[reviews] afe050lcd
aal: disc 1 + inherited and partially transmitted

A couple of years ago, Davide Valecchi self-released these two CD-Rs, both recorded in 2001, and already reviewed in this mag (search the archive).

This is a welcomed reprint by the ever diligent Afe Records, in a limited run of 150 copies, coming in a really beautiful and fitting layout - sort of abstract figures looking like bindrunes or crop circles.

Listening again to aal's more ambient and droning production, I sense that it is much darker than I recalled. While I'd still use the references to Klaus Schultze or Coil in their cosmic incarnations, tracks like "Unsealed" (on "Inherited...") have a menacing feel, with their obsessive and self-devouring structures which reminded me of Koener or Lull.

The sound quality fits very well with these atmospheres - I wouldn't call it "lo-fi" (it's probably not), but rather "dusty". It's like an old sepia-print.

The other remark I'd add is that there's an evident growth between one release and the other, though recorded in a short span - "Inherited..." is more mature, with a better - and at the same time more extreme - use of sounds and repetitions, notably in the majestic, relentless emotional crumbling of "All that Fall".

[Eugenio Maggi]