Hugo Race & Michelangelo Russo
100 Years
Following a spectacular European tour Hugo Race & Michelangelo Russo tour Australia with their new '100 Years' album (out now on Gusstaff/MGM).
Check out the video for the title track '100 Years':
Hugo Race/Michelangelo Russo is a dynamic duo that delivers a unique blend of experimental blues and electronica. Hugo Race, an Australian-born musician and producer, brings his haunting vocals and intricate guitar work to the table, while Michelangelo Russo, an Italian multi-instrumentalist, adds layers of psychedelic sounds with his electric harp and percussion skills. Together, they create a mesmerizing fusion of traditional blues elements with contemporary electronic beats, taking listeners on a sonic journey through different eras and genres. Their performances are known for their improvisational nature, making each show a one-of-a-kind experience. Hugo Race/Michelangelo Russo truly push the boundaries of what can be achieved in the realm of music.
In 2017, the duo released John Lee Hooker's World Today (Glitterhouse/Gusstaff Records), a tribute to the blues legend’s delta legacy reinvented in a swirling mix of analog grit and deep trance pulses.
Recorded in a two day live studio session, 100 Years focuses the duo's sonic alchemy on Race’s evocative songwriting. Electric harmonica, echoing guitars, smoky vocals and primal beats in a hypnotic wall of sound suspended in time and space celebrating endurance and redemption, hand-made from ancient roots.
“Tradition does not mean passing the ashes, but the fire.”
100 Years. Recorded November 1 & 2, 2023. Recorded by Andrew ‘Idge’ Hehir at Soundpark Studios, Melbourne. Mastered by Giovanni Versari at La Maesta, Milano. Photography by Meredith O’Shea. Design by Collica & Beck at minusdesign, Berlin. Published by Peermusic.
PRESS
Rock’n’Roll Monuments, Greece: “Race and Russo's pioneering electronic atmospheres give the historical Blues something you never imagined possible.”
Rolling Stone, Germany: 'Dark Eros and transcendental blues...'
Musikreviews.de, Germany: "A psychedelic ghost blues of a profound sort, a mature, sensitive interpretation of the music and lyrics of John Lee Hooker. (Race and Russo) have blown us away in slow motion, economically instrumented and with painfully beautiful intensity. “
Q, London: "A darkly singular experience then, and one of the best records (Race) has ever made..."
The Music, Australia: "A collection of bluesy, brooding songs from a talented singer- songwriter with three decades of musicianship under his belt."
Eclipsed, Germany: "Hypnotic rhythms and haunting guitars, this album tingles under your skin..."
Focus Kultur, Germany: "No one else makes music like this, and that in itself is an achievement..."
Rock and Folk, Paris: 'This traveler without borders advances through a menacing atmosphere of no-wave electro-acoustics. Here is the spirit, and he does not forget the body and the soul ... '
Tom Tom Rock, Italy: “An almost epic attack, worthy of the soundtrack of an apocalyptic post- nuclear catastrophe film... a talking blues of the third millennium, filtered by years of psychedelia and industrial music.”
