Franco Micalizzi, an Italian master of genre film scores, delivers "Stridulum" as a 2024 release that proves his voice remains vital. The soundtrack walks a line between funk-soul grooves and score-based orchestration—think "Sadness Theme" pulling back into string-led melancholy, while "Running Away From Jerzy" locks into a propulsive funk pocket. Micalizzi has always been skilled at underscoring human moments without overselling them, and that restraint serves this material well. The music feels contemporary without chasing trends, rooted in soul and funk vocabulary but applied with compositional precision. If you've followed his reissues or discovered him through contemporary vinyl culture, "Stridulum" confirms he's still finding fresh angles on material that could easily feel derivative.