced and recorded. They speak to us in a language that is still relevant and current today.

Much of what we do stems from the desire to protect and preserve a hidden part of Italy’s musical legacy. Tracklib gives us the chance to promote this musical legacy across the globe in the safest possible way. We believe it’s a democratic, efficient, forward-looking, and fair model for rightsholders and music creators alike.