Italian pop has never really registered much on my musical radar, beyond outrageously cheesy house and oddly repressed memories of bowel-clenchingly average Eurovision entries.

But there is a groundswell of fascinating, quirky and truly interesting music emerging from basements and garages all over Italy, a few of whom have scuttled onto ANBAD with increasing frequency over the last year or so.

And get this for confusing – the latest one, Venice (the Italian band), is based in Rome (the Italian City). Can you imagine the caveats that have to be added to the gig posters?

Perhaps it’s a good thing that the befuddlement begins well before the audience hears the music itself. Venice makes beautifully coiling, softly-psychedelic music that fogs the mind and slows time – the musical equivalent of being blindfolded and spun around at a childrens’ party.

30th Century might name-check the very distant future, but musically its scope pans from the near past to the close future, and we’re left with a sweeping, glassy song that comforts and prickles all at once.

Call it psyche-house if you must, but in reality Venice make much more interesting music than that name implies: swirling, calm and disorientating.

It’s heartening to hear such crafty music creeping out of Italy, as well as being entirely embarrassing that I’d ignored the country for so long. More fool me.

MORE: soundcloud.com/venice-1