Out now:

Fausto Balbo
Sparkle in Grey
Leeza "Somewhere Out There"
Leeza "Ermos EP"
Andrea Marutti & Fausto Balbo
    

Coming soon:

Andrea Marutti
Bad Sector
Sil Muir
    

[Out Now]

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AFE130CD

Artist: Fausto Balbo
Title: Login
Format: CD in standard jewel box with transparent tray
Tracks: 11
Playing time: 66:12
Release date: October 2012
File under: Experimental / Avantgarde
Description: "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...". Fausto Balbo's meandering trip through the web began long ago, so long ago in fact that once it used to open with the unmistakable sound of a modem dialing up. By now that modem has disappeared, obsolete and pointless due to advances in technology and speed in Internet connection. However, for "Login", the artist didn't let himself get caught up in haste and kept working on his tracks until they reached the optimal point, found here in this CD. Since this work is inspired by the Internet, it is worth noting that all sounds were created exclusively using a single downloaded free software. Along the way, Fausto discovered the marvels of DPOAE and now - as if the rest wasn't enough - it's time for us to be impressed by the sonic inputs of those two particular tracks which seem to generate inside ourselves and then surround us in a thick sensory spiral. Few musicians in Italy can display a knowledge about sound matter that equals the one expressed by Fausto Balbo in this work: though his research will continue as always, this CD is a milestone of great value... [more]
Mp3: Login / Hardmysticmeeting / Walkin' With Klaus

AFE124CD

Artist: Sparkle in Grey
Title: Mexico
Format: CD in three-panel digisleeve
Tracks: 7
Playing time: 47:21
Release date: November 2011
File under: Post-Rock / Electronic / Experimental
Description: "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 lnvictus, Piano Magic and Tuxedomoon were frequent references. lt's hard to say whether those who have listened to that record have actually grasped what really influenced the band members during the making of that record, but things have got even more weird with "Mexico", where a greater number of instruments stratify... It is, therefore, hard to define the true nature of "Mexico", with its dark hues, but possibly not as melancholy as the previous works. The title speaks of escape, of shelter, a place anything but quiet, a land of contrast where desperate violence is generated by the economic gap. The multi-coloured graphics and naif artwork of the band suggest a glimmer of hope, possibly as a means to deceive the audience... [more]
Mp3: Boys Vomit / From the Air / Dimissioni

AFE128CD

Artist: Leeza
Title: Somewhere Out There
Format: CD in standard jewel box with transparent tray
Tracks: 11
Playing time: 46:54
Release date: April 2011
File under: Electronica / IDM
Note: First 100 copies also contain afe129mcd
Description: 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 the successful "Living In a Pixel", Afe and Moonfear are proud to present Leeza's latest CD release entitled "Somewhere Out There". The album starts with the aptly entitled "Rejoice", a composition that showcases one of Leeza's trademark melodies laid upon tinkles and percussive effects. The atmosphere changes with "Legox" a darker number built on distorted and slightly drilled drums covered with sad pads. The shorter "Soa" brings visions of a distant planet inhabited by robot-builders combing a desert wasteland, a truly miniature sci-fi soundtrack! We're back to Earth with "Eupepsik", a faster acid episode helped by drum'n'bass ghosts and bubbling sequences. Placed as track five, "Mip_hurta" can be considered the fulcrum of the album: a warm and fascinating melody that could last forever, backed by frantic drums and quiet pads. One of our favourite Leeza tracks ever! [more]
Mp3: Soa / Mip_hurta / Ghost (Zero/Otto) / Somewhere Out There

AFE129MCD

Artist: Leeza
Title: Ermos EP
Format: Pro-duplicated coloured MiniCD-R 3" ltd. to 100 copies (50 blue / 50 orange)
Tracks: 5
Playing time: 21:36
Release date: April 2011
File under: Electronica / IDM
Description: Included in the first 100 copies of Leeza's "Somewhere Out There" purchased from the Afe mail order - or directly from the artist - the "Ermos EP" comes as a pro-duplicated coloured MiniCD-R 3", orange or blue at your own choice while stocks last... [more]
Mp3: Startup / Ermos

AFE127CD

Artist: Andrea Marutti & Fausto Balbo
Title: Detrimental Dialogue
Format: CD in gatefold cardboard sleeve with poster
Tracks: 4
Playing time: 48:16
Release date: October 2010
File under: Experimental / Avantgarde
Description: Andrea Marutti and Fausto Balbo have met in 2005 at Lab12 in Vigevano; both active in music making since more than fifteen years, their friendship has grown over the years on the fertile ground of the interest that 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.) and live electronics elements. Recorded together in the authors' studios and then worked out in seclusion between 2007 and 2009, the tracks on "Detrimental Dialogue" were subsequently redefined during a one-week long collective mixing session rigorously made with analogue equipment and precious outboard effects at Fausto Balbo's studio. The album presents four experimental electronic pieces whose exact classification eludes us since their musical contents are rich of the most disparate suggestions. In a formula full of its own natural-born personality, we find elements that recall prominent experimental forms - sometimes pseudo-abstract - rich of fragments, loops and "clusters" of sounds that bear a pronounced and exhibited synthetic matrix. "Atmospheric", dilated and generally quiet sequences are alternated with more structured, dramatic and progressive moments that shake the listeners and emotionally involve them with a more orthodox path, without giving way to conventional or stereotyped solutions... [more]
Mp3: Indulge Me / Troubled Elephant

[Coming Soon]

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AFE099LCD

Artist: Andrea Marutti
Title: Rest Your Eyes On Verdant Soil
Format: CD-R
Tracks: 4
Playing time: --:--
Release date: t.b.a.
File under: Ambient / Drone Music
Description: Details coming soon. [more]
Mp3: -

AFE125CD

Artist: Bad Sector
Title: Retrovirus
Format: CD
Tracks: -
Playing time: --:--
Release date: t.b.a.
File under: Infected Ambient / Experimental
Description: Details coming soon. [more]
Mp3: -

AFE131CD

Artist: Sil Muir
Title: In the Depths of Winter I Finally Learned There Was In Me an Invincible Summer
Format: CD
Tracks: 3
Playing time: --:--
Release date: t.b.a.
File under: Drone / Ambient / Experimental
Description: Details coming soon. [more]
Mp3: -