Afe

A FEW WORDS ABOUT AFE
Afe is a small label based in Milan, Italy, and is run by Andrea Marutti . Its name stands for "Another Friendly Edition" and its catalogue focuses mostly on experimental, weird - or simply cool - music made with extensive use of electronic instruments.
Besides releasing music, Afe also offers an audio mastering service and a pins/buttons manufacturing service to bands, labels, individuals, etc. You can learn more about these services visiting the audio mastering and pins/buttons departments.
The aim of Afe is to break down the barriers existing in electronic music and its efforts are addressed to all the fearless / open-minded listeners who will be able to get over the terrible shock of seeing such extremely different productions standing side by side.
Among our latest releases we’d like to mention: a new The Impossible Flower album which showcases his ability at creating great IDM / Drill’n’Bass tunes; the fifth album by legendary japanese combo Sam & Valley who had releases on Rephlex and Angelika Koehlermann; the return of Non Ethos with an unreleased beautiful work; two new full-lenght Ambient / Dark Ambient album by Ninth Desert (ex Exotoendo and Lecanora) and Horchata ; a double MiniCD-R 3" experimental split release by The Infant Cycle and UPhold ; a new Ambient-Electronica / IDM / Drill’n’Bass opus by italian underground experimentalist a034 and a new Mark Hamn work that mixes guitars, electroacoustic, glitch and assorted electronics in a wonderful way (both in collaboration with legendary Bar La Muerte label); a five discs box-set by our best friend aal covering different aspects of his Art; two electroacoustic masterpieces by italian best kept secrets Cría Cuervos and Logoplasm ; the third stunning full-lenght work by Bestia Centauri (in collaboration with Eibon Records); the re-issue of Edward Ruchalski ’s "Dark Night" and his latest new album; a new Tribal / Ritual ambient disc by Steve Brand ; new experimental works by Cordell Klier , Andrew Duke , Pholde and Mathieu Ruhlmann , a 3" MiniCD-R containing a drone/ambient rework of a Madame P track made by The Afeman , etc.
In 2005 we celebrated our tenth anniversary with a big party and a *huge* on-line compilation aptly entitled " Breaking Down the Barriers 1995-2005, Ten Years of Afe ". " ...a gift for... (°I°) " - another free downloadable compilation - was also released in collaboration with many other italian labels as a gift for (°I°) a.k.a. Etero Genio a.k.a. known as Mario Biserni, one of the best italian underground music journalists.
Among our 2005-2006 releases we can’t help to mention the following: a very special Dark Ambient / Experimental compilation with mostly exclusive tracks by aal , Amon , Bad Sector , Bestia Centauri , Canaan , Etere-o , Moan , Non Ethos , Ornament , Subinterior , Subterranean Source and True Colour Of Blood ; The Impossible Flower with "Roots and Fruits" ; a new full-lenght work by Subinterior entitled "The Chrysalis Secret"; an acoustic guitar based CD-R album by Aidan Baker ; the debut of the Tribal / Noise / Rock combo Two Dead Bodies (released as our first collaboration with Bar La Muerte); the very first album by Sidra , the newest project of Paolo Bandera (Sigillum S) and Tiberio Longoni (ex Peter Sellers & The Hollywood Party); the official debut album by italian industrialists Ur ; an Ambient / Ritual / Tribal work by Steve Brand (ex Augur) entitled "Awakensong"; the latest Dronæment .. the reissue of one of the oldest Maeror Tri ’s tape (in collaboration with Blade Records) that came in a very special wood package; the debut album of Sparkle In Grey (of Normality/Edge fame) which also include a twin disc that contains a collection of remixes made by aal , Hubert Mensh , Talk Show Host , Pierpaolo Leo , Ether , Luca Sigurtà and Marco Aureggi, Nicola Ratti , The Impossible Flower , Telepherique , S.Talker Inc , Norm , Never Known and Meta:Led , and a special extra track created by Crashcars For The Ravers moniker; a space/alien inspired De Fabriek album that came in a very special package, etc.
Past releases also include music by: Bad Sector , De Fabriek (both sold out since long...), Amon , Never Known , Telepherique (including one of their collaborations with Ultra Milkmaids from France), Komplet (the glitch/noise/breakbeat project of Paolo Bandera, member of Sigillum S), Raffaele Serra (italian electronic pioneer best known for his Five Thousand Spirits CDs made with Alio Die), Dronæment (great drone-based project from Germany), Brian Lavelle (hyperactive sound-sculptor from Scotland, creator of the Radios series along with Richard Youngs), Frog Pocket (the mind behind Mothmouth Records and purveyor of some of the weirdest splatterbeat-pop-folk tunes around...), Moan (an interesting Industrial Ambient project from Poland), Bestia Centauri (an avantgarde composer inspired by the Lovecraftian universe), Mindmap (a band from Slovakia, whose original style is a mixture of ambient textures, delicate guitars, suffered vocals and intelligent rhythms configurations), Gerstein (the glorious italian act with a 20 years career spent riding on the dark side of music) and True Colour Of Blood (a master of guitar-based Ambient / Dark Ambient music).
Other artists who had releases on Afe are Nimh , Autistre , Elephant Zyclus , Kluster Cold , Wolkspurz & Ramirez , Jacob Ludvigsen , Nat Evans , Leeza , Kabal , Non Ethos and many, many more.
Forthcoming releases include: a remix album focused on Mindmap ’s debut disc released by Afe long time ago; a 12" split release by Frog Pocket and The Impossible Flower as an Afe / Mouthmoth co-production; a new John Hudak album and many more surprises that will be unveiled very soon...
A FEW MORE WORDS...
Andrea Marutti artist portrait / short feature by Tokafi [02/2008]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Digimag - in English [12/2007]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Digimag - in Italian [12/2007]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Connexion Bizarre [11/2007]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Audiodrome [04/2007]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Chain D.L.K. [01/2007]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Igloo Magazine [06/2006]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Lupo Ululì [12/2005]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Post? [10/2005]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Sands-Zine [10/2005]
Andrea Marutti interviewed by Audionet [03/2003]
LINKS / EXTENSIONS
Afe Records website
Afe Pins on MySpace
Andrea Marutti personal website
Andrea Marutti on MySpace
Andrea Marutti on Discogs
Andrea Marutti on Flickr
Andrea Marutti on Tumblr
Amon / Never Known
Hall of Mirrors on MySpace
Sil Muir on MySpace
Molnija Aura on MySpace
DEMO POLICY
If you’re an electronic music maker you may wish to have your music published by Afe. Please note that despite the high quality both of the music and the packages Afe is not a big business , most of our releases are limited edition CD-Rs. We are always busy working on forthcoming releases and, believe it or not, as you read these lines we have releases planned until the next 12 or so months.
That’s the reason why WE HAVE DECIDED TO NOT ACCEPT DEMOS . If you read these lines and you still want to send us a demo you should know that we may not be able to properly listen to it for weeks or even months. Please don’t expect a quick reply. We’re not becoming unfriendly but we’re very stressed, so please help us to get through this pain: DON’T SEND US A DEMO .
Please also keep in mind that even if we may enjoy your music, we may not be able to release it. In case you’re some stubborn guy who really want to send us a demo just like it was a matter of "life or death", please send your music only on CD-R. Any other format won’t be considered at all, sorry.
If you have any questions or need more information, please feel free to get in touch and we’ll do our best to reply in a reasonable time.
HOW DO YOU SAY "AFE"?
We’ve been asked about the correct spelling of "Afe" a thousand times... We decided to create a very small .mp3 file (about 0.2 mb) so that everyone can download it and listen.
Here it is: A-F-E