'Archeo Recordings 10 Year Anniversary' Volume 2 EP

AR032 - 'ARCHEO RECORDINGS 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY' VOLUME 2 EP + 29x29 Insert:

Second release of the 'Archeo Recordings 10 Year Anniversary' series featuring Remixes and Reworks by various Artists from the entire Archeo catalog, on which the label's favourite contemporaries pay homage to past masters.

AR032 is Limited Edition EP (100 copies on Shocking Pink vinyl + 1 x Archeo Logo sticker + 1 x Archeo Logo magnet) + 29x29 Insert with 4 new Remixes:
A1. Riccardo Giagni - Passeggera (Mudd Remix) - from AR016 LP - 2019
A2. Mario Acquaviva - Notturno Italiano (Relative Feat. Club Soda Remix) - from AR018 EP - 2019
B1. Sth. Notional - Yawn Yawn Yawn (Be.Lanuit & Phil Cooper Balearic Life Reality Remix) - from AR012 3x12" - 2018
B2. Tony Esposito - Veronica Song (Hear & Now Remix) - from AR013 EP - RSD 2018

With the first volume still singing out both in our ears and on our turntables, Archeo Recordings lifts the veil on the second chapter of its celebratory EP series - another shimmering tribute to the timeless and the timely. Once again, the torch is passed to a new ensemble of sonic sculptors, who delve into the archives and emerge with reimagined treasures, equal parts reverence and reinvention.

Philosopher and musical polymath Riccardo Giagni made his name as a cultural curator for RAI TV and radio, before lending his expertise in ethnomusicology as a studio musician and songwriter. Originally released to little fanfare and long overlooked until its Archeo reissue in 2019, his 1988 debut LP Kaunis Maa is a masterwork of Balearic ethno-jazz - a guitar-led journey through imagined geographies and dreamt-up dialects. Its closing track, Passeggera, pairs Mediterranean nylon with synth halos, sampled percussion, and the unplaceable vocals of Matia Bazar’s Antonella Ruggiero, singing not in language but in emotion. Now, Claremont 56’s Paul Murphy aka Mudd lends his gentle hand to the piece, reworking its al fresco fusion into something even more languorous. Highlighting the South American sway hinted at in the original, Mudd introduces jazzy synth flourishes, airy percussion, and occasional organ bass, casting the piece anew as a hammock-swung hymn - less a remix than a relocation, from the hills of Lazio to the lush gardens of Mudd’s imagination.

Back in 2019, Archeo did music lovers a particular kindness, reissuing Mario Acquaviva’s in-demand and eye-waveringly expensive self-titled EP from 1983. Across four tracks, the Milan musician married blue-eyed soul, art pop, and mellow fusion with a disco groove perfect for sunsets and seashores, aided and abetted by the studio prowess of Mauro Spina. Chief among its charms was Notturno Italiano, a twilight love letter set to a languid groove. For this new rework, Archeo passes the torch to Flexi Cuts founder Relative and his studio familia Club Soda, whose collective hands lovingly dismantle and reconstruct the piece. In their retelling, Notturno Italiano becomes a sweltering disco cruise. The radio static and found sounds of the original sit behind a shuffling disco 4/4, leaving ample room for sun-kissed Rhodes to sway along with the effortless bass groove. Stripping the original elements back and dubbing them out, Relative and co. give us a golden gaze into a place where vocals shimmer with heat haze, gentle sequences rise and fall like waves, and jazz motifs flutter on the breeze. What results is pure summer bliss - a postcard from a dream vacation, sent via sequencer.

From Milan to Tokyo, Archeo’s generosity knows no borders. Much like its reissue of Mario Acquaviva, it performed an act of extreme kindness in 2018 with its reissue of Japanese Balearic gem Yawn Yawn Yawn by one-off project Sth. Notional. Originally released on Zero Corporation in 1992, this peaceful combination of piano, double bass, strings, and guitars walked barefoot through the same long grass as Penguin Cafe Orchestra and In The Nursery, following a desire line between neo-classical, chill out, and ambient. As such, it soon became a Balearic grail, much feted by the likes of Mison, Moonboots, Dr. Rob and Apiento, and practically impossible to score on vinyl even by the time Discogs first emerged. For its 2018 triple pack, Archeo compiled the ten tracks and versions found across the original vinyl and CD release, alongside a quartet of new mixes from a who’s who of Japan’s Balearic chapter. Now, the Florentine label invites Ibiza’s Be.Lanuit & NuNorthern Soul boss Phil Cooper to collaborate on a hypnotic version of the title track, which pulls from dub, dancehall, breakbeat, and electro-acoustic - yet exists entirely in a sound world of its own. Utilising elements from each of the different original mixes, the duo delivers a true horizontal head-nodder, in the lovely lineage of Tranquility Bass and Mad Professor’s Massive Attack dubs.

Archeo’s symbiotic relationship with Neapolitan legend Tony Esposito continues here, as the label returns to its 2018 RSD release, which saw a clutch of choice cuts from his 2004 CD Viaggio Tribale find their first time on vinyl. Operating in singer-songwriter mode, Tony packed the album with laid-back grooves and downtempo delights, utilising modern production techniques, vocal effects, and programming to offer a new vision of his kaleidoscopic Mediterranean pop. First among equals on the CD set was Veronica Song, a stunning downbeat ballad which echoes across the ocean into an infinite sunset. Archeo slides the stems into the trusted hands of frequent collaborators Hear & Now, who close the set with something truly special. Chiming acoustic guitar sinks into sultry pads, setting the scene for the gradual build-up of gentle rhythms, layered vocals, and shimmering sequences that let us know we’re in safe hands. The unhurried arrangement reveals its motifs at its own pace, drawing out the delivery of the original’s infectious melodies and heartbreaking vocals before finally locking into an almost entheogenic groove. As all those unstoppable elements coalesce, the track emerges as a horizontal offspring of Frankie’s Hallucinogenic outing or a Mediterranean cousin of Calm’s classic cosmic version of CitiZen of Peace. Future-facing, but with an innate understanding of the past, this is the embodiment of the Archeo ethos.

Patrick Ryder.

AR032 Volume 2 EP:

A1. Riccardo Giagni - Passeggera (Mudd Remix) 5:21
A2. Mario Acquaviva - Notturno Italiano (Relative Feat. Club Soda Remix) 7:19
B1. Sth. Notional - Yawn Yawn Yawn (Be.Lanuit & Phil Cooper Balearic Life Reality Remix) 7:02
B2. Tony Esposito - Veronica Song (Hear & Now Remix) 7:03

Executive Producer: Manu Archeo
Remixes by Mudd (Claremont 56); Relative Feat. Club Soda (Flexi Cuts); Be.Lanuit & Phil Cooper (NuNorthern Soul); Hear & Now
Mastered by Marcoradi
Artwork by Manu Archeo

July 2025