New forthcoming releases:
Robert Davies - Woodland Alcoves
Aglaia Hymns
Cdr Ltd art-edition 99 copies - Program of upcoming releases..
New Release! AGLAIA Nights in Nubiland Cd
Alio Die & Zeit
Sunja HSL 024
Tracks: 01 The Gates are open 02 At the Threshold of Sunja Basic acoustic recordings were improvised during a warm night in late summer 2002 at Lunae Studio, Tuscany. Edited and mixed in spring 2003 at Temple Studio, Milano. Stefano Musso: zither, samples and loops, buzzer, field recordings. Tommaso Cimo': khen (mouth organ), accordion, rattles, bird calls, bells. Mastered on Pro Tools in May 2003. Artwork and compositions by Hic Sunt Leones. Photos of light by Bjorn Macher. Zeith picture by Silvia Lepore. Alio Die by Prisca Guanter. All pieces copyright BMI 2003
Sunja (2003)
Magic as blown its precious spores in the air. A human rite, humble and quiet, has evoked a red hot globe that gently illuminates the path toward the borders of Sunja, the dream place where all vibrations start. Sometimes the light comesdown from the sky, clear like a crystal. Some times it climbs slowly from the earth's depths, but it's always comforting. Crossing the thresholds of Sunja is like landing on an uncontaminated island,furrow its white sea-shores lapped by tepid foamy waters,been inebriated with wide floral smells and saltiness in secret places of the inland and in caves dug from time,gain the top of the plateau from which it is possible to see beyond... Sunja is creative strength enclosed in two long tracks of incredible intensity, rich in levels of knowledge, pure enchantment and beauty. The deep sound has an extraordinary symbolic and evocative power and it has arrived to a supreme purification owing to millennial percolations across the rock. Music shines,beholds, resounds at the bottom of ourselves, lives and spreads out. We realize,in listening, that a light warmth closes in upon us, everything loses its own original sense, the gates open... the road is beaten!
Label press
Finally,we approach the collaboration with new artist Zeit (perhaps named after the Tangerine Dream album?), Sunja. "Approach" is an adequate word,because the overall impression of this album is of a marvelously long and dreamlike journey. Sunja is only two mammoth tracks; two legs of the journey towards spiritual transcendence. "The Gates Are Open" is a wonderfully tranced out dronescape of harmonic khen and accordion (processed, of course)with zither ruminations by Musso that resemble the triumphant El-Hadra album by Klaus Wiese, Mathias Grassow, and Ted De Jong. This is a half-hour of first rate ambient music; the type of stuff that ushers you into a dream state of bright sun and the odors of nature and forestland. Strange bird calls pierce the veil of ambience every once in a while, gently bringing you out of reverie, only to lapse back in just as gently. The different flavors of this track are intense;it's beautifully paced, never seeming too long, allowing you to bask in its glow until the next track. It's hard to believe, but "At the Threshold of Sunja"is even longer and more intense. The sound elements are the same, but are used less sparingly to create a sensual dream-reality. The otherworldly swirl of Sunja is potent, making this one of the best ritual-ambient discs I've heard in the last few years. Such simple elements create a work of staggering power--I'm duly impressed with this material and give it my highest recommendation. I'm satisfied truncating my description to give you time to pick up the disc, which is limited to 1000 copies. Don't miss this one, it's clearly going to be on my top ten for 2004.In total, Alio Die and his collaborators have given us a worthy triptych of albums as a gift for 2004. While none of the releases push Musso's sound into new terrain, this makes them no less exciting and essential. Casual Alio Die fans will probably do best with Sunja or Khen Introduce Silence, but I heartily recommend them all to fans of Alio Die's original and inimitable style of soundscaping.
BrianBieniowski
Sunja is a collaboration work between Alio Die and Zeit. Alio Die barely needs introduction; Stefano Musso and his label Hic Sunt Leones are well established names. Zeit on the other hand is a rather unfamiliar artist. Zeit is Tommaso Cimo’s musical pseudonym since 2001. He recorded two CDr's in 2001 and 2002,which are still left unpublished. In 2003 Tommaso met Stefano, and this led tothe Sunja release.
As you can see from the track listing, this release can be the soundtrack for a story. I'm unsure what Sunja is, if it's a made up city or something real. The only thing I could find was that it's the name of a municipality in Croatia. But I doubt this was the intended meaning, but I could be wrong here. This release consists of two gigantic tracks, the one even longer than the other one. I'm usually not into tracks that go on forever, and also usually not very fond of what Stefano & co. produce, but Sunja proved me on both aspects that it can be different as well. My main problem is usually that the music tend to get boring and repetitive. With Sunja however, this is absolutely not the case.
In a long 32 minute walk, one goes to Sunja with its gates open wide. The air isfilled with sounds of nature, backed with whispers, a constantly but slowly changing drone and rattles. One can imagine a pilgrimage through the woods,surrounded by nature, with in the distance the goal; the city of Sunja. The atmosphere is both friendly, haunting and mysterious. Who knows what occurs the next couple of minutes? Who knows what the next turn in the road brings? But eventually, after numerous of side-adventures, one reaches the gates, where the next chapter begins.
The music is so relaxed, layered an open to interpretation that it's very nice to just listen to. Not just as background music, while doing something else, but really focused on the music alone. I've spend an afternoon listening to this record after a tiring day, and Sunja soothed and relaxed me. It helps to reflect a busy day, and it brings one in a state of peace. At first I was rather reluctant to play this disc, but after numerous times of listening, this one grows to be a real favourite when it comes to music to relax to.
ChAwech / Heathen Harvest
This is totally an unknown gem in the ambient genre. I'm familiar with most of his (AlioDie) work, but this is just awesome. Total, lush, organic soundworlds with some live instruments, just droning away, harmoniously. Not dark, not light, just being there. Two massive tracks, there's not really any distinctive elements.Birds, water flowing, very relaxing.
ultra171 / www.discogs.com Dec26, 2007
Le musicien qui œuvrepour ce magnifique album avec ALIO DIE a visiblement ététraumatisé par un groupe allemand (TANGERINE DREAM) alors quecelui-ci venait de pondre son œuvrela plus abstraite et la plus ambitieuse. Sauf que Tomaso CIMO, aulieu d'œuvrer au synthé,joue dans la droite ligne de l'album précédent del'accordéon (là aussi que tous les contempteursd'Yvette HORNER se rassurent...) et de la khen, un orgue àbouche du Sud-Est asiatique, qui possède à la base lemême processus sonore que l'harmonica tout en ayant le son del'harmonium. Sur deux titres, longs, denses et créatifs, noscompères mettent tout le monde d'accord. Pour les aficionados,l'album est à rapprocher d'El Hadra deWIESE/DEJONG/GRASSOW.
Hery/Rythmes-croises.org/traversesmag
