★Afe Records
Foundation
Tip! "Foundation" contains remastered and re-worked versions of the Amon first CD "Amon" (1996) and of the ultra-rare "Mer" CDr (2000 - originally printed in less than 200 copies). Wondering why Amon is widely considered a dark ambient legend? This double CD will show you why... You'll find no deeper nor darker ambient anywhere else."I think I can see them now: people in the immediate future, reviewing this double set just after it's out and writing down dark ambient as if it was the most proper…
Detrimental Dialogue
Tip! Andrea Marutti and Fausto Balbo met in 2005 at Lab12 in Vigevano; both active in music making since more than fifteen years, their friendship grown over the years on the fertile ground of the interest they share about electronic experimentation and their wide and open-minded listening habits. “Detrimental Dialogue”, their very first collaboration, deeply explores various types of analogue and digital synthesis (additive, subtractive, Physical Modeling, FM, Phase Distortion, Granular, etc.) …
Total Blackout
** 2021 Stock. Edition of 47 numbered copies in pro-printed cardboard box ** Born from an original concept by Paolo Ippoliti of Logoplasm, this compilation is a collection of seventeen randomized and "unplugged" tracks by aal, Andrea Marutti, Carlo Giordani, Crashcars for the Ravers, Fhievel & Luca Sigurtà, Madame P, Rinus Van Alebeek and Vale. All the artists were asked to create their contributes without using any electrically-powered source/instrument, just like they were experiencing a real …
Turra (MiniCDr 3")
"I was searching the Turra along with Andrea Marutti to capture sounds for a forthcoming music release, when the refrain of the Archiaro carillon came to my mind. Without rehearsal, and availing myself of the natural reverb of the Turra, I gave voice to my soul." - Tommaso Cosco"Turra is a single long conceptual piece that can be thought as a derivative / sound musical approach to the concept of askesis, I do not mean aescetism but interior activity or communication of the soul and the will whic…
Mexico
Now we need to record the bagpipe tracks". These words were pronounced by Sparkle in Grey while recording their album "Mexico", on the second day of a week-end session with Cristiano Santini, leaving him flabbergasted. lt was April 2008, quite a while back; in that same year their previous record, "A Quiet Place", had been released with Disasters By Choice.The latter, critically acclaimed, has been compared to the work of the most disparate artists: Labradford, King Crimson, Massive Attack, Sol …
Login
When, years ago, I read Herman Hesse's "Steppenwolf" I was struck by a part of the novel... Harry Haller, the main character, is walking through a passage with endless doors. As he opens each door he is thrown into a new, unknown, mysterious dimension; a life between the real and the virtual world."Login" is an imaginary journey through the web, where one can explore new realities - or different views of well known stuff - on a thin line between truth and fiction.For this sound project I've used…
Somewhere Out There
Luca Di Mattei is one of the Afe resident artists since the early days of the label. During the years he had several releases under four different aliases: Leeza, Hendy Van Morris, Jabba and Bill Catez. Leeza is his most well-known and prolific incarnation. Generated using laptop computer technology, Leeza's music has its main roots in what was once called Intelligent Techno, and is clearly inspired by the great records published during the '90s by labels such as Warp, Rephlex, Skam, etc.After t…
As a Leaf or a Stone
For this release Mathieu Ruhlmann uses a lot of sound sources and per track he lists them. We see listed a coffee grinder, ukelin, e-bow, moss, denture cleaner, bubble wrap, dried plant, cactus, speaker and gate (and that's just the opening track!)... The gain is very much alive here, so there is occasionally some feedback leaking through here. That adds a strange component to the highly acoustic music. Ruhlmann plays his stuff with great care. His music is open, spacious, but also intimate. The…
Kapnos
Meerkat is a kind of Italian underground big band. Here we find Adriano Zanni (Punck), Matteo Uggeri (Hue), Luca Sigurtà, Luca Bergero (Fhievel), Davide Valecchi (Aal), Andrea Ferraris (Ics), Fabio Selvafiorita, Paolo Ippoliti (Logoplasm), Laura Lovreglio (Logoplasm) and Andrea Marutti (Amon, Never Known). If you have been paying attention in the last few years, you may recognize these names as Italy's finest in the fields of ambient, electronics, microsound, post guitar - well, anything but tru…
Waiting For the Darkness
Waiting For the Darkness" is the documentation of an action of instrumental transcommunication performed in a forest in 2007. It consists of a video, recorded during the last hours of the day and of five audio tracks composed with short wave radio signals recorded during the action itself.This work wishes to investigate the dimension of fear and continues the research of Pietro Riparbelli about Instrumental Transcommunication started off with the first action performed within the Abbey of Thelem…
Innervation
Maurizio Bianchi is more than a legend in contemporary electronica, he is beyond good and evil by now in what respects to creative effort, he has surpassed all genres and styles, has reinvented and deconstructed himself, has even recessed from doing music during years and has come back again fresh and rejuvenated. With a vast discography and extensive musical career as sound sculptor and textural colonizer Bianchi is more alive than ever. “Innervation” released by the excellent Italian label Afe…