Tip, tip, tip!!! ** Ultra limited, private release ** It’s hard not to love records that are rooted entirely (or almost entirely) in percussion. From the wilder end of the spectrum like the offerings of Milford Graves, William Hooker, William Winant, Chris Corsano, and Valentina Magaletti, to more infectious and groove oriented projects like Niagara and artists like Moondog, Art Blakey and Guem, as well as traditions like Japanese Kagura, Brazilian Batucada, Afro-Cuban Folkloric Drumming, and countless others from across the globe, the trance-inducing sounds of drums can often achieve what other instruments cannot, capturing the heart, ears, and mind, entirely on their own. This is certainly the case with “Notte”, the Italian drummer Piero Perelli’s debut LP. Traversing a wide range of experimental territories, from the hypnotically dub infused, to field recording laced textural pieces, to others that insist the contributions of others to incorporate a slightly broader palette of tonality, it’s a brilliant solo debut - issued in a limited vinyl edition - from an artist who’s been quietly making waves in the Italian scene for a number of years.
Raised in the Tuscan woods, Piero Perelli is a drummer working in the fields of improvisation and experimentalism, as well as fostering a career as a composer of film soundtracks, and touring the world extensively with different bands. He credits his unique, flowing and adaptive style to a deep connection to nature, citing the sound of the river near his house as his first musical inspiration.
When describing the process that underscores his debut LP, Perelli states: «In “Notte” I explore my instrument as a sonic world, a journey through my emotions as I funnel them into my playing. The force of nature will always be superior to everything. Like an ocean wave that overwhelms and transports you at will, without the storm and rain life would cease to be. Without understanding who you are, happiness cannot come to you.» It is a fitting way to enter the controlled sense of chaos and chance that seems to bubble beneath and within each of the album’s nine tracks.
While the pure, unprocessed rhythms of the album's opener, “ San Michele”, set the stage for the pulsing journey that unfurls across the album’s two sides, only handful of minutes in, the cycling beats and dub infused delays of “Notte Stellata” reveal that a more complex proposition is in play, which push further toward open abstractions with the writhing textures unleashed by “Santa Cristina” and “Tunnel”, each calling to mind the flowing water so close to Perelli’s musical heart.
As the album progresses, Perelli continues to challenge the categories and perceptions of rhythm itself, threading further subtle interventions throughout more pop infused and ambient compositions like “Lightless”, “Cuore”, and “Bosco”, which introduce a more expanded palettes of instrumentation - piano, organ, lapsteel, etc. - as well as throwing a wrench in the cogs with the delicate field-recording oriented piece “Sound of Topanga”.
A deeply intimate and fascinating journey into a multifaceted world of rhythm, drawing on Piero Perelli’s many years of travel and learning, “Notte” - issued in a limited clear vinyl edition - is definitely one to check out.
