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Valerio Tricoli "Did They? Did I?" Cd-Ep one track, 19'19''. |
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Who’s Valerio Tricoli?... an enigma of italian electronic music. Mario Biserni ReViews: Though he probably received more recognition last year for his production work on Dean Roberts' breathtaking Be Mine Tonight, Valerio Tricoli was also busy creating one of the more substantial musique concrète works I've heard in quite a while. The title alone should transmit the charm and the wayward beauty of this piece, its questions projecting both the violence of discovery and the resigned, rhetorical penance of shame and acceptance. Tricoli's music becomes the missing thought dots between these two inquisitives, a journey of self-reflection and detachment. Revealingly, a three-dotted reply was all that I, at least, could utter after sitting with the disc's 40+ minutes (advertised as only 19, another of Tricoli's warping tactics, anything but playful). The artist works outside of the hyper-lyrical or hyper-visceral styles that seem to dominate concrète practice these days; his removed approach places the music within memory's shadowy domain, distanced but strangely present, like a déjà vu experience. This is not audio-surrealism per say, but something more somber and gratingly nostalgic. The disc's first section could begin in the room of some shaky continental hotel, slowly and secretly colored in with disembodied hallway voices and the abrupt activity of antique door latches. The voices will continue throughout the piece, contributing more to a regenerating wave of commotion than any kind of foundation, thematic or at all grounding. The music rides this wave as aboard a virtual history of meaningless conversation, essential white noise against which all that is individual or discernable in the piece must be measured. There is certainly an individual, very human presence in this work, but one that seems always hidden, revealing itself gingerly though the segmented, even lush sounds of rustling and light knocking spaced across the whole. Tricoli also attaches some of his inventive melodic hesitations at points during the disc, via bell tones and steady, thin drones, shifting certain moments into sudden dramatic relief, as if caught in a cinematic lens. Did They? Did I? stays very much outside the listening space; this music enacts a quiet and impossible ambiance, capturing those subtle, telling degrees by which our memory is bound. It rises to shock only when cool and deceptive recovery is within reach and reveals only for seconds anything that could be called recognizable. - Andrew Culler (brainwashed) Did They? Did I?, by Bologna-based Valerio Tricoli, whose only released work prior to this was an untitled cassette outing with Ielasi on Freedom From, is a fascinating if enigmatic piece that, like its cover photography, plays with the idea of inside / outside. Or rather, foreground / background - Tricoli explores the idea of distance and depth (real, in the form of sounds occurring far from the mics - a distant police car siren - or illusory - sporadic and intentionally heavy of use of reverb) in a beautifully executed and constantly thought-provoking piece of work. The piece itself lasts 19'09", but the album displays a total duration of 41'08". At 20'21" a ghost track appears, in the form of a recording that has also apparently provided some source material for the preceding piece. It sounds as if Tricoli has hidden a Minidisc recorder inside a cupboard in somebody's apartment: fragments of conversation, the clang of pots and pans, passing traffic noise and various other acoustic ejectamenta of everyday life appear and disappear. Once more, the sounds are recognisably interior (crying children, flushing toilets..) and exterior (passing motorcycles, dogs..) in origin, but their coexistence as musical elements in a work of sound art has blurred the difference. Similarly, the seemingly untreated field recording raises the eternal question, is this life or is it art? That's for you to decide (I'd argue it's both). In its way, Tricoli's work is as aesthetically challenging as Martusciello's, the difference being you probably won't be evicted or have to replace your speakers if you play it loud. (Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic, January 2004) L'esordio di Valerio Tricoli per la neonata Bowindo è già più di una semplice promessa! "Did They? Did I?" sono solo 19 minuti di suoni impalpabili e misteriosi, difficili da definire e collocare, termini come neo-concreto o elettroacustica diventano stretti e di comodo per raccontare quella che a mio avviso è semplicemente meraviglia e stupore dell'ascolto. Rifrazioni, giochi di luci ed ombre come nei paesaggi zen, piccoli suoni trovati, inventati o reinventati, che importa in fondo? Serve davvero conoscere le fonti di un suono che sembra provenire da zone intime e nascoste dell'anima? Certo par di riconoscere voci ed echi distanti, il tocco e rintocco di una campana tibetana, abrasioni di oggetti che, con un semplice microfono a contatto, diventano sculture sonore. Par di vedere piccole increspature e trasparenze. E' la sensibilità per il suono ad essere straordinaria in Tricoli, la stessa magica sensibilità dei paesaggi incantati di Lionel Marchetti e del Günter più assorto. Una lunga, generosa ghost track chiude il disco, ma credetemi anche solo 19 minuti a volte valgono quanto l'infinità. (8) (Gino Dal Soler, BlowUp September 2003) Soft noises, clatters, movement but with noise eruptions like sprung switches. Little dits, chiming sounds and a rolling ball, electrohumm and rumble, more chimes and oral noises. Then there is metal tapping and electrosplatter, hollow echoed tapping and more scrapey noises. A baby cries and there are distant voices, the chimes and then tubular bells (or xylophone) long decay. Playing, and then transformed to a drone with more notes over. A soft patter crackle. Clicks, low drones, xylophone, tuning forks, scrabble and tone pulse drone, all building. Eases to soft spatter and pulse, dropping away further. Tones and rolling ringing (the chimes slowed?) A tone builds, cycles round, activity, lots of clattering, high tones, breathing, eases, softly to fade. |
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