![Jason Vitelli Releases Vibrant Instrumental Album "2. No Wave Gaze"](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/media/large/e/9/7/29004ae110242da5b63aea956b5d4.jpeg "Jason Vitelli Releases Vibrant Instrumental Album "2. No Wave Gaze"")
Vitelli's compositions are more like brushstrokes on a canvas, weaving scenes and scenarios that defy straightforward, unambiguous communication. What those scenes and scenarios are precisely? Well, that's a riddle left for each listener to decipher, a personal journey of interpretation. It's a different song for every pair of ears that this symphony of sound engages with—a true sonic treasure that offers unparalleled value for your auditory investment.
—Dave Franklin
Prolific, at times confounding musical chameleon Jason Vitelli as returned with a fresh instrumental release rich in both visceral sonic texture and unnerving, yet strangely inviting atmospheres. With a palette ranging from dense art rock and dark ambient to glitch and static noise, listeners are clearly to expect the unexpected. The second release in an ongoing series of epic, altogether different collections, 2. No Wave Gaze (Self Produced, 2026) taunts as much as it tantalizes.
2. No Wave Gaze functions as an optical illusion for the ears. Vitelli challenges our perception of 'correctness' much like a new flavor broadens a gourmet's palate, delivering a darkly ambient soundscape that is as intellectually stimulating as it is haunting. This is a collage of terror and beauty—a raw, Expressionist exploration of the dimly lit corners of his aural world.
If 1. Ambient Corridors (Self Produced, 2024) was a whisper, 2. No Wave Gaze is the complex, captivating soliloquy that follows. Merging the raw creative exploits of his formative years with modern technical prowess, Vitelli solidifies his place as an artist unafraid to expand the definition of his own sound.
The next installment of the instrumental series will be focused on classical pieces and will be recorded live. A new singer/songwriter album is in the works for next year.
“What you get is deep, thunderous bass (electric bass and drums at their best) and a distorted electric guitar that sounds so incredibly REAL! Any rock album should sound this way!... The illusion of being there is literally breathtaking." — Lucio Cadeddu, TNT-Audio
“I don't think I've ever heard an original rock recording sound so pure and uncompressed... wick up the volume and you'll hear this album in all its glory. The dynamics are outstanding and the tone is spot on." —John Crossett, The Audio Beat
“An excellent, intelligent pop/rock/jazz, with shades of Steely Dan and The Sea and Cake... carefully constructed complex, but at the same time very listenable musical structures... [Vitelli] has set out to do—come up with an extremely listenable, smart, 'intellectual pop' album." —Ljubinko Zivkovic, Sputnik Music
“Head Above Tide is quite subtle, but with that subtlety comes depth. The disc may not reveal all of its charms on initial listen; ace guitar solos are sometimes buried in the mix. But repeated listens yield rewards." — Bill Kopp, Musoscribe
“Jason Vitelli transcends genres with his mesmerizing 1. Ambient Corridors... a more avant-garde sound that could be likened to 20th-century composer Olivier Messiaen delicately mixed with the experimental rock of David Bowie and David Bowie." —Jane Lambert, Modern Mystery Blog
“Vitelli's compositions are more like brushstrokes on a canvas, weaving scenes and scenarios that defy straightforward, unambiguous communication. What those scenes and scenarios are precisely? Well, that's a riddle left for each listener to decipher, a personal journey of interpretation. It's a different song for every pair of ears that this symphony of sound engages with—a true sonic treasure that offers unparalleled value for your auditory investment." — Dave Franklin, Dancing About Architecture
2. No Wave Gaze functions as an optical illusion for the ears. Vitelli challenges our perception of 'correctness' much like a new flavor broadens a gourmet's palate, delivering a darkly ambient soundscape that is as intellectually stimulating as it is haunting. This is a collage of terror and beauty—a raw, Expressionist exploration of the dimly lit corners of his aural world.
If 1. Ambient Corridors (Self Produced, 2024) was a whisper, 2. No Wave Gaze is the complex, captivating soliloquy that follows. Merging the raw creative exploits of his formative years with modern technical prowess, Vitelli solidifies his place as an artist unafraid to expand the definition of his own sound.
The next installment of the instrumental series will be focused on classical pieces and will be recorded live. A new singer/songwriter album is in the works for next year.
Press Quotes
No Photographs (Roomful of Sky Records, 2008)
“Jason's music is an amazing cocktail of soft-rock, pop, blues, folk and even jazz. If I were forced to name an artist who came immediately to my mind the first time I listened to No Photographs is Elvis Costello, from his earlier albums... Overall, the album is entertaining and inspired... Besides the fact this is a very good album, the reason why it appears on these pages is because of the quality of the recording." —Lucio Cadeddu, TNT-AudioConfluence (Soundkeeper Recordings, 2011)
“This is so radical you may have to “unlearn" the sound of pop before you realize this is what music sounds like, pure and honest, as if they were HERE—not some studio ideal of people but living breathing humans." —Lawrence de Martin on the Soundkeeper Recordings website“What you get is deep, thunderous bass (electric bass and drums at their best) and a distorted electric guitar that sounds so incredibly REAL! Any rock album should sound this way!... The illusion of being there is literally breathtaking." — Lucio Cadeddu, TNT-Audio
“I don't think I've ever heard an original rock recording sound so pure and uncompressed... wick up the volume and you'll hear this album in all its glory. The dynamics are outstanding and the tone is spot on." —John Crossett, The Audio Beat
Head Above Tide (Self Produced, 2018)
“If you can imagine a style of music where Elvis Costello meets Jesus Christ Superstar (the musical play, not the real man of course), coupled with early Genesis and other art/prog rock influences and mixed with contemporary classical music, then you'll have something called Head Above Tide." —Jay Freeman, Pitch Perfect“An excellent, intelligent pop/rock/jazz, with shades of Steely Dan and The Sea and Cake... carefully constructed complex, but at the same time very listenable musical structures... [Vitelli] has set out to do—come up with an extremely listenable, smart, 'intellectual pop' album." —Ljubinko Zivkovic, Sputnik Music
“Head Above Tide is quite subtle, but with that subtlety comes depth. The disc may not reveal all of its charms on initial listen; ace guitar solos are sometimes buried in the mix. But repeated listens yield rewards." — Bill Kopp, Musoscribe
1. Ambient Corridors (Self Produced, 2024)
“With this album being full of instrumental tracks, people might be surprised to hear that it's the storytelling within [his] music that I find the most captivating... instrumental compositions that express abstract feelings beyond the scope of lyrics." —Angela Mastrogiacomo, Concert Crap“Jason Vitelli transcends genres with his mesmerizing 1. Ambient Corridors... a more avant-garde sound that could be likened to 20th-century composer Olivier Messiaen delicately mixed with the experimental rock of David Bowie and David Bowie." —Jane Lambert, Modern Mystery Blog
“Vitelli's compositions are more like brushstrokes on a canvas, weaving scenes and scenarios that defy straightforward, unambiguous communication. What those scenes and scenarios are precisely? Well, that's a riddle left for each listener to decipher, a personal journey of interpretation. It's a different song for every pair of ears that this symphony of sound engages with—a true sonic treasure that offers unparalleled value for your auditory investment." — Dave Franklin, Dancing About Architecture
