Daniele Baldelli + Marco Dioni.Alloteva.

Since first joining forces in the studio at the dawn of the 2000s, Daniele Baldelli and Marco Dionigi have released countless collaborative singles and albums, each showcasing distinctively different takes on the “cosmic sound” that Baldelli did more than anyone else to define in the early 1980s.

Aloteva marks the pair’s first joint release for Leng Records, and Baldelli’s return to the label following last year’s acclaimed full-length collaboration with Marco Fratty, Oil Painting. It boasts a quartet of cuts that further refine the pair’s now-familiar joint style, which combines elements of dub disco, space rock, Italo-disco, funk and Afro-cosmic (another style which Baldelli arguably created via his DJ sets at the legendary Cosmic Club).

Those who’ve followed the experienced Italian pair’s career over the last two decades will enjoy the heavy and sweaty title track, a cowbell-sporting chunk of funk-fuelled cosmic disco decadence piled high with loose-limbed drums, throbbing synthesizer arpeggio lines, flanged guitar riffs and rubbery, low-slung bass.

The pair’s love of dub disco is further explored on the deliciously deep and warming ‘Deflector’, a pitched-down delight in which intergalactic chords, snaking saxophone motifs and echoing percussion hits rise above a metronomic beat and another headline-grabbing bassline.

‘Sonora’, which opens the flipside of the vinyl version of the release, is arguably even more cosmic and spaced-out. Light and airy thanks to a sparse, clicking drum machine rhythm, hypnotic bassline and gently pulsing synth chords, the track is marked out by some near horizontal, echo-laden jazz guitar solos that seemingly tumble down across the sound space.

To round off a strong EP, Baldelli and Dionigi deliver ‘Time Is Plastic’, whose icy ambient intro and blazed spoken word samples quickly segue into another elastic cosmic funk groove. This time round, the star attraction is the duo’s classy combination of liquid bass guitar and excitement-packed slap-bass. Throw in some gnarled, flash-fried funk guitar riffs and a heady, hypnotic mood, and you have another deep space gem from the most cosmic duo in the business.