Alio Die & Mariolina Zitta "La Sala Dei Cristalli" CDHighly acclaimed and constantly productive Italian sonic researcher, Stefano Musso, has returned in best shape during the November of 2010 with four new albums released at the same day. I have already focused on his collaboration with Zeit, so let's take a closer look on his work with another Italian fellow-traveler and environmental sound artist, Mariolina Zitta. As indicated by the album's title, Stefano & Mariolina are taking us to exciting and magnificent trip to some intriguing caves located on the island of Sardinia as well as to Borgio Verezzi caves in the region of Liguria. Obscure drones are gently flavored by various echoed sounds that include shells, rattles, stones, stalactites, bells..., but also dripping water, bat calls or flutes, one of them sounding very close to Fujara, a typical folk flute of Slovak shepherds. Overall, all 8 pieces (divided in 4 titles) sound very minimalistic, but naturally and deeply cavernous, so both these sonic explorers have certainly achieved what they wanted with this unique collection of sounds and atmospheres. "La Sala Dei Cristalli" is strongly meditative work of Alio Die & Mariolina Zitta that takes each listener into the breathtaking underground world of unforgettable and miraculous sculptures and sceneries. As usual for Alio Die, the CD comes in really beautiful glossy 6-panel digipak nicely portraying album's title and theme.Richard Gürtler (Feb 06, 2011, Bratislava, Slovakia)