You may not have heard of Planet Brain yet, 3 quiet Italian school friends who have been slowly honing their craft for the last decade, but once you have been exposed to their elegiac, transcendent rock music you will be hard pressed not to separate your life into two distinct categories: pre and post Planet Brain. The culmination of years of writing, refining and aural exploration their 2007 debut album ‘Compromises & Carnivals’ was an explosion of styles, a calling card album that contained a mesmeric set of songs that offer up a foundation that could easily be as important as Radiohead’s ’Pablo Honey’ or Muse’s ‘Showbiz’. Fusing together the psychedelic tinged guitars of Swervedriver and ‘Gish’ era Smashing Pumpkins to the caustic bombast of latter day Muse they created an album seared with a heartfelt vitality rarely captured on record. In singer Marcello Batelli they are blessed with one of the most emotive voices in music today, though his operatics never overshadow the music, with rhythm section Nicola Zagrando and Claudio Larese Casanova (yes really) provide a muscle that propels Planet Brains music deep within any listeners conscious. Following the UK release of ‘Compromises & Carnivals’ on Function Records the band have toured their homeland as well as making frequent exploratory trips to the UK. Currently completing recording on their follow up EP which sees the band pushing their sound to a darker, heavier soundscape. (Jonathan Sebire)