Killing Cartisano is Roberta Cartisano, Italian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and session musician, and, marking a departure from Roberta’s previous recordings under her own name, Killing Cartisano is also Roberta’s new incarnation.
Watch her new video for the first single off her forthcoming album on Broken Toys below. ‘The Drunk Man’ has a hook-laden hypnotic West Coast psychedelic vibe that just sucks you in. The Drunk Man will be available on Spotify from 9 February.
KC shared the following on the new single: “The Drunk Man was born in two hours. Especially the lyrics rained on me in a so weird way. I was playing my bass without overthinking, that words drove me to sing with a lower tone with a vivid picture of Tom Waits in Domino’s movie in my head. A crushing mix between madness and holiness. I mean. Who doesn’t want to be saved from Tom Waits coming to you driving a broken-down Cadillac (in the nowhere of the desert) while “Jesus Gonna Be Here” plays in the distance?
When I sent the album demo to George (S. Rosenthal, the co-producer), he proposed me to record it with a live studio session. So me, Mark (Nelsen, guitar) and Sonny (Pearce, drums) met at the Complex and recorded the song without having ever played it before together. In one hour or so, we had the final take and the video.”
Influenced by psychedelic folk-rock, orchestral pop, cinematic funk and trip-hop, her last album L’ultimo Cuore – The Last Heart, received rave reviews in her native Italy, where she was called “a pioneer of visionary sound”. Her original song-writing is highly personal and vivid, encapsulating the term “emotional rock”.
KC produces and arranges her soundscapes at her own Broken Toys Studio. She used to say that working on her songs is like “taking pictures with sound”. In support of her last album, she embarked on a long tour, taking in more than 100 shows. As a songwriter and session-musician (bass, piano synth) she has shared the stage with musicians such as Hugo Race (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), Marta Collica (John Parish Band), Enrico Gabrielli (P.J. Harvey) and more.
After Getting in touch with San Francisco’s underground music scene during her travels, inspired by Bay Area vibes Roberta morphed into Killing Cartisano. KC is Roberta, but raw; pure; naked.
Killing Cartisano is produced by Bay Area producer George S. Rosenthal and Roberta together. A hybrid of Roberta’s musical roots and an all-San Francisco band. Rosenthal also gathered some of the best local session musicians to perform Roberta’s arrangements, giving a west- coast vibe to the record.
During her transatlantic adventure, KC entered a Baptist Church in the bay area – just to experience the gospel sermon: “I was the only outsider. Everybody came to hug me. It was like being naked. In the middle of all this life. The Drunk Man. Drunk on Life. Feeling like a part of a whole, I suppose. I don’t know. I don’t figure out my songs. Once they are born they just belong to everybody.” She says, “So the Drunk Man it’s me, it’s you, it could be anybody – dizzy from all the emotion and now in this recording, to be played raw, pure, unfiltered”.
https://www.killingcartisano.com/