Daniele Baldelli & Marco Fratty - Oil Painting (2020)

Over the years Daniele Baldelli has released quite a few albums, though it would be fair to say that none are anywhere near as good as this terrific collaboration with fellow Italian scene legend Marco Fratty. The genius of "Oil Painting" lies in the pair's ability to fuse chugging, typically cosmic grooves and mind-altering synthesizer motifs with the hot-to-trot grunt of funk-rock and disco-funk. It's a template that guarantees a string of high quality cuts from start to finish, with our favourites including the arpeggio-driven throb of organ-heavy smasher "Steam Engine", the melodious dub disco flex of "Jasmine Flavour", the Cymande tribute "Slinky Funk", the eye-closed rock guitar solos and trippy cosmic disco grooves of "Column", and the Nu Guinea-on-steroids flex of "Positive Flow".