Reviews:

Finding the right words to describe "Faces" has proved a more elusive task than it seemed. My initial encounter with Stendeck, mediated by an already established inclination toward such noise/ambient projects as s:cage and Gridlock (incidentally, Mike Wells is credited with mastering the album), could not be anything but one of intrigue, and later, admiration. Behind Stendeck is Swiss artist Alessandro Zampieri, a classically trained pianist who turned to electronics as a mode of musical expression, and has since cultivated an enthralling and shamanistic sound. "Faces" is a sublime journey through mind-bending, supple synths and ample chords, punctuated by crunchy, ductile beats. Distinguished by meticulous layering, rich veins of percussive noise, fat bass saturations and annihilating crescendos, the album is indicative of an imagination both otherworldly and tremendous. A difficult style in which to excel, the industrial-ambient interface Stendeck envisions is as emotionally penetrating and introspective (just look at the song titles) as it is epic and exuberant (just... listen).
Although the entire album is riveting, the portion bounded by three ostensible interlude pieces, "A Perfect Place to Say Good-Bye" (piano), "She Watched the Corners of the Roof and Then She Left" (glitch/beats) and "The Porcelain and the Girl I Dreamt About" (bells/chimes), contains some of the most engaging music on "Faces." One after another, these several tracks coalesce into a logical progression for those in need of soulful resuscitation. "Behind Waterfalls" opens with a sticky, percolating synthesizer rhythm, soon subsumed in the background by a melodic helium-trip groove. Interweaving notes in "The Woman Who Burnt on Her Bed" offer the sensual paranoia of building flames, and the heartbreaking "Steal Flowers to Make Drugs" builds off of aboriginal drones while edging into breakcore territory. At first muted, a jarring shift makes the off-key bleeps and rough beats of "Nocturnal Manoeuvres Before Dawn" that much more effective.
Without question, standouts also inhabit the first and final portions of the seventeen-track "Faces" in equal measure. The menacing, falling chords and counter-beats of "Anywhere Out of This World" mirror the keening tones and emotional outpouring evident in "All the Things I Wanted to Tell You But I Didn't" (as the title suggests). "Like Falling Crystals" is a powerful breaks-rich hymn to the divine, later countered by the primal atmosphere of the brief but unnerving "Frames and Teardrops." Finally, "Faces (Where are You Now?)" erodes away with a long and melancholy piano outro trailing into cathartic nothingness. Thus what I experienced in "Faces" was a transmutation of polarities - joy and terror (fecundity and desolation, light and dark, etc.) became interchangeable, and in essence, exhilarating.
Dutton Hauhart [9.5/10] - CONNEXION BIZARRE



Stendeck turned a few heads with the release of "can you hear my call." Comparisons to Gridlock were fairly obvious and while it was an excellent album there was some concern, at least in my mind, as to where he would take it next. After all, another album of more of the same just wouldn't cut the mustard.
So here we have Stendecks 2nd album. And has there been some kind of musical progression? By god yes! Stendeck's Faces is starting to show the individual, well... face, of Stendeck. And it's a great face indeed. Occasionally you will still get a taste of Gridlock but it's very clear that he is forging his own road now, the fat pads and melodies are still there but the drums, construction and general feel has changed quite a lot. In fact the whole album has a really positive feel to it which is something that tends to woefully lack in a lot of albums in this genre.
Faces is a long album. At 17 tracks you might think that it might be a little too much to swallow but the whole album has such a great flow to it that it carries you through with complete enjoyment and satisfaction. With tracks like the powerful and melodic "Like falling crystals" and the excellent organic pad harmonies on "Steal flowers to make drugs" it's almost easy to forget about the great gritty rhythms and (if I'm not mistaken) real instruments such as guitars that fill out this album. But these are merely details, the important thing is the feel and in this the album excels. It's a paradoxically both simple and complex album like a crystal chandelier and conjures up similar imagery while listening to it with that distorted but clean and patterned feel that binds the album together.
Faces has pretty much been on repeat on my MP3 player and has not become boring once. I recommend this to anyone who loves melodic and gritty IDM.
Igloo Magazine



A much anticipated release for me. I loved the debut ‘Can You Hear My Call?’ and was eager to see where Alessandro Zampieri would take us next. Stendeck has always given us some long track titles, and this album is no exception. But the titles do have a personal meaning to the man, that is plainly evident. ‘Faces’ is another journey into what you feel is Alessandro’s emotional states and experiences. It’s utilising life’s experiences that does somehow set a lot of artists apart from others and Ale really plays on this with every note, clever IDM sensibilities with emotional soaring synth lines as always. While Stendeck does have obvious influences he does create his own drama and unique style. I can spot a Stendeck track a mile away.
Faces is genuinely more full on than the last album as a whole, and is a more progressive release in its entirety. Rather than any track standing out as a whole (as in the debut album), it is one of those immersive journey’s you must experience in full.
TY [9/10] - The Enochian Apocalypse



After the cool debut-cd “Can you hear my call”, Alessandro Zampieri aka Stendeck strikes back with this intelligent piece of electronics entitled “Faces”. Stendeck composes an ambient form of electronics, which can be linked to bands like Iszoloscope, Haujobb, Displacer, Gridlock ao. First there’s a clinical and sterile ambient atmosphere, which next is recovered with intelligent electronic arrangements. There’s a little experimental flavor hanging over the songs, but the sounds remains totally accessible and enjoyable. The down tempo rhythmic makes it fascinating whole the instrumental pieces never bore. Stendeck also stands for refinement and an eye for details, which is perfectly illustrated by the discrete piano parts on a few songs. The best examples are the songs “The woman who burnt on her bed” and especially “Faces (where are you)?” which is the last song of the album. A few spoken vocal parts could add a little bonus to the songs although there’s no reason to complain! A cool surprise from the Swiss border!
(DP:7/8)DP. - Side Line


Hints of classical and soundtrack influences infuse Stendeck's newest album with a subtle beauty.IDM is a tricky genre. Veer too far towards technical beats and experimental sound manipulations, and no one except other electronic composers will ever want to listen to you. Veer too far in the other direction, and you end up with soothing new age pap. Alessandro Zampieri, the man behind Stendeck, deftly sidesteps both pitfalls on his newest album, a masterfully crafted opus that subtly integrates acoustic instrumentation and cinematic moods with modern glitch and techno elements. The result is both technically avant-garde and emotionally affecting. Faces starts softly with "The Day I Saw You Cry for the First Time." At first, tones ring against one another like glass, then gradually a cold beat begins to resonate beneath, and eventually layers of rich, decadent synth pads fill out the sound in a wash of melancholy. From that auspicious beginning, the album journeys from moments of bittersweet acoustic instrumentation to cold abstraction and everywhere in-between, often within the span of a single track. "Like Falling Crystals" begins as futuristic hip-hop, with science fiction synths drifting over a head-nodding breakbeat, but lovely organic strings move in toward the track's latter half to soften its hard edges. "The Woman Who Burnt on Her Bed" employs deep piano chords for similar purposes, juxtaposing their mournful harmony with more abrasive rhythm patches, and "Steal Flower to Make Drugs" starts off with the distorted beats and breaks of slowed-down power noise, but gives way to majestic washes of electronic harmony. If there's any flaw to this material, is that Zampieri seems to have found a bit of a formula for creating his tracks: start off with noisy down-tempo and bursts of distortion to hook the IDM purists, then throw in some gorgeous soundtrack stuff to win everyone else over. As it's presented though, Faces doesn't feel like a collection of formulas; instead, it gradually alternates between colder and more emotive moments, with each shift and return feeling less like a distinct song than a movement within a larger whole. While Faces seems especially geared toward fans of the expressive techno experimentation of artists like Autoclav1.1 and Ginormous, Stendeck's music is exquisitely crafted and gracefully arranged enough to appeal to anyone with an interest in electronic music.
Matthew Johnson [4/5] – ReGen Magazine



Auch auf dem zweiten Album des Schweizers Alessandro Zampieri geht es rein instrumental un elektronisch zur Sache. Anders als auf dem Debüt, in dem zarte und ruhige Sequenzen ein bisschen roh mit krachtigen Drums verwoben wurden, erscheint „Faces“ weitaus homogener und durchdachter. Ingesamt lässt er es auch hier ein bisschen ruhiger angehen, was der Faszination allerdings keine abbrucht tut, ganz im Gegenteil. Das Zweitwerk forder geradezu dazu auf, in den Klangsphären zu versinken und sich den Soundtüfteilen hinzugeben. Ein echter Ohrenschmaus für Liebhaber von intelligenter elektronischer Musik!
Julia Beyer – Sonic Seducer - 06/2007

SONIC SEDUCER soundcheck June 2007- 2nd place for stendeck
1. Pink Turns Blue "ghost" 8.10
2. stendeck "faces" 7.90
3. Down Below "Sinfony23" 7.35
4. Menticide "N.M.E." 7.25
5. Paradise Lost "In Requiem" 7.20
6. Download "FiXeR" 7.20
7. Pankow "Great Minds Against Themselves" 7.15
8. Samael "Solar Soul" 6.60
9. Xandria "Salomé - The Seventh Veil" 6.50
10. This Et Al "Baby Machine" 6.40
11. Elend "A World in their Screams" 6.35
12. The Deep Eynde "Bad Blood" 6.30
13. Visions of Atlantis "Trinity" 6.05
14. Autumn "My New Time" 6.00
15. Reptyle "Consequence" 5.95



Das letzte rein instrumentale Album, das mich auf Anhieb dermassen gefangen genommen hat, war « Golevka » von The Evpatoria Report. Diese famose CD erschien 1995, was verdeutlicht, wie selten wirklich gute gesanglose Platten vom Himmel fallen.
Natürlich erscheint „faces“ allein deshalb das etwas Besonderes, weil das Projekt des Schweizers Alessandro Zampieri noch weitgehend unbekannt und damit einer echten Entdeckung gleichzusetzen ist. Andererseits braucht diese Platte keinerlei Boni. Zampieri zaubert mit ganzen 17 Stücken eine absolut verzückende elektronische Traumwelt herbei. „faces“ ist voll mit IDM, wobei damit nicht nur Intelligent Dance, sondern auch Intelligent Dream Music gemeint ist. Stendeck arbeitet mit grandiose Flächen, die sich vorsichtig und filigrane Melodien und vertrackte Rhythmen winden. Dabei ist der Sound keineswegs immer zurückhaltend. Immer wieder werden die Beats verzerrt, schwillt das Geschehen lautstark und impulsiv an, um sich im nächsten Augenblick wieder sanft zut Ruhe zu setzen „faces“ ist wie das Meer: mal wild, mal zahm, aber immer faszinierend und stets Sehnsucht erweckend.
Deckard – Zillo -June 2007



S’il vient d’un background industriel, le Suisse Alessandro Zampieri, qui évolue sous le nom de Stendeck, s’est bien vite affranchi des limites du genre pour développer une musique solaire et éthérée, où le moindre élé ment, rythme ou texture, apparaît d’une grande finesse. Un talent et une originalité qui ne se démentent pas sur Faces, son troisième album où Stendeck pousse plus loin encore ses subtilités de création.
Tel un voyage émotionnel, Faces vous entraînera ainsi au seuil de la dissolution lumineuse (« Like falling crystals »), dans une mélancolie pianistique insurpassable (« A Perfect Place to say Goodbye »), dans des ambiances cosmiques et mystérieuses (« The Woman who burnt on her Bed ») , ou au travers de contrées bien plus noires (« le sale et tourmenté « Steal Flowers to make Drugs ») san qu’aucun de ces mouvements n’apparaisse jamais impersonnel ou inféodé à une école. Un monde à part entières se déroule ainsi, lentement, sous la main de l’un des musiciens plus inspirés du moment.
A découvrir d’urgence !
Jean-François Micard – D-SIDE



Il nuovo atto del progetto italo-svizzero, è un soundtrack di spessore per un inesistente film. Si preannuncia una pellicola drammatica e commovente, quella di "Faces": di vellutati pianti e oscuri tradimenti, di suggestioni zen, di meccanici massacri da prima pagina, di cupi drammi interiori che sfociano in agrodolce follia e di disperazione dell'impossibilità di comunicare ciò che sentiamo ad un altro essere umano. Come fantasmi in sala d'attesa le immagini viaggiano e si plasmano durante l'ascolto, colano frenetiche dai neuroni fino alla retina, escono dalle pupille e si proiettano sull schermo bianco davanti a noi con tale naturalezza e ispirazione da lasciare commossi. L'album però ha una doppia forza che è fondamentale e rende questo tipo di dischi "grandi" anche ad un ascolto disimpegnato, di sottofondo non si perde nemmeno un grammo della qualità di questa perla. Emozionalità, energia, impegno e illusoria semplicità quasi catchy: prossimamente nel vostro stereo.
Alex Karl - Ritual



Come sto dicendo già da qualche tempo, la fase di “sterilità” che stanno attraversando alcuni generi di nicchia (da sempre ampiamente trattati nelle pagine di Ver Sacrum…) è davvero preoccupante, e non fa presagire proprio nulla di buono. Tra questi generi è senz’altro incluso l’ambient (ma anche la sua variante “oscura”, identificata dallo stesso termine abbinato al prefisso “dark”…), che negli ultimi anni ci è stato propinato da una miriade di band (o forse sarebbe meglio dire di one-man projects?) senza un minimo di talento e di buone idee, interessate solo a riproporre la copia esatta di ciò che altri hanno già fatto molti anni fa. Detto questo potrete capire come mai guardo con circospezione tutte le nuove release che vengono in qualche modo associate al tipo di musica a cui ho appena accennato, ma devo ammettere che l’ultimo lavoro di Stendeck (alias Alessandro Zampieri, “manipolatore di suoni” originario di Lugano che ha all’attivo la pubblicazione del demo A crash into another world e del cd Can you hear my call?…) mi ha colpito per la sua complessità e per la cura con la quale è stato realizzato. I diciassette brani contenuti in Faces si fanno notare per la loro pienezza e corposità, ma la trama “disomogenea” che li caratterizza e la loro particolare struttura (ottenuta grazie all’accostamento di “soundscapes” ariosi e avvolgenti con basi rhythmic-noise un tantino edulcorate…) gli conferiscono pure una certa solarità, che personalmente ho trovato molto gradevole. Non c’è quindi solo introspezione in questo disco, anzi direi che la giusta chiave di lettura sta nella comprensione delle emozioni che il suo autore ha cercato di trasmetterci, sensazioni che hanno sì avuto origine nella mente di un singolo individuo, ma che (attraverso i suoni) ogni ascoltatore può interpretare a piacimento, adattandole alla propria personalità. Come dicevo si tratta di un album del quale vale la pena notare ogni singolo dettaglio (concetto applicabile sia alla musica, sia all’eccellente artwork che lo accompagna…), che farà la gioia di chi è stufo marcio di ascoltare materiale dozzinale e deludente (spesso pubblicato anche da label famose e blasonate!) e pretende decisamente qualcosa di più…
Grendel - Ver Sacrum



Ascoltando 'The Woman Who Burnt On Her Bed' e la title track coloro che amano i Gridlock non potranno che amare la creatura dello svizzero Alessandro Zampieri. Stendeck nasce come riflesso di un'elettronica intelligente e mai del tutto privata della possibilità di muoversi e dilatarsi in direzioni molteplici. Senza eccessivi condizionamenti l'ambient a tratti sussurrato di 'Faces' si appropria di battiti down-tempo per regalarci una personale lettura della relazione tra spazio e tempo. Un secondo album che non si preoccupa di apparire troppo lungo estendendo la sua vitalità onirica anche oltre la mera conclusione dei pezzi previsti. 'Like Falling Crystals' e 'Steal Flowers To Make Drugs' hanno forse il difetto di suonare troppo auto-compiacenti ma nel silenzio della vostra camera, dopo una stressante giornata di lavoro o un lungo orgasmo di sapere sapranno ammaliarvi. Non so cosa ne pensate ma tra una tempesta elettrica e l'altra trovo che dischi come questo siano come una manna dal cielo per il mio stereo.
Divine - Dageisha.com