A fresh take on Italian film music's quirky, kitschy golden age for fans of Ennio Morricone, Mr. Bungle, John Zorn. Band leader Simon Hanes writes music in the tradition of Ennio Morricone and other Italian composers of Spaghetti Westerns, comedy-romances and giallo scaries of the Sixties and Seventies. Throwing bossa nova, rock, funk, jazz and pop into a studio blender, these composers' anything-goes approach inspired former Guerilla Toss bassist Hanes to form Tredici Bacci ("13 kisses"), a 14-piece horns-and-strings vehicle for sexy, mysterious, mod-à-go-go romps through pop's eccentric European past. Tredici's debut album, Amore per Tutti, finds guest vocalists navigating Hanes's marvelously arranged kitsch-pop fantasias. "My worst enemy is an audience that's never seen The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," Hanes says. — Rolling Stone
Bay Area long time keeper of the flame with ska based instrumentals featuring original and covers of Jamaican oldies. Trombonist Scott Larson founded the band out of a long standing love and respect for traditional Jamaican music. Franco Nero combines the music of Ska, Rock Steady and Reggae to provide a wide range of musical traditions. Franco Nero is comprised of some of the finest Bay Area musicians who bring their improvisational skills, along with hard-driving beats, to push the traditions of Ska.