Spittle Records presents a reissue of Neon’s first album Rituals, originally released in 1985. Neon is undoubtedly one of the most influential and enduring bands of the Italian new wave. From the beginning, the band’s music was perfectly aligned with continental trends – integrating the attitude of early post-punk with certain types of electronic music that had timidly begun popping up on the club circuit, and an aesthetic that was a cross between late romanticism and decadentism. Inimitable bands like Neon breathed new life into even the most disagreeable and angular rock and roll, flirting with war-like dance music, and creating musical scenarios that were unheard of up until that point, placing them in harmony with some of the most talked-about British and German bands of the time. After a string of 12″s (five altogether) and a 7″, the band finally released their first LP, Rituals (originally released for the KinderGarten label and distributed by the major label, Polygram). This crucial album, which unquestionably represented the band’s creative peak, is being re-released by Spittle not merely for the sake of the album itself, but also as part of a wider campaign to document the Italian new wave scene. The eight tracks that make up this reissue represent one of the most original possible journeys into the Italian underground. Obsessively rhythmic, like a pagan ritual, with the vagueness and asperity of primordial rock and roll and an inkling of late seventies/early eighties electronica; a cultured dance, officiously contaminated by the sound of guitars that lead on their journey – if for no other reason than the act of faith performed for guru Jimi Hendrix in their cover of “Burning Of The Midnight Lamp”. This “return to the scene of the crime” is essential in the rediscovery of one of the soberest and adventurous breeds of Italian rock.

Brand new, never played, sealed