: Describing their style as Latin Desert & Funeral Party music, Opez clearly go their own special way. But listen to the debut album Dead Dance and you will find that this path is quite an exciting one. Set in a haunting environment of acoustic instruments and an expertly stylish production, the twelve songs recorded by duo Massi Amadori and Francesco Tappi are a journey into a twilight world of emotion and imagination. If you take an off-road trip to the region north of Perugia and south of Firenze, west of Livorno and east of San Marino you will find a number of little recording studios. This is Italys heartland you pass through when you travel down from Milano towards Rome. It is exactly here where multi instrumentalists Massi Amadori (guitars, slide guitar, percussions, ukulele, freeze sound & harmonium) and Francesco Tappi (double bass, bows, whistle) recorded Dead Dance. Les aul or Django Reinhardt immediately come into mind during a first listen, even the Mississippi Delta blues sound or Billy Vaughns happy orchestral sound being turned completely upside down. But Dead Dance has its own individual melancholy, a lonely sound supervised by Italian afro-jazz-fusion expert Andrea Benini of Mop Mop, not too far away from Angelo Badalamentis mysterious soundscapes for David Lynchs Twin Peaks series, especially on the dark and entangling Sanfisa. With additional musicians like the two percussionists and drummers Fabio Paglierani, an expert in dub who brings a echoing twist to the sultry groove of Adriatica and the first single and video Carlos Primero or Fabio Mocambo Tozzi who puts Estelita, Diavolanza, Malinco and Libre into an authentic Fifties environment Dead Dance is a band affair. The vocals of Annalisa Bartolini (Carlos Primero and Sangoda) as well as Dimitri Didi Mazzs (Malinco) add to the complete picture