BELLINI

Bellini is a rhythmic, tight, beautifully aggressive quartet consisting of Agostino Tilotta, his wife Giovanna Cacciola (both also of Italy's famed Uzeda), bassist Matthew Taylor (the Romulans) and drummer Alexis Fleisig (Girls Against Boys, Soulside). Though retaining some of the basic elements of their former selves, Bellini are more focused, more structured and more rhythmic than ever before. They embody the true spirit of perseverance and punk rock, making uncompromising, honest music strictly for the brutal love of it.



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Recorded as always with long-time collaborator Steve Albini, The Precious Prize of Gravity is Bellini's most accomplished production yet. Guitarist Agostino Tilotta wraps a hundred notes per minute around the towering, sturdy rhythm section of Matthew Taylor and Alexis Fleisig (Girls Against Boys), while Giovanna Cacciola's poetic lyrics and smoky melodies alternately recall Grace Slick and PJ Harvey. With no less than four songs centering around the deaths of loved ones (including the heart-wrenching "The Thin Line," featuring Andy Cohen and Tim Midgett of Silkworm/Bottomless Pit), Precious Prize is lyrically Bellini's darkest album yet. Never wanting to repeat themselves, the songs are more complex and progressive than the comparatively stark Small Stones, with a driving, X-inspired cowpunk.



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Bellini makes their triumphant return with new drummer Alexis Fleisig (Girls Against Boys, Soulside). Small Stones is Bellini's second album, and the first to feature Fleisig. Recorded in a whirlwind 5-day session in a dilapidated studio in Austin, TX (much of which was spent watching their old friend Steve Albini begrudgingly repair neglected recording equipment), Small Stones is the sound of a band made stronger. More melodic, more rhythmic and more intense than anything that vocalist Giovanna Cacciola and husband/guitarist Agostino Tilotta have ever been involved with, Tilotta's guitar stabs punctuate the relentless rhythm section of bassist Matthew Taylor and Fleisig. And more than ever before Cacciola sings, her voice exuding an assured power and effortless sexiness that eludes most contemporary vocalists. If Bellini had to endure tragedy before enjoying triumph, Small Stones is as brilliant a reward as they could have ever hoped for.