December 24, 2005
More pre-Christmas news
As promised a few days ago, here's the last bunch of news of 2005 and The Afeman's best wishes for the current Christmas festivities and the new year:
- We are receiving many requests for hard copies (...on CD-R or DVD-R...) of some or all the tracks featured on "Breaking Down the Barriers 1995-2005", our tenth anniversary celebrative mp3 compilation: this is not possible because most of the participants only gave us permission to upload their tracks on the Afe website as free downloadable mp3 files, we can't and we won't distribute their contributions in any other way.
- Our friends at Nuke Satori have released an Andrea Marutti web-album. All music was recorded live last April the 29th at Lab12, Vigevano (Italy), during the "Survivors@Lab12" mini-festival. You can download the album here.
- The mp3 section of the Afe website is now offering a lot of previews taken from many of the releases that are going to be out in a few months.
- I think I said it all, I'll hopefully add more news to this page in early 2006. In the meantime let me wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
The Afeman
December 19, 2005
Some pre-Christmas news
Well, the current year is getting close to the end, here's some pre-Christmas news that you may find interesting:
- As usual we won't be shipping any order until beginning of 2006: too many parcels get lost at this time of the year... Of course you can keep sending your orders, we'll be glad to reply and confirm availability.
- Our friends at Taâlem are celebrating their fourth year of activities with an on-line mp3 compilation that includes tracks made by all the artists in their rooster. Participants include your favorite Afeman under his mortal guise of Andrea Marutti.
- Andrea Marutti is also featured on "Remixes", a collection of, ehm, remixes of Aidan Baker's tracks created by Millimetrik, Building Castles Out of Matchsticks, Cordell Klier, The Blameshifter, Naw, Gruntsplatter, Wilt, Fear Falls Burning, Troum and Pilotram released by Arcolepsy Records.
- The interview broadcasted last Friday by Lupo Ululì on Radio Onda d'urto is now available as a low quality mp3 file. The interview is in italian but, ehm, don't miss the chance to listen to the voice of your favorite Afeman!!! (8-)
- I guess I'll be wishing a Merry Christmas to everyone in a few days, in the meantime keep an eye on the mp3 section of the Afe website: previews from the forthcoming releases are coming very soon...
December 07, 2005
The Afeman interviewed by Lupo Ululì
Last night your favorite Afeman was intervied by Chetto @ Lupo Ululì. The interview will be broadcasted on Friday the 9th on Radio Onda d'urto from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
December 06, 2005
More pictures from the Afe-party!
More pictures taken at the Afe-party are now available as part of the Flickr photostream of our beloved friend Masato Furusawa. Here's what you're looking for. Thank you Masato!!!
December 05, 2005
12.000 downloaders can't be wrong
Well, althought the celebrative Afe compilation is still a "work-in-progress" and many tracks are still waiting to be added, I guess I can say that it's a bit of a success: more than 12.000 downloads were made in the first two weeks!!! As soon as the compilation is finished we'll start working again on our new releases. There're going to be a lot of them this time...
November 23, 2005
Afe-party reportage by Drexkode
A textual/photographic report about the Afe-Party is now available on the Drexkode website. Click here to read it. My deepest thank you goes to the - for the time being - uknown author.
November 22, 2005
The Afeman goes live again
Your favorite Afeman is going to wear his human disguise and play a few concerts as Andrea Marutti very soon:
 |
- on November 26 in Vigevano (Italy) at Cooperativa Portalupi. Ur will be on stage too during the night. Madame P will play her Jazz / Be-Bop / Rare Grooves DJ-set. Activities begin at 6:00 p.m., admission is free. For more info write to: |
 |
- on November 27 in Cusano Milanino, a small town near Milan (Italy) at Marmaja. Luca Sigurtà + Fhievel and M.C. Noon will be on stage too during the night. Concerts begin at 7:00 p.m., admission is free. For more info write to: |
November 21, 2005
The Afe-party
The Afe-party was a great success, hundreds of people filled the C.S.A. Baraonda and 15 live-sets were successfully played during the night. I want to thank everyone at Baraonda for believing in this project, all the musicians who went on stage, especially whose who travelled a long distance to be there, all my friends who helped me preparing the party and, last but not least, all the people who danced, screamed and laughed for so many hours with us. A special report about the party will be available somewhere on this website as soon as possible.
Breaking Down the Barriers 1995-2005: an on-line mp3 compilation
An mp3 compilation celebrating our ten years of activities is now on-line for your listening pleasure. It features more than 200 international electronic and alternative musicians/bands. Please note that at the moment this compilation is still a "work-in-progress": many details are still missing and they will be added as soon as possible along with other special contributions that still need a little bit of work. Many other musicians are going to be featured in this collection, the compilation will be updated each Monday on a weekly base until contributes keep flowing in. Enjoy the music!!!
November 7, 2005
Afe 10th birthday celebrations
Well, as announced some weeks ago, last September 21st 2005 was Afe 10th birthday, it's about time to celebrate!!! A very special mp3 compilation which features more than 200 international electronic and alternative musicians/bands will be available for download very soon. This is going to be HUGE, be prepared for hours and hours of music!!!
 |
A big party/festival will happen on November the 19th at C.S.A. Baraonda in Segrate (Milan, Italy), please click here to read all the available details and the full program or here for the italian version. Concerts begin at 7:00 p.m., admission is free. For more info write to: |
October 28, 2005
The new Afe pins!!!
We are glad to announce that more official Afe pins/buttons are now available, including reproductions of the Amon and Never Known logos!! All pins were designed by the Afe Creative Laboratories and manufactured by Pati. Here's the complete collection:
|
|
October 25, 2005
The Afeman goes live: Libreria Acustica
Your favorite Afeman is going to play live on November 5 in Monza, a town near Milan (Italy) at the Libreria Acustica. Femina Faber will be on stage too during the night. Concerts begin at 10:00 p.m., admission is free.
October 11, 2005
Afe article/interview on Post?
A short article about Afe and another interview with The Afeman were published yesterday on the italian webzine Post?. Both the article and the interview are written in italian, this is the direct link.
October 3, 2005
Afe article/interview on Sands-Zine
A long article about Afe written by Giuseppe Verticchio and an interview with your favorite Afeman were published today on the italian webzine Sound and Silence. Both the article and the interview are written in italian and are available here.
October 1, 2005
The Afeman goes live: LSA Folletto 25603
Your favorite Afeman is going to wear his human disguise and play a few concerts as Andrea Marutti before the end of the current year... The first one will happen on October 8 in Abbiategrasso a small town near Milan (Italy) at the LSA Folletto 25603. Echran will be on stage too during the night.
 |
Click on the image on the left to see a larger version of the original poster. Concerts begin at 10:00 p.m., admission is free. For more info write to: |
September 21, 2005
Afe 10th birthday!!!
Today is Afe 10th birthday! It's incredible how time flies... I remember the day I went to a local shop to have the inserts of afe001ltd photocopied, and it seems just like yesterday... I was 25 then and I didn't think that Afe could become so important in my life. We had more than 90 releases out during the years, including some double-sets and box-sets. Wow! We're going to celebrate in many ways during the next months, be prepared to party with us!
Forthcoming Afe releases
There are going to be many new Afe releases published soon. At the moment we still don't know how many of them will be out before the end of 2005, but here's a full list of what we're currently working on:
- a very special Dark Ambient / Experimental compilation entitled "No Abiding Places" which was planned ages ago. It will include mostly exclusive tracks by aal, Amon, Bad Sector, Bestia Centauri, Canaan, Etere-o, Moan, Non Ethos, Ornament, Subinterior, Subterranean Source and True Colour Of Blood;
- a new full-lenght dark ambient work by the talented italian project Subinterior;
- the stunning debut of The Impossible Flower, which will consist of two separate CD-R albums;
- a brand new acoustic guitar based CD-R album by Aidan Baker;
- the return of Snotra with another crazy EP;
- a MiniCD-R 3" by Anofele & Logoplasm recorded using no less than real human bones;
- a remix album focused on Mindmap's debut masterpiece released by Afe some time ago;
- the fifth album by legendary japanese combo Sam & Valley who had releases on Rephlex and Angelika Koehlermann;
- the return of Non Ethos with an unreleased beautiful work;
- a very noisy collaboration between The Afeman himself and the gorgeous italian pink-punk-rocker Madame P;
- a new stunning IDM album from our best friend Leeza;
- a tape compilation focused on the Black Out theme with contributions by Andrea Marutti, Crashcars For The Ravers, Luca Sigurtà & Fhievel, Madame P, aal, Rinus Van Alebeek, Logoplasm and more artists.
September 1, 2005
A tribute to Koji Tano
Koji Tano / MSBR sadly passed away on 31.07.2005. He was one of the most respected japanese artists in contemporary electronic music. Additionally to countless great releases, he ran a record-store for experimental arts in Tokyo and was also publisher of the Densatzu magazine.
On 31.08.2005 Steinklang Records has released a free downloadable mp3 compilation as a tribute to him. The compilation includes tracks made by 150 artists from the whole world. All music, statements and information are available here.
August 1, 2005
Stand-by mode
Well, as it usually happens around this time of the year, Afe is now entering stand-by mode and won't be operative until early/mid September. We won't be able to reply to incoming e-mail messages. All the orders received during the month of August won't be processed until September. The Afeman's Blog is going on holidays too.
Wishing you a wonderful summertime we'd like to point you to the galleries section of this website, where you will find a new gallery dedicated to Throbbing Gristle. It features many picture taken by your favourite Afeman during the concert they played in Italy some weeks ago.
A lot of new releases will be obviously out as soon as Summer's gone, please check back later for more news about them. Be also prepared to party with us during the Afe 10th year celebrations that will be organized in the next months!
July 11, 2005
Tagofest - The full photo-report is on-line!
The full photo-report about the first Tagofest is now available in the galleries section of this website. What are you still doing here? Go!
June 26, 2005
Tagofest - An independent festival for independent labels
Your favourite Afeman will be the closing act of the first Tagofest day. The festival will happen on July 2 and 3 in Massa (Italy) at the Tago Mago Lounge Cafè. Admission is free, here's the full program:
|
|
July 2, Saturday |
Click on the image on the left to see a larger version of the festival poster. Useful links: www.barlamuerte.com / www.fratto9.com / www.tagomago.it |
May 29, 2005
Survivors@Lab12 - It's Only Crick & Crock (But I Like It!)
The full reportage written by Hue about the Survivors@Lab12 mini-festival is now on-line in the galleries section. It's available in italian language only, but if you can't read italian you can still have a look at the pictures...
April 21, 2005
Six new Afe releases are out now!
Yes, it's six of them this time, and they all look and sound pretty damn good! Please click on the following links to read more details:
afe070cd AMON "Foundation", 2xCD
afe067lcd ALESSANDRO FOGAR "Surface Studies #1-#2", CD-R
afe066lcd ORNAMENT "Unicorn Lullaby", CD-R
afe062cd PUNCK "Nowhere Campfire Tapes", CD
afe061lcd MAEROR TRI "Peak Experience", CD-R
afe060lcd SPARKLE IN GREY / A.A.V.V. "The Echoes of Thiiiings", 2xCD-R
April 11, 2005
Survivors@Lab12 - Two days of live electronic experiments
Analogic circuits, metallic drones, microphoned objects, field-recordings, glitch disgressions, ambient shades and pure electronics will fill Lab12 during this two days mini-festival that will happen on April 29 and 30 in Vigevano, Italy. aal, Hue, Punck, Fhievel, Nicola Ratti, Luca Sigurtà and Andrea Marutti will play live renditions of their most recent audio works and will join forces during the closing set. Here's the full program:
|
|
 |
Click on the image on the left to see a larger version of the festival poster. Concerts begin at 9:00 p.m., admission is free. |
M
arch 29, 2005
Espressioni Attuali - Live sets
"Espressioni Attuali" is a two days festival that will happen in Vercelli, Italy, on April 9 and 16. The concerts will be staged at Studio Dieci, an art-gallery located just near the historic center of the city. aal and Andrea Marutti will play on April 9, while Luca Sigurtà & Fhievel and 3/4 Had Been Eliminated will play on April 16.
 |
Click on the image on the left to see a larger version of the festival poster. Concerts begin at 9:30 p.m., admission is free. |
March 24, 2005
Andrea Marutti "Seven to Go" MP3 EP is out now on Ctrl+Alt+Canc
Your favourite Afeman has a MP3 EP out on Punck's Ctrl+Alt+Canc net-label! Source material mostly comes from the live set played on March the 18th in Milan at the Reload Mindcafé which was subsequently treated and edited at the Lips Vago Digital Studio. A lot of unreleased studio material was also added and mixed along with the rest of the tracks to create a thirty minutes continuum. The usual array of synthesizers apart, equipment used on these recordings include a Theremin, a Master Key Pitch Instrument, a circuit bent toy, a flashlight and a cellphone... OK, let's stop here. Go to the download page to listen for yourself what this is all about.
March 21, 2005
Mort Douce "Live @ Diuna Club" MP3 EP is out now
Mort Douce is the experimental music project of a young polish student known as Stalker Sascha inspired by ex-USSR sci-fi movies and stories, Coil's music, time machines, ambient sounds, industrial environments, etc. His first official release entitled "From the Summer Sky” was made available by Afe in October 2003 as a free downloadable mp3 album. Now it's time for a new mp3 release recorded live at Diuna Club, Warszawa, Poland, in February 2005. Go to the download page for more info and music.
March 13, 2005
Lab12 #1 is out now
This compilation is self-released by Lab12 in an handmade cardboard sleeve edition of 233 numbered copies. It contains mostly exclusive tracks created by many of the artists / bands who played live at the Lab during year 2004: Kawabata Makoto, Stoni, Rosas Y Tulipanes, Jacopo Andreini, a034, ?alos, Krell, Simone Molinaroli, Ludmila, Luca Sigurtà, Riga, Arrington de Dionyso, The Afeman, Toba and David Napolitano.
 |
This is an extraordinary compilation that documents the activities happened in an extraordinary place, one day this will be one of the most beautiful pieces of history of the italian underground! Copies are available directly from patatapa@yahoo.com or through the Afe mail order. |
March 10, 2005
Madame P & The Afeman live!
Madame P & The Afeman will play live on March 18 at the Reload Mindcafé (Via della Pergola 5, Milan, Italy). They will perform two separate solo sets, a third collaborative set, and will also feed the crowd with a four-hands DJ set, etc. "I Heard It Through the Woods (and Laid Upon the Shore)", a short movie made by The Afeman and starring Madame P will also be premiered that night.
 |
Click on the image on the left to see a larger version of the concert poster. Concerts begin at 10:00 p.m., admission is free. |
February 25, 2005
We have been quiet silent in the last month or so... The Afeman is still trying to find his way out from the jungle of cables of the renewed Lips Vago Digital Studio, but this bunch of good news from Planet Afe can't really wait much longer to be exposed. So, here we go:
Beyond the Darkness
After the successful "Beyond the Sound", released in early 2002, Oltre il Suono, along with many of the artists featured on its website, has released a new stunning Dark Ambient / Ambient compilation aptly entitled "Beyond the Darkness". The compilation has a running time of more than 74 minutes and features 12 tracks - most of them unreleased - created by New Risen Throne, Nefelheim, Never Known, Nimh, Crìa Cuervos, Subinterior, Ornament, Normality / Edge, Raffaele Serra, Opium, Alio Die & Michele Brieda and Luca Formentini. Copies are available through Oltre il Suono, the Afe mail order and all the artists featured on the compilation.
Pocket Progressive
Portuguese label Creative Sources Recordings has just released an interesting collaboration between Claudio Rocchetti, Fhievel and Luca Sigurtà. The source material for "Pocket Progressive" was recorded by the trio in April 2004 at Via Paolo Costa, Bologna (I) and subsequently edited and processed in real time by Claudio Rocchetti. Instruments list include, but is not limited to: turntable, radio, cybals, toys, objects, etc.
Two new "Teddy Bear" remixes are on-line
It's time to add another couple of entries in the never-ending saga of the Teddy Bear Remix Project: it's our greatest pleasure to introduce to you Madame P and The Burning Lamp. You can download their remixes here.
Forthcoming live dates
The Afeman will play live in Vercelli, Italy, on April 9 under the mortal guise of Andrea Marutti along with aal. Luca Sigurtà & Fhievel and 3/4 Had Been Eliminated will play in the same location on April 16. A two days electroacoustic/electronic music festival featuring most of these musicians is also going to happen at Lab12 in Vigevano, Italy, during the end of April. More info about these happenings will be available on this page very soon.
January 13, 2005
Our December releases are finally distributed right now. More are coming very soon, in the meantime here's the details:
Dronæment: "Allein... Unter Menschen"
Please welcome the return of Dronaement on Afe Records after the huge success of the "Yr" experimental masterpiece in 2002. Dronaement is active since 1997 and is the main musical project of Marcus Obst who lives in the South area of what once was East Germany. "Allein... Unter Menshen" is the fully remastered re-version of the tape originally released on Nauze [Muzick] back in 1999. Dronaement is clearly one of the most talented drone-based music project around and "Allein... Unter Menschen" is a nice rediscover of one of his earliest releases.
Ovum: "Eld"
Ovum is the main project of Karl Midholm from Sweden, his style may be best described as a mixture of Industrial-Ambient and Drone Music. "Eld" was created in 1999 using recordings of fire as the only sound source. Such recordings were subsequently run through filter banks and effect units, resulting in one fifty minutes long track of evolving beautiful drones. The album was originally intended as part of a various artists set dealing with the four elements that unfortunately was never released. After five years from its creation, it finally see the light of day as another Blade Records / Afe Records co-production.
Ellende: "Heroin"
Ellende has fastly got a very strong reputation in the Dark Ambient / Experimental scene thanks to a bunch of limited edition releases on many labels all over the world. Afe is proud to add another small piece to what seems to be an endless black'n'white jigsaw with "Heroin", a 3" MiniCD-R. The track starts as a sparse and pleasantly vibrating drone-based piece and slowly get crowded with pulsating and swirling elements. As percussive sounds are introduced, the music evolves into some kind of hazy and hypnotic dream populated by creatures speaking with backward/high-pitched voices. Approaching the end, these elements slowly fade away leaving room for otherworldly noises/effects and a sort of vocoderized voice.