Alio Die

Artist: Alio Die + Zeit
P:  2007 / 2012
LTD 99
Recorded live at Teatro Dadà, Castelfranco Emilia.

Packaging: 6-panel handmade digipak

Artist:  Alio Die + Zeit
P: 2007 
Zeit is Tommaso Cimò, who teams up with Alio Die for a single, fragile,meditative track glittering with notes dripping off their respective zithers,gradually shape shifting for three seconds shy of the maximum capacity of a compact disc.
Alio Die also plays psaltery and manipulates his trademark drones andloops, while Zeit commands a bowed psaltery, shruti box, and provides a slew ofsamples to the mix. Particularly effective are the sounds of dampened human commotion and interactioin appearing after about half an hour.
Pristinely recorded in August 2006. More of that remarkably serene work of Alio Die which captures some gentle moment forever.
Alio Die: psaltery, zither, drones and loops
Zeit: zither, bowed psaltery, shruti-box, samples

Artist:  Alio Die + Zeit
P: 2003 
This is totally an unknown gem in the ambient genre. 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. Perfect for background droning, easily for fans of Robert Rich, FSOL, Lustmord. 

Artist: Alio Die
P:  2019
This second volume of a trilogy of 'lost and found' tracks contain a missed track from the album Opera Magnetica with Aglaia, an unique collaboration piece recorded with the japanese duo Jack or Jive, a track with the polish singer and musician India Czajkowska , and a solo Alio Die's composition. 
Deep and essential vibes combine Alio Die’s sound with some of the more interesting collaboration moments ever, over the years.

Artist:  Alio Die
P:  2016
LTD 300
Like an electronic orchestra of ambient music masters we hear long ambient tracks with a lot to discover with headphones.
Alio Die: drones & loops, field recordings
with:
Lingua Fungi: kantele, organ, treatments
Aglaia: electronics and effects.
Enten Hitti: percussions, oboe, voice.

Artist:  Alio Die
P:  2007
This release in a recent outpouring of creativity from Italy ’s master of organic drones is possibly the most unique in this artist’s long career as a sound sculptor. While most of his recent releases on his own Hic Sunt Leones label have been collaborations, this is his first solo effort since the release of the 10 inch vinyl Aurea Hora. As the elaborate Renaissance style artwork on the cover suggests, this music points in the direction of a more “classical”sound in so far as the utilization of Gregorian style chants. These are successfully incorporated into Musso’s customary drones comprised of field recordings, acoustic instruments, and electronic processing, giving this disc a particularly reverent ambience. Don’t think Enigma or Delerium, because as one listens to this they may be inclined to bow their head and meditate or prayrather than nod or chill. I imagine that if today’s sound recording abilities were available during those times evoked by the artwork or chants, they toowould have then added the organic elements that Alio Die does, creating abalance of both the heavenly and the earthbound. Fans of his music may or maynot find this approach a departure from what they are accustomed to, but it is certain that this artist is going beyond his previous huge body of work to encompass a broader sonic pallette.

Artist:  Alio Die
P: 2006
LTD 400
"Aurea Hora" 10" include two unrealised tracks recorded in 2005.  There is a very special release that includes the two ALIO DIE issues on SmallVoices: the reissue of his fantastic masterpiece "Under an Holy Ritual" (SVV004), very well known ritual ambient music milestone on 12" LP and the totally new and exclusive Alio Die studio work titled "Aurea Hora" (SVV007) released on vinyl 10".
This EP features two exclusive tracks of evocative magmatic soundscapes. The completely new recordings (with drones, loops, zither and integrated radio noises from an old valvular model) are similar to early Alio Die experiments or to ‘Sol Niger’. Entrancing atmospheres will bring you into Stefano’s magical world, which is an oneiric, dreaming journey to the inner self.

Artist:  Alio Die
P:  2012
Deconsecrated and Pure is an evocative liturgy from the realm where electronic music meets acoustic drones, found objects, sacral voices and field recordings.
Italian ambient-acoustic sonic sculptor Stefano Musso returns for his first solo Alio Die release on Projekt in 20 years. Don't get the idea he's been on vacation, however! Since 1992 he has released 37 collaboration CDs and 19 solo CDs; this makes Deconsecrated and Pure Alio Die's 20th solo release! Welcome back!
The processed traditional instruments and natural textures float alongside rich electro-organic drones, creating a perfect introspective soundtrack with a medieval and sacral atmosphere. Serene and meditative textures combine in a chorus of circular and interwoven sounds,reflecting the harmony of the cosmos as an opus of inner stillness.
Processed and layered into the mix are vocal pieces by Claudio Merulo. The work of this 16th century Venetian Renaissance composer was performed byPaolo Tognon and Quoniam Ensemble di Dulciane and De Labyrintho Ensemble Della Rinascenza, creating the essence of a historical religious feel.
The gradual evolution of the arrangements create a strong impression that the listener has been carried across time and space. Elements such as sonically-tampered Middle East horns (The dulciana, a sort of early basoon/oboe), solemn atmospheres of the courts of the Italian Renaissance, and evocative soundscapes cosmic and ethereal combine for holiness and trascendence.
To create this work, Stefano selected fragments of sessions recorded with the acoustic instruments, modifying them through multi-layered loops. Pitch and frequencies changed, effects were added, other sound objects were played and processed into the mix. This was further augmented with the electronics and field recordings adding more layers; metamorphosizing the whole atmosphere into a deep trance mood. What makes Alio Die's compositions glow is the attention to detail; there's always something changing; something from the background floats to the foreground as it is slowly modified, or perhaps it's the gentle addition of a bagpipe or stringed instruments. It all intertwines through constant modulation,addition of atmospheric sounds, and re-contextualization.
Marvelously floating and hauntingly expressive, 'Deconsecrated and Pure' feels like a liturgical poem within an archaic mausoleum distorted by time.

Artist:  Alio Die
P:  2022
LTD 200
In 'Distillation of time' Alio Die condenses in five tracks, acoustic suggestions and electronic visions that expand the heart of the sound, its contemplative quality, opening a dimension of natural metamorphosis, of transfiguration.
The acoustic parts proceed particularly slow and bright, alternate and chase each other in places often practiced for meditation and recollection, to lead the listening where sound and light become one .. revealing that sensitive attention that is the crucible and the very essence of sound.
The harmony turns out to be fluid between the arpeggios of the zither that are peculiarly tuned to each other and never stops so as to magically resonate in a solution of continuity, opening up the temporal perspective and leading us into the subtlest realms of listening.
Peace emerges and leads, the endless blossoming of love remains the silent background of inspiration, from which every sound appears and refracts.
From this wonderful view the yeast of the soul infuses new life, the ecstasy of being not separated is like a balm to human conflicts, when time is not measured it does not exist, and the contemplated space can expand.
The cover is taken from an image found on the bottom of the distiller after a summer dedicated to essential oils.

Artist: Alio Die
P: 2021
LTD 200
Returning back in time, somewhere on the Mediterranean sea, where sound and myth met at the highest inspirational and poetic peaks,
fed by the roots of tradition.
Eleusian Sources flourishes from the largely acoustic recordings spectrum made for the album with Martina Galvagni, Eleusian Lullaby released in 2008 for Projekt.
A path backwards, emerges from these new mixes that lead without the voice, in different enchanted places. The silence in the sound highlights numerous new layers that emerge from the surface from imponderable depths, immediately investing the listener at a maximum degree of rapture and mystery.
The zither, the psaltery, the sitar, the kalimba, the metals and the field recordings .. with their highly hypnotic, and delicately interconnected magical arabesques, throw the listener into a ritual, esoteric space full of poetry and pathos.