Gentilesky

Reviews

Gentilesky Dream LP

This LP, the band’s second, is the first I’m hearing of this Sardinian/Istanbulite act. I somehow missed their 2024 debut, so I was thrown for a bit of a loop when I got some slick-as-shit melodic post-punk instead of the BO DIDDLEY beats and SONICS-y yowls, maybe some harmonica I expected—you know, your standard Slovenly Euro garage fare. The band even has ties to the RIPPERS, who might be thee paradigmatic Slovenly Euro garage act! Bait-and-switch aside, this record has its moments. There’s a big GANG OF FOUR influence running through the nine tracks that make up the record, and when they hew close to that sound, I’m into it. When they stray into math rock territory, I’m less interested. I do think the recording is a tad too polished, and the band has a tendency to launch into some relatively grandiose choruses that seem a little too…”obvious” doesn’t seem like the right word, but it’s getting close. Still, some great songs here. Fans of their debut (which I’ve since gone back and listened to and is maybe more my speed) should find plenty to like.

Gentilesky Ways of Seeing LP

Debut LP from this Sardinia-via-Istanbul quartet, with a hype sticker invoking the names of numerous femme-forward post-punk outfits that will typically push my buttons when referenced—EDITH NYLON, LILIPUT, BUSH TETRAS, LIZZY MERCIER DESCLOUX, and the MO-DETTES?! In reality, GENTILESKY’s approach is way more toughened-up/garage-informed (the mention of TYRADES is by far the most accurate) and not nearly as funky/dance-oriented as those comparisons would suggest, with production that’s a lot cleaner than what I tend to gravitate toward in the art-punk spectrum. Guitarist Claudio Zucca slashes away with serrated, Andy Gill-like abandon (although the sheet metal edge seems to have been somewhat dulled by the compression of digital recording), and the vocals are pushed really forward in the mix, which suits Yaprak Kirdök’s expressive wails well enough, but when bassist Andrea Pilleri joins in on backing shouts and GENTILESKY digs into an especially busy groove, like the chorus to “Freedom is Coming,” it veers into the sort of slick maximalism that I’d more closely associate with mid-’00s coke loft dance punk than early Rough Trade. There’s also a dizzying number of twists and turns on display here, both structurally and stylistically, that will dash any illusions of scrappy DIY amateurism—“Honesty” kicks into some punctuated, MINUTEMEN-by-way-of-GANG OF FOUR trebly scratch that’s conceptually adjacent, but the knotted rhythms and quiet/loud dynamics of “My Hands” are late ’90s Touch & Go if anything (one part SHELLAC, one part BLONDE REDHEAD), and the title track is seven minutes of drowsy and vaguely VELVETS-y sprawl. Maybe it’s just the cognitive dissonance between what was promised and what was delivered that’s keeping me from fully connecting with Ways of Seeing; your results may vary.