Matteo Vallicelli is an Italian drummer and composer, best known as the live
drummer of The Soft Moon, Death Index, and as a founding member of many
renowned Italian punk bands. This winter he debuts his first solo project, Primo
on Captured Tracks.
In 2013, Vallicelli relocated from the ancient neighborhood of Trastevere in
Rome to the ever-changing Kreuzberg district in Berlin. This dramatic uprooting
acted as a catalyst, inspiring him to try and make music on his own. Heavily
inspired by the pulsating techno scene of the German capital, Vallicelli began
experimenting with synthesizers and drum machines. Recording sounds onto his
computer and cassette tapes led him to create a massive collection of loops
and samples, sometimes in protracted home sessions where he wouldn't leave
his apartment for days.
For Vallicelli, the transition from playing drums in punk bands to sitting alone in
his home studio, working on minimalistic electronic compositions, has dramatically
shifted his music career. He says, "Being in charge of everything can be
disorienting. Having no other band members to work or fight with. I would
end up with hours of music that I would endlessly edit on my computer. It took
me years to learn how to limit myself, to finish up a project and move on to
something else. But, as soon as I mastered that, I was able to assemble my first
album quickly."
Songs like "Michelangelo" and "Frammenti" were born as techno tracks but,
through subtraction, became something different and more representative of
the introspective state in which they were created. These two tracks opened
up a path for the rest of the music on the Primo, in which most of the songs
have no traces of drums or percussive elements, marking a new, liberating
way for Vallicelli to make music. The result of three years of experimentation,
Primo is ultimately an exercise in self-limitation and discovery.
