Castelli, the Milan-based solo project of Stefano Castelli (Clone Culture), crafts a sound both spectral and shimmering, where icy synths clash with soaring guitars, and whispered Italian vocals drift through the ether like distant transmissions from a forgotten future. His latest offering, Londra nel deserto, feels like a city caught in time, a mirage flickering between nostalgia and reinvention.
Produced alongside Luca Urbani (Soerba, Garbo, Fluon), with backing vocals from Alberto Styloo and guitar work from Claudio Chiodi, the track melds ‘80s-infused synth-pop with a spectral Italo-disco pulse, cloaked in an eerie, cinematic haze. There’s a touch of Parade Ground’s brooding menace, the grandeur of Ultravox, and a beat that shimmers with distant neon.
Released as part of Italia Synthetica 2025, curated by Fred Ventura, Londra nel deserto is both a hymn to the past and a reaching hand toward something new; a place where longing and transformation entwine.
The release arrives with a video by Stefania Carbonara that bleeds with high-contrast intensity, a xeroxed hallucination set in motion. Pink hues spill like neon on wet pavement, smudging the line between the organic and the artificial. Nature breathes in grainy distortion, hypnotic and hazy, shifting like a half-remembered dream. The images do not simply accompany the music—they mirror its pulse, its longing, its restless drift. Each frame, raw and unfiltered, feels like a glimpse into something just beyond reach, a world suspended between static and silence, where motion hums like an unfinished thought.
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In 2021, Castelli stepped into the spotlight with his first EP, a stark, shimmering dispatch from the neon-lit ruins of yesterday and the distant echoes of tomorrow. The release featured 1984, a duet with Italian new wave pioneer Garbo.
Now, in May 2025, he returns with Notte Davvero, set to arrive on Spittle Records/Goodfellas in vinyl and digital form, a record built in solitude but destined for the stage. Castelli writes, sings, and shapes every note himself, with production support from longtime collaborator Luca Urbani (Soerba, Garbo, Fluon), who joins him in the live lineup alongside guitarist Claudio Chiodi.
From underground sanctuaries to festival stages, Castelli has stood alongside the restless and the revelatory, performing with Nuovo Testamento, Curses, Korine, M!R!M, Molly Nilsson, Ultra Sunn, She Past Away, Metronomy, Madeline Goldstein, Dancing Plague, and Planet Funk. A voice from the past, an echo of the future, an artist caught between the two.
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