4 out of 5

Label: Orange

Produced by: D’Arcangelo

I’m having trouble finding much info on this early D’Arcangelo release, beyond its 1999 date, which puts it in interesting company, chronologically. The D’Arcangelo brothers – Fabrizio and Marco – started off in the late 90s producing rather abrasive IDM, eventually pushing outward into more experimental territory that maintained a throughline of melody. That is: beats and flow were always part of package, but the duo often prioritized a kind of distant chilliness to their sound that I came to love, as it made repeat listens more and more worthwhile as you dug in and heard nuance beneath a maybe harsher top layer. Zero to Zero fits in a funny place in that journey, as it’s very accessible for its time, hitting heavy on beats in a way that I don’t think the group leaned in to until the late 00s, while also kicking off each side with tracks much more typical of their icy, clickety-clack minimalism. …Rather amusingly, the B-side offers a remix of one of these tracks (from Andre Estermann) that embraces the big beats found elsewhere on the release, strategically taking the unmuxed rhythm from the song and letting it shine – as though the remix was the original, in a way.

There’s something about that structure that feels like it ties in to the title of the album: the IDM / grimey / glitch bangers that follow each side’s openers rattle the speakers with blown out beats and fun, skittery synths, compared to the preceding chilly ambience of Goodbye L and the title track that would feel more fitting on Shipwreck, their Rephlex debut. We thus start each side of the album with tracks that do play into D’Arcangelo’s distancing tactics, setting expectations at the starting line each time. …Or at zero. Yeah, it’s a reach, but it really did make it so I wasn’t sure what mood to be in for the tracks that would follow, only to be instantly grabbed up by their very accessible grooves.

A key release in the D’Arcangelo brothers discography, showing off their skill early on at adapting their sounds to a wide range of electro styles and approaches.

Note: there is a “restored” digital version of this that is firstly missing a track (the rather cheery sounding slippy beats of A25, following the title song), and secondly… completely breaks the opening song. It’s kind of hilarious?: the song just legit skips for a minute, but it kinda almost works in a way that passes as purposeful.