the 2+2=5: into the future

Italian new wave masterpiece from 1984. Extremely rare dark minimal synth LP, released in 1984 through No Name Records in Italy and now reissued by Mannequin Records for the 30th anniversary. One of the crown jewels of the minimal synth scene. On a cold autumn evening in Milan in 1981, Nino La Loggia met Giacomo Spazio for the first time. The two had the same passion for music: Kraftwerk, Joy Division, D.A.F. and the whole new scene of proto-electronic wave. Together they decided to start the musical project called 2 + 2 = 5, a tribute to Orwellian dystopia. Shortly after, Cha Cha Hagiwara joined the band. Already a keyboard player in Jeunesse d'Ivoire, she enriched the band's raw sound with sonority and resonance which we can now define as analog. After several gigs around Milan, Turin and Switzerland, in 1983, the trio entered the studio to record their first LP titled Into the Future, which is widely considered one of the most important Italian new wave albums. Expect classic cold wave and minimal electronic Italian sounds in the vein of Cocteau Twins, A Certain Ratio, Joy Division. The role of 2+2=5 was crucial in the development of the Italian alternative music scene. Giacomo Spazio in 1983 established with Ermanno Gomma Guarnieri UT distribution, the first Italian company that distributed counter-culture punk material (tapes, records and fanzines). Then, in 1986, he was among the founders of the first Italian no copyright & electronic counter-culture magazine called Decoder. In 1987 he founded the independent music magazine Vinile and the related independent label Vox Pop, that later became one of the most famous and important indie-rock Italian labels. Nino La Loggia on his side contributed to agitating the Italian underground music scene, as DJ and producer and as co-owner of one of the most important record shops in Milan called Ice Age, now sadly closed.