Primo Quarto

‘Primo Quarto’ is a record full of late-night tales about beats and jazz (you guessed it) and a musical friendship that manifested itself in an apartment building in Bologna after dark. 13 tracks produced and mixed on the first floor (where Yawuh lives) and on the fourth floor (where Koralle’s studio is located) – with the help of an A-list of local musicians (Matteo Magnaterra, Piergiorgio Perrella, Giovanni Tamburini, Gianluca Arcesilai), three MCs from the US (Anti-Lilly, Tiff The Gift, Physical Graffiti), and producer friends Saib (Berlin), Phlocalyst (Luz), and Lorenzo Morresi (Milan).‘Primo Quarto’ is an Italian expression that refers to the first quarter of the moon, Koralle and Yawuh explain: “The lunar phase when the moon is half-illuminated and half in shadow. For us, this moment captures the emotional core of the album: a balance between light and dark, the seen and the hidden, clarity and mystery.”But how does the music actually sound? Listen to ‘Shangri-La’, one of the strongest cuts on this consistently very strong album. An earthy soul jazz tune with a solid groove but a chilled vibe and lush arrangement of guitar, bass, synth, flugelhorn, and trumpet – borrowing its name from the utopian Tibetan city of the same name.“‘Primo Quarto’ is like our version of Shangri-La,”Yawuh says. “A peaceful, surreal city at night where urban life quietly merges with nature, stillness, and secrets.”When Yawuh is not making music with Koralle, he runs the label collective Beat’s Tailors and is part of the jazz hip-hop group Unword.Koralle needs no further introduction: he is one of Italy’s best beatmaker-turned-musicians, period. From ‘Bassona’ – his 2024 weird jazz/world music album with Francesco Giampaoli – to ‘Eat The Kiwi Skin’, the best UK rap album produced outside of the UK (with London MC Isatta Sheriff on mic duties), Koralle is our man from Bologna. On his three solo albums on Melting Pot Music, he has perfected his signature jazz beat sound and hooked up with artists like FloFilz, Turt (Summers Sons), Twit One, KeepVibesNear, Pachakuti, Kuranes, Kid Abstrakt, and Figub Brazlevic.