We're firing off the last shots of the #zot2016 review before we resign ourselves to the end of 2017. Today we have an Italian record.

Alessandro Adriani - Montagne trasparenti (Mannequin Records, April 05, 2016)

Alessandro Adriani is the founder of Mannequin Records, an Italian label born in Rome in 2008 but that 'relocated' for reasons of opportunity to Berlin, specializing in minimal synth and cold wave offerings. The label is distinguished by its well-defined choices in its productions, which can also involve reissues of 'occult' works created in the past. However, in this case, we are faced with a completely new LP created by Adriani himself in collaboration with Willie Burns. Recorded between Rome and Berlin 'over various years of travel, compositions, and battles with wires and machines', 'Montagne trasparenti' is an album of minimal electronics that conceptually - curiously - draws inspiration not far from that of 'Planetarium' recently produced by Stevens, Muhly, Dessner, McAlister, although the sound of the compositions is different from the neo-classicism proposed by Stevens and companions, configuring instead into a certain obsessive kraut in slow motion ('L'acqua di Nettuno', 'Fuoco', 'Rotazione Sincrona'), dark ambient and cold wave ('Fase Lunare I', 'Verso lo Zenith', 'Attraverso le asperità', 'Fase Lunare II'), and electro-trance compulsions ('Pianeta rosso', 'Montagne trasparenti'). Overall, a definitely interesting work that could become a cult object and draw attention from genre enthusiasts. Anyway, a label to keep an eye on, especially if you enjoy minimal electronic compositions, cold wave, and goth sounds.

ALESSANDRO ADRIANI l'acqua di nettuno