Photo by Carson White
Chicago artist Alex Santilli is usually seen behind the kit for his band Late Nite Laundry or embellishing with aux percussion for touring bands like Thee Sacred Souls. But he also sometimes takes center stage, donning the name The Adventures of Anacleto to share his brand of psychedelic soul. He’s announcing his second record Saturnia Vol 2. with the single “silent disco,” which The Big Takeover is proudly and exclusively sharing today.
With heritage from Italy and Argentina, Santilli takes on the name of his grandfather, and he brings Italian samples to his own music with his songs like “silent disco,” saying that he wants to be like an Italian Madlib. Despite the title hinting at hushed sounds, the song is lively, even raucous, with a steady bassline and a ripping saxophone. Santilli said, “this song is about a simple yet powerful feeling of when you’re listening to music in your headphones alone having the greatest time. It evokes the feeling of having your own party, your own world of imagination in headphones.”
As a working musician, Santilli has also performed or collaborated with Kaina, Mykele Deville, Bonelang, and many more. While he blends together soul, psychedelia, bedroom pop, jazz fusion, and, on occasion, Italian folk, what also makes his music unique is that he chops up his recordings with other musicians, using these sessions like samples to create entirely new songs. In a sense, The Adventures of Anacleto is collagic in the process and kaleidoscopic in the results.
Santilli added the song features members of Late Nite Laundry — with Emily Burluew on bass and Ari Lindo on guitar — before sampling and repurposing these sessions, customary to the Anacleto process. He continued, “We recorded in a closet with no room to move at all stacked on top of each other. I did very close mic’ing in a small and cramped space to get the sound and feel. Later I made a full composition from these session samples, wrote lyrics and sang vocals with the incredible Mick McMillian, aka nicholas, and then added the incredible saxophone solo from Will Barnard.”
The Adventures of Anacleto will be releasing Saturnia Vol. II this August. Follow them on Instagram, and Spotify.
