ER044 Valerio Tricoli / Werner Dafeldecker / Mattin - Le Diable probablement
by Valerio Tricoli / Werner Dafeldecker / Mattin
Cassette, Eclectic Reactions Records (Bilbao)
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Last release for 2022 and number 44 on Eclectic Reactions Records entitled “Le Diable probablement” and which arises from the conjunction between none other than Valerio Tricoli, Werner Dafeldecker and Mattin.
The versatile artist from Biscay, probably one of the most internationally known Basque figures in sound art and experimentation, responsible for countless projects (La grieta, Billy Bao...), albums and works in different formats (such as his latest book on Social Dissonance...) joins the Italian Valerio Tricoli (from acousmatics and who has released on labels such as PAN or Entr'acte) and the Austrian composer Werner Dafeldecker (multi-instrumentalist and improviser with works since 1991 on labels such as Room 40, GROB or Another Timbre) to offer us this conceptual and sound jewel.
Half an hour long for a true initiation journey through sound experimentation, noise, electronics, sound synthesis, abstraction, industrial music, concrete music, drones and the darkness that pervades everything.
Throughout five pieces, the different textures, tones, and more or less noisy structures, which are presented acoustically along with voices, interpretations, electronic and organic sounds, form... more
released December 17, 2022
All music by Valerio Tricoli, Werner Dafeldecker & Mattin.
Design by Eclectic Reactions.
Radio plays:
https://radiostudent.si/glasba/godbeni-imperializem/lovljenja
https://kfjc.org/listen/playlist?i=71792
https://kfjc.org/listen/playlist?i=71847
https://kfjc.org/listen/playlist?i=71840
https://kfjc.org/listen/playlist?i=71818
https://kfjc.org/listen/playlist?i=71783
Reviews:
The Wire, (London, #469, March 2023) by Daniel Neofetou
Le Diable Probablement is a surprising record for Bilbao noise and improv stalwart Mattin to be involved with at this time. In recent years, he has largely been engaged with a project of employing the audience as an instrument, as he elaborates in his 2022 book Social Dissonance. This entails generating destabilising situations among crowds at his gigs, and thus, as his thinking goes, enacting a kind of Brechtian alienation effect which challenges the categories governing people’s lives under capitalism.
Aside from the extent to which all genuinely experimental music is in affinity with an aspiration to live and feel
unencumbered by the profit motive, this coherent album of fully formed recordings seems to share little in common with such a project. The first track 'Transformation' provides a barrage of overdriven distortion from various indeterminate sources. Initially, this promises that Le Diable Probablement will also be an uncharacteristic record for Mattin’s two collaborators, Valerio Tricoli and Werner Dafeldecker, especially the latter, who is an inveterate staple of barely there free improv and modern composition. However, the next track 'Hasta Que No Se Extinga' is a model of less is more, consisting for most of its runtime of creaks and medium wave radio squiggles on a tinnitus-esque bed of white noise.
The most remarkable tracks are 'Recovery Price' and 'Hunting Hauntologists', which lie somewhere in between these two extremes. The latter begins with a siren-like tone entwined within a glutinous web of digital signal processing bearing the unmistakable mark of Tricoli, and progresses to a passage of beats so minimal they recall the sound of a finger tapping an aux cable. The former is for the most part undergirded by a baggy chiming ostinato, ruptured by stabs of dissonance and snarled lyrics, and ends with the genuinely disarming glimpse of an ambient melody.
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VITAL WEEKLY
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Number 1368
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Week 1
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January 2022
VALERIO TRICOLI & WERNER DAFELDECKER & MATTIN - LE DIABLE PROBABLEMENT (cassette by Eclectic Reactions Records)
It has been quiet for Mattin for some time for reasons I don't know. I can't say I always enjoyed his releases, as sometimes the concept
seemed of more importance than the actual music, but I liked the consistency of his output. He teams up with Valerio Tricoli, tape
manipulator, and Werner Dafeldecker, multi-instrumentalist and improviser. The cover and information aren't particular about instruments,
recordings dates and such banalities that reviewers like to mention. As I thought this trio was a bit of an odd combination, I had not many
expectations, and I suspect that is a good thing. Without knowing what to get, I am pleasantly surprised by the five pieces/thirty minutes
of music here. Music
that isn't easily described. It's one thing or another. The proceedings are opened by 'Transformation', a brutal cut-up of noise sounds,
modular electronics, reel-to-reel loops and a slow rhythm thud. It sets the tone for the release, which never gets very quiet or spaced
out. That said, it's also not always noisy. In 'Hasta que no se extinga', I think Mattin adds voice, and the music is deep bass-like, but
there is some excellent tension in this piece, of sounds buzzing in and out of the mix. In 'Recovery Prize', this trio attempts a song in
an outsider mode, which is interestingly weird. At the same time, the title piece is a monster noisy punk piece, stomping and buzzing with
synthesizers and distorted voices. The most extended piece is at the end, 'Hunting Hauntologists', in which there is a sort of culmination
of all that we heard so far. The modular electronics beeping, noise drones, distorted vocals (no longer screaming), and Tricoli's tape
manipulation add unsteady loops to
the proceedings. An excellent release that put me on the wrong foot with each new piece it offered, and I would certainly not have minded
hearing a few more of these surprise attacks. Hopefully, this trio sticks together for some more music. (FdW)
––– Address: https://eclecticreactionsrecords.bandcamp.com/
A2 (Prague, March 2023)
Půlhodinové album Le Diable probablement obsahuje
pět skladeb, které možná zklamou skalní vyznavače
improvizace svou organizovaností a uměřeností,
avšak potěší ty, jimž jsou žánrové nálepky včetně té
experimentální příliš těsné. Kdo očekává žár spojený
s představou divokého přerodu, bude zaskočen
chladem nahrávky. Přitom se zjevně nejedná
o mrtvolnost, nýbrž o předpoklad konceptuálních
přístupů, mezi něž patří i ty eklektické: „útvary“ je
potřeba rozlišit a zchladit alespoň na takovou
teplotu, aby je bylo možné uchopit a dál s nimi
zacházet. Elektronika – ať už digitální, či analogová
– zajišťuje nejen panoramatický tep, kolem nějž rotuje
procesovaný hlas evokující písňový formát, ale též
umožňuje uvážlivou kontrolu nad zvukem. Uvážlivost
lze předvídat už na základě pověsti jednotlivých hráčů:
Dafeldecker stál před třiceti lety u zrodu rakouské
redukcionistické scény, s níž o dekádu později začíná
spolupracovat Mattin; Tricoli osciluje mezi současnou
kompozicí a organickou musique concrète. V rámci
historie experimentální hudby stojí za připomenutí,
že zatímco progresivní část Dafeldeckerovy generace
přispěla „neidiomatickým“ přístupem k vymanění
improvizace z jazzové tradice, mladší tvůrce láká
obrátit pozornost proti vlastním zvyklostem
– v Mattinově případě často využitím zcizených
postupů, například rockových. Na podobné testování
hranic dojde i nyní, v okamžiku, kdy se pozastavíme
nad tím, jak delikátní hudba může být vyrobena ze
zmrazeného polotovaru.
Patrik Pelikán
KFJC (California, Nitwit 10/25/2023)
Le Diable Probablement is a collaborative sound exploration by Valerio Tricoli (Sicily/Germany), Werner Dafeldecker (Austria), and Mattin (Basque Country). It blends electronics, noise, drone, and tape machines in a musique concrète collage with occasional industrial elements. But, even at its noisiest, the songs retain their compositional shape. There is a dark anxiousness that permeates the entire five song album—the dreary noise textures and unsettling beats create a hypnotic tension and unease.
The first and fourth tracks feature overdriven, chaotic electronics against a heavy bass kick—a four on the floor beat with escalating tempos. And the crackles and pops are not your speakers ripping. The second song is a quieter, almost playful contrast that explores field recordings, plucks, clicks, and, maybe, radio test equipment. ”Recovery Price” uses ghoulish vocals and a tape loop—repeated but imperfect—of drab tones and manipulated wow and flutter to induce an unsettled, even nauseous, feeling. “Hunting Hauntologists” finishes with wailing bagpipe drones, an organic swarming buzz, and dismal synth textures that leave you to rot.
A lovely set of gloomy noise compositions. No FCCs.