[reviews] afe040cd
kabal: alone

Co-released by Amon / Never Known's Afe and Leeza's Moonfear, Kabal's CD-R is a very interesting work which manages to keep your attention focused despite being very long (12 tracks, 70 minutes).

Actually, all tracks - even the apparently more minimal and repetitive ones - show great taste in assembling layers of rhythms and melodies and subtly varying the patterns before they become redundant.

Kabal seems to prefer nocturnal, slightly obsessive atmospheres, in a classy electronica / IDM which reminded me of Autechre, Future Sound of London and a034 The Insider, another Milanese musician contiguous to Kabal's genre... while never stepping in paranoid fields, and often taking a breath with more relaxed tracks like "Atrial 222" or "Free Bong - Cyhexatin mix", which even reminded me of Kraftwerk due to its nostalgic synth melodies...

Excellent layout based on almost abstract photos of crashed cars and metal rubbish.

[Eugenio Maggi]