Divus Julius presents: Daniele Luppi

Italian-born film composer Daniele Luppi grew up listening to the groovy lounge sounds of Italian pop music in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Used in advertising, film, television and radio, this musical style became so much a part of Luppi’s life that he could not help but draw on its influence for his first full album, An Italian Story. Here, Luppi not only pays homage to the genre of his youth, but he takes it one very classy step further: he employed those musicians who originally brought the music to life to make his modern version of it shine. Born and raised in Rome, Luppi was classically trained on piano and also learned to play jazz organ, becoming a master of the Hammond B-3.

Daniele Luppi has worked with some artists, ranging from his 2011 Rome project – which included Danger Mouse and Jack White – to his 2017 recordings with Parquet Courts and Karen O.

His new EP finds the studio boffin pivoting once more, with Daniele Luppi combining with Cigarettes After Sex figure Greg Gonzalez. The incoming project is titled ‘Charm Of Pleasure’, and it merges two very distinct artists.

Best Covers: Måneskin ‘Beggin’

The Italian rockers’ cover of the Four Seasons song has been one of the biggest rock hits of 2021 — it’s this year’s longest-running number-one single on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart, having led the ranking for 10 weeks and counting.

Divus Julius presents: Måneskin

With their raw, energetic and distorted sound, Måneskin are bringing rock’n’roll back to the top of international charts with a contemporary twist.

Måneskin is an almost unnervingly lithe band of 20-somethings who can squeeze into ’70s David Bowie bodysuits (or, as is often the case at photo shoots, squeeze out of them). It emerged victorious at 2021’s Eurovision Song. But Måneskin is an anomaly in a rap- and pop-driven era: a guitar/bass/drums combo indebted to Queen and T. Rex that performs largely in Italian and whose breakout U.S. single was a cover of the Four Seasons’ oldies staple “Beggin’.”