Interview with Valentina Magaletti Drummer, Composer and Multi-Instrumentalist: “Permanent Draft"

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