[reviews] afe128cd
leeza: somewhere out there

Leeza, Hendy Van Morris, Jabba and Bill Catez are all aliases used by Luca Di Mattei, with Leeza possibly being the most well known and prolific. An "Afe" resident artist since before the time of CD-Rs, Luca has a lot of releases under his belt and this album shows off what he as learnt over the years.

"Somewhere Out There" is a solid chunk of ambient IDM with splashes of acid, drum'n'bass and techno. There are some very well-crafted melodies, backed by solid rhythms, and it flows from song to song aided by well thought out production. "Legox" particularly stands out, with an intro melody that shows a classical sensibility underpinned by glitch IDM drum rhythms.

Further, a good chunk of this album would be well suited to becoming the score for a sci-fi movie in the vein of "Blade Runner" or "Ghosts of Mars". "Soa", in particular, has a very "Ghosts of Mars" feel to it.

Overall, this is a well crafted and well produced offering that shows off a high skill and experience level. If you're an ambient IDM fan – or, for that matter, a fan of any kind of ambient music – "Somewhere Out There" should definitely be in your collection.

[M.J. Phillips]