Numero Deux

Dining Rooms | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Guidance Recordings
• ASIN: B00005NQK3
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #182,431 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

"numero Deux" is the Second Album of Stefano Ghittoni and Cesare Malfatti AKA the Dining Rooms, after the Good Debut with " Subterranean Modern Vol. One " Released in January 1999. It Amplifies and Radicalizes the Concepts of the First Album with More Hip Hop Rhythms’ Derivation, Blues Ambient Atmospheres and Jazz Accents. There Are also Two Downright Real Songs." Numero Deux " Utilizes the Creative Contribution of Various Guests: Sepiatone (Marta Collica and Hugo Race), Co-authors of "false Start" and "chorus of Flames". The Electric Bass of Luca Lagash on "sei Tu" and "numero Deux". Vincent Dalschaert and Dany Greggio in "verso Il Sole". We also Want to Remind You About Maria Arena’s Collaboration. She is the Person who Created the Collage of the Cover and Directed the Videos of "numero Deux", "false Start" and "sei Tu". They Are Included in Compact Disc Format as a CD-ROM Tracks. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Give it more than 1 Listen..., February 17, 2003

By 

bordersj2 (Boston) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Numero Deux (Audio CD)

I have to admit, when I first picked this up I wasn't so impressed. And that was a while ago. I'd heard a few of their tracks on various compilations - and if you add in their label (Edizioni-Ishtar/Milano 2000), it was a no-brainer. So I popped it in, gave it a whirl and was left thinking: "Good. Not spectacular, but good."

The lesson I learned came with having it in a not so great stereo. After putting it on in the car, and then in the home system, wow! Spacey beats, Airy rythms, subtle voices, precision samples - very impressive collection of sound and landscapes on the tracks! "Invocation" is a song that just jams and glides.

The style isn't chill-out or cafe/bossa - it's more along the lines of DJ/soundtrack like with beats. Think Blue States (Nothing Changes Under the Sun) meets Fragmentorchestra meets "Modular Systems" with a splash of the new Massive Attack. You can feel the Italian soundtrack influence, but it never sways very far from the modern. It's a CD that you put in, sit back, and go about with whatever you were doing. Never too heavy or too dark, just right.

Notable tracks in my opinion were Invocation, Cosi Ti Amo, Verso Il Sole, Chorus of Flames and - the cd has the perfect ending with Speak Into the Microphone. A good dj sound, a terrific album! Can't wait for their new one titled "Tre" - due out some time this spring.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A special find., March 23, 2002

By 

"urbanoid" (Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Numero Deux (Audio CD)

I first found out about The Dining Rooms when I bought the compilation Hi Fidelity Lounge Vol.3 ('Mr. Dupont' is the first track on the CD). Since I loved that compilation, and 'Mr. Dupont' is one of my favourites in there, I could not but buy TDR's CD 'Numero Deux' when I first saw it in a record store. To date, I 've listened to it many times and I always discover new things in every song. This is an excellent CD, full of ambient and jazzy tunes, which will create a very cinematic atmosphere. The terms 'lounge' and 'chill out' seem too narrow to be used in this case. This CD is a lot more. The two Italian brains behind this, Stefano Ghittoni and Cesare Malfatti, explore minimal forms of what it could be music for films from the late '60s and the early '70s. As a matter of fact, they say that the inspiration for the title of this CD came from director Jan-Luc Goddard. In my book, this is the proudful Italian answer to France's Air.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spaghetti Downtemo, January 30, 2002

By 

[e-mail] (los angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Numero Deux (Audio CD)

Milan's The Dining Rooms have sometimes drawn comparison to Thievery Corporation or Air. They are neither. Rather, one would have to imagine the music of Serge Gainsbourg cut up and reconstructed by DJ Shadow, playing as the soundtrack to a french new-wave film by Jean-Luc
Goddard. The brooding mood escapes typical electronica lounge clichés and enters darker
territories, driven by mid-tempo hip-hop breaks and haunting minor chords bass lines.
Occasional vocals, whether dialogue or sung melody, play as the nostalgic protagonists on an abandoned movie set. The production quality is tasteful and slick and leaves enough free space between the listeners ears,to let the film play in your head.