Italian cinematic funk pioneers Calibro 35 have announced their new album, Ellroy vs L.A., arriving October 9 via Record Kicks. Serving as both a standalone album and the original soundtrack to the award-winning documentary of the same name, the record is inspired by the world of legendary crime novelist James Ellroy. Alongside the announcement, the band has released the explosive first single, Riots, now available on all major streaming platforms.
Some artistic collaborations feel almost destined, and the pairing of Calibro 35 with James Ellroy is one of them. Both have built careers around atmosphere, tension, and storytelling—one through music, the other through literature. Their creative worlds collide in Ellroy vs L.A., a project born from filmmaker Francesco Zippel's acclaimed documentary exploring Ellroy's lifelong relationship with Los Angeles.
Produced by Federica Paniccia and Francesco Zippel for Quoiat Films, the documentary Ellroy vs L.A. received Italy's prestigious Nastro d'Argento Critics' Choice Award. The film combines Ellroy's reflections on the city that shaped both his life and his fiction with archival footage of Los Angeles and scenes of Calibro 35 recording the soundtrack in the studio, creating an immersive portrait of both the writer and the metropolis that has become inseparable from his work.
When invited to score the documentary, Calibro 35 found themselves stepping directly into Ellroy's unmistakable universe. Rather than simply composing background music, the band embraced the darkness, ambiguity, and relentless tension that define the author's vision of Los Angeles. The result is an album that doesn't merely accompany Ellroy's stories—it inhabits them.
Featuring twelve new compositions, Ellroy vs L.A. expands the band's signature blend of cinematic crime funk, psychedelia, jazz, and hypnotic grooves into even darker, more narrative-driven territory. Across the album, Los Angeles emerges as both a real city and a mythological landscape, suspended between glamour and corruption, beauty and violence, dreams and decay.
The first taste of the album arrives with "Riots," an explosive instrumental that captures the volatility and unrest simmering beneath the city's surface. Fueled by muscular grooves, dramatic arrangements, and unmistakable cinematic flair, the track perfectly introduces the atmosphere that defines the entire record.
Since forming in Milan in 2007, Calibro 35 have built an international reputation by reimagining the golden age of Italian film music. Drawing inspiration from legendary composers including Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni, and Armando Trovajoli, the band has forged a distinctive sound that bridges vintage soundtrack aesthetics with contemporary jazz, funk, and psychedelic influences.
Their influence has reached far beyond the jazz and soundtrack communities. Their recordings have been sampled by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, and Damon Albarn's project The Child of Lov. Critics have also consistently praised the group's originality, with Rolling Stone calling them "the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing that has happened to Italy in the past few years," while Far Out Magazine described them as "one of the most skilful and innovative instrumental outfits on the planet."
The quartet—Enrico Gabrielli, Massimo Martellotta, Fabio Rondanini, and Tommaso Colliva—continues to evolve while remaining true to its distinctive identity. Following the release of the acclaimed Exploration in 2025 and a high-profile performance during the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics at the Verona Arena, Ellroy vs L.A. represents another bold step in the band's artistic journey.
With this new album, Calibro 35 transform James Ellroy's mythology into music, crafting a soundtrack where rhythm, suspense, and cinematic imagination merge into one immersive listening experience. It's a record that captures the pulse of Los Angeles—not as a postcard city, but as a place forever illuminated by neon and shadow.
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