In this episode, I talk to Valentina Magaletti, drummer-composer, before her solo performance at Zebulon LA on January 23, 2023. The Italian-born and London-based musician has an inventive approach to drums and percussion. Valentina’s versatile technique, which can incorporate anything from vibes and marimba to contact microphones and found objects, results in a style that is forever evolving. The drummer-composer is just as comfortable performing behind a delicate ceramic kit as she does hammering out motorik rhythms. Her creative take on percussion has resulted in a diverse discography with many collaborations. With each new project, Valentina searches for new ways of teasing out sounds from her signature instrument. Playing the drums is akin to an unfolding narrative: stories that eschew spoken language in favor of rhythm, pulse, and vibration.

During our talk, Valentina shares her ‘investigations into texture,’ challenges during the pandemic, and the making of the 2022 “A Queer Anthology of Drums” record as well as the December 2022 “Permanent Draft” project, incorporating vocals, field recordings, percussion, a book that includes text, and photography. We also scratch the surface of Dada, Surrealism, and Art Brut influences. We end with my usual question, asking Valentina what she would tell her younger self or what I refer to as ‘words of wisdom.’ This sincere talk candidly explores Valentina’s process and career details. 

As a drummer, Valentina Magaletti moves effortlessly between the seemingly disparate worlds of alternative and mainstream music. She has played with artists such as Jandek, Pat Thomas, Deb Googe, Malcolm Mooney, Thurston Moore, Steve Beresford, Steve Shelley, Lafawndah, Mica Levi, Sampha, Kamasi Washington, and Nicolas Jaar, to name a few. In addition to collaborating with the gamelan Ensemble Nist-Nah and drummers Malcolm Catto, Julian Sartorius, and Charles Hayward, she has played with stalwarts of the experimental underground scene like Gnod’s Marlene Ribeiro, Wire’s Graham Lewis, and Thighpaulsandra (Coil). In 2017, Valentina participated in The Can Project, standing in for the late Jaki Liebezeit at London’s Barbican Centre.

Valentina’s compositional credits are just as elaborate: with Tom Relleen, she was one half of Tomaga, the critically acclaimed electronic duo; with Al Wootton, she creates irresistible claustrophobic dub as Holy Tongue; with Pino Montecalvo, under the Avvitagalli alias, Valentina improvises intricate sonic collages; alongside percussionist João Pais Filipe, as CZN, she constructs hallucinatory rhythmic worlds, which are as fragile as they are eternal.

Perhaps her most accessible project is Vanishing Twin, the trio with Cathy Lucas and Susumu Mukai, aka Zongamin, exploring spaces bridging jazz and psychedelia. In contrast, Better Corners – Valentina’s remote collaboration with Matthew Simms (Wire, Memorials) and Sarah Register (Kim Gordon Band) – utilizes an array of treated sound sources like prepared piano, flutes, and modular boxes to generate abrasive drone-laden soundscapes. Following the impulse to explore uncharted territories, Magaletti teamed up with production duo Raime. Christening the project Moin, the trio created Moot! for Nic Tasker’s AD 93 label in 2021.

As a solo artist, Valentina often investigates texture. Batterie Fragile (unjenesaisquoi, 2022) sees the percussionist play a ceramic drum kit conceived by Yves Chaudouët. Magaletti employs wire brushes, wooden reeds, and rubber beaters to summon unusual sonic characteristics from the porcelain. In a similar vein, A Queer Anthology of Drums (bié Records, 2022) – originally released on Cafe Oto’s Takuroku imprint – reflects on her queer identity, the ritualistic aspects of improvisation, and the oppressive realities of lockdown life by collaging together low-fi drones, field recordings, and modulated percussive objects. 

Upcoming projects include an album with Marta Salogni, due in 2023 on Permanent Draft (the new female-only editorial and label that Magaletti is starting with her partner), a collaborative release with Zongamin, and a duo with Laila Sakini.

Valentina Magaletti is based in London.

Website: https://valentinamagaletti.com

In this episode, we meet in candlelight with interdisciplinary artists Stevie Kincheloe and Steven Dayvid McKeller to discuss their sonic and poetic performance “Who Would I Be.”

Within our talk, we learn about their partnership as well as their collaborative efforts that touch on aspects of entity/identity.

The artists reflect on what it means to exist within the moving landscape, searching for truth, surrendering, awakening, and honoring one’s own rite of passage. We also explore their studio practice, and how this type of performance informs other mediums Stevie and Steven work in. 

In the performance “Who Would I Be” interdisciplinary artists Stevie Kincheloe and Steven McKellar explore the role intimate Relationship plays in individual growth, refinement, and identity. 

“Several entities exist in Relationship— those of the individual and one cultivated through the communion of the individuals. Through the cause and effect of experiences, mirroring, the development of the inner world, each of these entities are in a continuous loop of expansion and creation.” 

Using organic elements and electronic equipment and instrumentation, along with poetry, this accumulative performance piece is manipulated, layered, and looped as each artist responds to their own truth and the truth of the other. The experience coalesces through one amplifier, giving voice to both Individual and Relationship, creating a new identity all its own.

“Intimate relationship is something we choose each day, each moment. It is something we are free to hold on to or free to let go of.” 

Connecting the artists as they move in a circular pattern while they create, is the delicate thread of choice. Each holds in their hand the symbolism of that choice and the power to let go of it. 

The Relationship becomes integral to the growth of the individual as the growth of the individual renews the relationship. This begs the question, “Who would I be” without this third entity or the Other that acts as the mirror for Self. “Am I becoming more myself or becoming something entirely new?”

BIOGRAPHIES

There is no divide between life and art for interdisciplinary artist, Stevie Kincheloe. Her approach to creativity is more of a philosophy, a way of moving and being in the world. Stevie’s work in music, film, movement, writing, photography, and performance, are each an outpouring of a life lived in the pursuit of uncovering truth. “Each medium that draws me to itself, reveals more of that mysterious truth in the process. Expression is the teacher, and I am the ever-growing student.” 

After filming her feature, ‘Under the Burning Sun’, collaborating with Shane Guffogg in,  ‘Translations of Being Through Sight and Sound’, participating in a month-long artist residency in Italy, where she worked on a multi-media performance piece with Soprano and Composer Shooka Afshar, scoring music for multiple films, and not to mention having her follow-up musical release to ‘Petals’ on deck, Stevie certainly embodies the essence of “life is art and art is life.” 

Born on the east coast and raised in middle America, Stevie is currently based in Los Angeles. Global pandemics aside, she does not make a habit of staying in one place for long. You will find her exploring the world the same way she explores her inner truth and new mediums, splitting her time between LA, Nashville, Paris, and South Africa while collecting inspiration and collaborating in whatever land she finds herself.

“The main thing is to start digging in and uncovering the truth of who you are. Leave no stone unturned. Most people are scared to do this, but if you want to be an artist or find your purpose, the whole truth is the only thing that’s worth your time. Be brutally honest with yourself and stare everything that scares you in the face…until you can love it.”

Steven McKellar is a musician, painter, and poet from Cape Town, South Africa. After a 20-year career in music, touring globally with his band, Civil Twilight, Steven began releasing his first solo records and returned to his roots in painting. As a child, he was trained in realism by his aunt and renowned South African artist Donna McKellar, before finding community and creative outlet through music and poetry.

In September 2022, Steven released ‘Nama,’ a textural and rhythmic exploration of his South African roots and identity. ‘Nama’ is a follow-up to two earlier musical releases, ‘Ethio,’ and ‘Belleville Demos’— soon to be reissued. 

After a debut solo show of his early paintings in Nashville, TN, Steven has been refining his process and deepening his relationship with the medium through the exploration of identity. ‘Just Passing Through,’ is his latest series of paintings, sketches, and pastels of everyday objects that are endowed with meaning on his journey of personal growth.  

In this episode, via Zoom, we are transported from Hollywood to Beirut, where I speak to Egyptian artist Aya Metwalli who is a vocalist, composer, improviser, and performer. Her favorite things are microphones and mirrors. Aya likes to crochet melodies with noise and is constantly listening out for music within the chaos around her.

The conversation is incredibly fascinating as we discuss a playlist featured at El NIDO by VC Projects art space, Hollywood. We talk about how her rich cultural history has informed her current art practice, steeped in experimental electronic sound, spirituality, and even a touch of what Aya says is a ‘demonic’ side. Listen in to hear Aya's inspiring story.

The tracks we discuss can be found from these online sources:

"Matkhafsh Menni" (Don’t be scared of me) https://ma3azef.bandcamp.com/track/matkhafsh-menni

"Splendor" (in progress work)

"Saturnus" (Spotify) https://open.spotify.com/track/5QB6G5kwF5JELFeptMaw6r?si=0887f00d69e34b9e

"100 Leyl" (nights) https://open.spotify.com/track/6pEzMzr1emIdNe5CyBzW8Z?si=7ede5c47bccc49f9

"Legure" (Spotify) https://open.spotify.com/track/2rwpYZqW1DBt4kGx233gFu?si=d8c7aba88f824aa9

Aya Metwalli (1988) is an Egyptian singer/songwriter, composer, and sound artist currently based in Beirut. She grew up in Cairo, where her father would play non-stop Oum Kalthoum songs on road trips to the beach, and her mother, known to have the most beautiful voice in the family, always sang at home and in gatherings with family and friends and long before she was able to form her own music taste, Aya was fed immense amounts of Arabic classic songs and melodies that now lie on a bed of velvet inside her subconscious mind.

Aya started fiddling with the upright piano they had at home around the age of four, and soon after, she got her first solo singing gig on the preschool stage and continued to practice the piano and perform Arabic song repertoires all throughout her school years. At the age of seventeen, she bought her first guitar and self-learned the instrument while she got her bachelor’s degree in English literature. She posted cover songs on YouTube, slowly gathering a growing online fan base, and soon after moved on to writing and composing her own original songs on the acoustic guitar until she studied music production in 2014 in Cairo and stretched out her sound. She self-released her debut EP, "Beitak," toward the end of 2016 and has been revamping her sound and developing her modus operandi.

Described as “a musical enigma” by The Guardian and a musician who has "crafted a spellbinding brand of anti-pop" by Pitchfork, Aya uses analog synthesizers to produce gritty textures and strange, unsettling soundscapes and she sings, heavily influenced by Arabic pop and classic melodies, modulating her voice with electronics to delve even deeper into a world of eeriness using heavy drones and drum machines to create a distorted, industrial body of sound crocheting noise with melody.

Over the past few years, she has performed solo live sets at Tectonics Festival in Greece, Norbergfestival in Sweden, La Magnifique Avant-Garde in France, Irtijal Festival in Lebanon, played with the Lebanese free-rock powerhouse trio Calamita at the CTM festival and Die Akademie der Künste Berlin, been featured in Nicolas Jaar’s "sound- and light installation: Retaining the Energy, but Losing the Image" at Het HEM in the Netherlands, and most recently composed for and performed with the contemporary vocal ensemble Neue Vocalsolisten in the framework of ECLAT Contemporary Music Festival Stuttgart in February 2021 and ULTIMA Oslo Contemporary Music Festival in September 2022.

Besides music, Aya also has a background in dance and has completed a three-year intensive contemporary dance training program at the Cairo Contemporary Dance Center from 2012 to 2015 in Egypt under the artistic direction of renowned Egyptian contemporary dancer and choreographer Karima Mansour. In 2019, she took part in the critically acclaimed Lebanese choreographer Ali Chahrour's theater creation "Layl/Night" as a dancer and singer. Between 2019 and 2022, the piece was performed on the stages of Ann Arbor University in Michigan, Bard College in New York, Zürcher Theater Spektakel in Zurich, Kunstfest in Weimar, Campania Teatro Festival in Napoli, and DañsFabrik in Brest.

At present, Aya is working on her debut LP album and is further exploring live performance, continuing to incorporate theatricality into her shows.

In this episode, Shane and I meet on Zoom to explore the current exhibition titled, Shane Guffogg: "Blue" on Western Avenue in Hollywood, With me in the gallery space and Shane at his ranch in Central Valley we meticulously do a "deep dive" into the paintings and the topic of transcendence. Shane further describes "being." This is an enlightening talk about the essence of life and the artist's process painting.

Shane Guffogg is an American artist who looks through the lens of humanity at civilizations, both past, and present, and views time as threads that connect all people. His work is a visual language that is informed by the spiritualism of abstraction and the realism of the old masters. These two ideas are usually seen as separate but Guffogg fuses them seamlessly into works that transcend and become testaments to thoughts that inform us of who we are in the 21st century.

In this episode, we talk to International artist Shane Guffogg about making "The Past as Future is Present - Conversations Through Time" art installation (September 2022) in collaboration with VC Projects and Vramyan Interiors. This informal behind-the-scenes talk between the artist and curator shares unique moments about the installation process. As both work together to incorporate unique strategies to make for an empowering exhibition based on chance operations that feature paintings, objects, and antiquity.

Shane Guffogg is an American artist who looks through the lens of humanity at civilizations, both past, and present, and views time as threads that connect all people. His work is a visual language informed by the spiritualism of abstraction and the realism of the old masters. These two ideas are usually seen as separate, but Guffogg fuses them seamlessly into works that transcend and become testaments to thoughts that inform us of who we are in the 21st century.

Visit the official exhibition page: https://www.vcprojects.art/collaboration-with-vramyan-and-guffogg

Visit Shane Guffogg's website: https://www.shaneguffogg.com

In this episode, we speak to interdisciplinary artist, Stevie Kincheloe about channeling truth through movement. We begin discussing Stevie’s collaboration in “Translations of Being Through Sight and Sound” (May 23 – June 10, 2022), curated by VC Projects at El Nido, Los Angeles. The exhibition is in part, three aspects, a music performance by Shooka Afshar, The Quantum Soprano, accompanied by pianist, Anthony Cardella, and an art exhibition of oil paintings by Shane Guffogg, and Stevie’s interpretation of Shane Guffogg’s artwork through movement. We heard from Stevie firsthand about how she entered this sacred space between the dimensions of Shane Guffogg’s paintings in order to interpret to her own unwinding and being. Stevie’s sharing of her experience was nothing less than fascinating.  We also hear about her other creative outlets; songwriting, poetry, photography, and acting. Towards the end, I ask Stevie how to begin exploring a creative path through movement, she shares some influential books.

Stevie Kincheloe was born on the east coast, raised in middle America, and is currently based in Los Angeles, Kincheloe’s creative expression has been a slow and multi-disciplinary journey toward her truth. “Each medium that draws me to itself— songwriting, poetry, photography, sculpting, movement, acting, writing— reveals more of that mysterious truth in the process. Expression is a teacher and I am ever the student.” Her approach to creativity is more of a philosophy, a way of moving and being in the world, and her work is an outpouring of the experiences she has and the lessons she learns along the way.

In this episode I speak to Anthony Cardella, a Los Angeles-based Concert Pianist, who accompanied Shooka Afshar, Soprano, in the musical program, “Translations of Being Through Sight and Sound” and art exhibition presented by VC Projects. Anthony is a very gifted musician, we learn his musical career began at the age of 3 years old, and at five years old he placed third during his first piano competition. A great deal of this conversation is about creativity, collaboration and interpretation. But before we arrive at this, Anthony shares his childhood-training, love for competitions, and an epic performance of Samuel Barber, Piano Concerto MVT. 1, accompanied by the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra, which he did after winning first place in the LSO Concerto Competition. Within this talk, Anthony bears a great deal of insight not only on the rewards, but also the challenges musicians face in the classical music world. Anthony generously shares his authentic approach to being a successful, motivated and dedicated concert pianist. We also talk about how he learns new pieces and continues to inspire his audiences to feel their way through each composition he performs. 

Anthony Cardella studied with Barbara Hay growing up, a teacher following the Russian School of Rosa Levine. At this point, Anthony was already collaborating frequently, playing for local choirs, musicals, instrumentalists, and vocalists, all of this giving him a background in popular music and improvisation, in addition to his Classical training. He received his Bachelor's of Music from Lawrence University and Conservatory of Music. While at Lawrence, Anthony studied piano performance with Michael Mizrahi, a Yale educated teacher who studied with Claude Frank, and piano pedagogy with Mary Van De Loo. He worked on campus as a student teacher and piano tutor and, after graduating with honors, Anthony was offered multiple jobs at Lawrence - a staff collaborative piano position where he collaborated with vocalists and instrumentalists, and, also a teaching position at the Lawrence Academy of Music.

After working at his Alma Mater for a year, Anthony began studies at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles to receive his Master of Music degree. Anthony is currently working on his Doctorate at USC, studying with Stephen Pierce, and is also working as a teaching assistant - teaching private lessons to undergraduate students, as well as group courses - and as a staff pianist.

Learn more about Anthony at: anthonycardellapiano.com. 

In this episode, I speak to Los Angeles-based Film Producer and Director Felix Werner. We discuss his early beginnings, growing up in a highly creative family that spans nine generations in the arts and entertainment industry. I ask Felix how he felt growing up in this environment and what drove him first, as an art history major, and then later as an independent filmmaker. Felix generously shares his inspirations, and influences. He even shares some history, regarding, what I feel are some of the most influential films of our generation, including Lolita (1997). 

The producer/director defines one of his media platforms, Hieronyvision, as a unique destination hub for independent movies, music, and art. We also learn about the “Garden” section of this platform, dedicated to the written word, and by joining Hieronyvision, one has a chance to become a Featured Member. Felix explains the incentive for this. We further begin to unravel how and why Felix created “Watch, Meet, Make” New Media Film School, which is online and free. There is so much to learn about Felix and his multifaceted world in film which not only features his work as an independent filmmaker, producer, and director, but also as a financier, and distributor. If you are into film, you will not want to miss this episode and learn about Felix and the necessities of filmmaking.

Learn more by visiting Felix’s hub’s

Hieronyvision: https://hieronyvision.com

Watch Meet Make: https://watchmeetmake.com

In this episode, we speak to The Quantum Soprano, Shooka Afshar, this is our second interview with the dynamic opera singer, and composer. This discussion centers around her performance at El Nido art space, curated by VC Projects, titled “Translations of Being Through Sight and Sound” where she sings opera arias and art songs and is accompanied by pianist Anthony Cardella. Oil paintings by Shane Guffogg are also on view during the event.

This discussion begins by Shooka Afshar sharing some basic opera history, and discussing some key elements of composing and singing. The event at El Nido features Shooka’s selections of arias and art songs that she performs. In addition, her program pays homage to legendary sopranos and celebrated composers, and speaks briefly about important research she has uncovered. What she shares in this talk is quite fascinating. We get a taste of what she may be sharing during the performance at El Nido touching on the life of Claude Debussy, and some of the women in his life that shaped his career. These stories are quite interesting. We also learn about English Soprano Florence Easton (1882-1955), and her incredible range and colorful life as an opera singer. This is a very sincere conversation with Shooka Afshar, I am always grateful to spend time learning about her world and the many facets of being a Quantum Soprano. 

Shooka Afshar, Iranian soprano, composer, and City of Boston Certified Artist, is an active recitalist in classical and Iranian repertoire. She received her Master’s Degree in Music in classical vocal performance and her Teaching Artist certificate in May 2014 from Longy School of Music. She made her operatic debut as the “Princess” in Dvorak’s opera The Cunning Peasant in its U.S. premiere produced by the Calliope Ensemble at the First Unitarian Church of Boston in February 2014. Some of her recent appearances include The Coded Birth at the Institute of Contemporary Arts Boston, Turn Me Into A Mannequin at NYU, and her new opera Women / Immigration / Fight or Flight, at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston in 2021. Shooka is going to expand her mixed-media opera at an artist residency near Milan, Villa Emma, in July 2022 and she’s planning to tour her opera nationally and internationally.

To learn more about Shooka Afshar The Quantum Soprano, visit her website at: www.shookaafshar.com

In this episode, we speak to Shane Guffogg about the upcoming event at El Nido art space in Hollywood curated by VC Projects, where it not only features his oil paintings but also features an opera performance of arias and art songs by Shooka Afshar, Soprano and Anthony Cardella, Piano.

During this conversation, we learn that Guffogg sees color as sound and this informs his paintings. He explains, that he hears his paintings as much as he sees them. And when he sits down to play the piano, which he often does as another creative outlet, the sound he plays becomes for him a color, as in the act of painting, he listens to the colors and the movement of the brush. The artist shares that “painting is like peeling an onion” and as he gets deeper into the center of the onion, each layer is the center of his being and the memory banks of his mind. What you see in his painting is the deepest part of his memory. We also discuss the purity of sound without words, and how Guffogg reaches into his creative process. 

This is such a fascinating conversation. The artist continues to touch on what it means to be “human beings”, and brings up some very interesting thoughts about existence and how one might reach creativity. I interject here and there asking questions to learn more about his intellectual thought process. After all, it was Guffogg who came up with the title of the event at El Nido, “Translations of Being Through Sight and Sound.” For 40-plus-minutes we dissect just that, the intent of sound, the means to making marks, cave art, and the desire to capture the ‘eternal’ moment. Towards the end, we talk about “visual harmonies” and how Guffogg makes this happen in his artwork. 

Shane Guffogg is an American Artist that looks through the lens of humanity both past and present, and views time as threads that connect all people. His work is a visual language that is informed by the spiritualism of abstraction and the realism of the old masters. These two ideas are usually seen as seperate but Guffogg fuses them seamlessly into works that transcend and become testaments to thoughts taht inform us of who we are in the 21st century.

To learn more about Shane Guffogg, visit: www.shaneguffogg.com