Valentina Magaletti is a drummer-composer and multi-instrumentalist with an inventive approach to drums and percussion. Her versatile technique, which can incorporate anything from vibes and marimba to contact microphones and found objects, results in a style that is forever evolving. Feeling 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 and many interesting collaborations.
As a drummer, Magaletti moves effortlessly between the seemingly disparate worlds of alternative and mainstream music. She has played with artists such as Jandek, Pat Thomas,Philip Selway (Radiohead), Deb Googe ( My Bloody Valentine), Malcolm Mooney ( Can), Thurston Moore, Steve Beresford, Lafawndah, Mica Levi, Sampha, Nicolas Jaar, Floating Points to name a few. In addition to collaborating with the gamelan Ensemble Nist-Nah and drummers Malcom 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.
Magaletti’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, that explores the spaces bridging jazz and psychedelia. In contrast, Better Corners – Valentina’s remote collaboration with Matthew Simms (Wire, Memorials) and Sarah Register (Kim Gordon Band) – utilises 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, followed by Paste in 2022 and their latest: You Never End ( 2024)
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 opressive realities of lockdown life by collaging together low-fi drones, field recordings and modulated percussive objects. The result is a melancholy montage that bears traces of influence from the visual arts: Dada, Surrealism, Art Brut.
While studying drums, early exposure to both prog and bebop styles engendered an appetite for experimentation. With each new project, Valentina is developing fresh nuances and searching for new ways of teasing out sound from her signature instrument. For Magaletti, playing the drums is akin to an unfolding narrative: stories that eschew spoken language in favour of rhythm, pulse, and vibration.
Upcoming projects include a book written by Fanny Chiarello,“Basta Now”.Women, Trans & Non-Binary in Experimental Music and an album mixed by Marta Salogni on Permanent Draft (the new female only editorial and label that Magaletti is starting with her partner), as well as a collaborative release with Nidia,Shackleton and more to be announced.
Valentina Magaletti is based in London.
She has performed widely with festivals all over the world including:Casa del Lago (Mexico ciy,)Sonar(Barcelona), Waking Life (Crato),Lyncoln Center(New York),LAX art(Los Angeles),Wattis(San Francisco),Mode Festival at Sogetsu Hall( Tokyo),UnSound(Toronto,Krakow,New York),Wysyng Art Centre(Cambridge),Kappa Futur(Turin),Atonal(Berlin),Festival International Musiques Actuelle(Victoriaville),Festival de la Cité (Lusanne),Museum of Modern Art(Moscow),The Great Escape(BBC Stage),(Brighton),Incubate festival (Tilburg),Nuits Sonores(Lyon),Hyperreality(Vienna), Dekmantel ( Amsterdam)Tauron Nowa Muzyk Festival(Katowice) Bozar(Bruxelles),Hyperreality(Vienna),ANLG(NYC),EcoFestival(Madrid),Loop Festival(Los Angeles),Phono Festival (Odense),Tremor(Azores),
Roskilde (Roskilde),Jazz is Dead(Turin),Le Guess who?(Utrecht),Rewire(TheHague),Glastonbury(Glastonbury),Supersonic(Birmingham),Sonar(Reykjavik),Time Zones(Bari),Tempo Reale(Florence)and many more.
Other performance highlights include several improvised or repertoire presentations at Biennale di Venezia (Venice)Cafe Oto (London),ICA,commissioned work for Zabludowicz collection(London),The Barbican(London),Southbank Center (London),National Theatre and Dance (Lisbon),Sonoscopia (Porto),VAC(Palazzo Delle Zattere, Venice)
Valentina has performed and composed music for dance pieces for worldwide famous coreographers such as Kat Valasur,
Marco da Silva Ferreira and for
prestigious museums like the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and released her music on labels including Editions Mego, Trilogy Tapes,Honest Jons,Flee Offen,Takuroku,Marionette,Hands in the Dark,Blank Editions,Confront,Latency,Meakusma,Emotional Response,Other People,Soundway,Fire Records, AD93,Latency and mony more.
For all publishing enquiries please contact:
Simon Ballard
simon.ballard@mute.com
For all bookings please contac:
Meri Bonastre
SELECTED PRESS
IL TASCABILE//
SOUNDWALL.IT / Valentina Magaletti
RADIO RELATIVA / Valentina Magaletti
IMPATTO / Holy Tongue
RAI PLAY SOUND / Battiti
INTERNAZIONALE / UN MONDO INTERO
RATE YOUR MUSIC / BEST 2023 DUB ALBUMS
NOODS RADIO / Valentina Magaletti w/ Infinite Spirit Music
ROLLING STONE / Strange Dance - Phil Selway/Valentina Magaletti
BATTERIE/ March 2023 1 / 2 / 3
QUIETUS/ LIVE REPORT: Intonal Festival
BATTERIE/ Interview: Valentine Magaletti 1 / 2 / 3
Tout La Culture/ Valentina Magaletti, Festival Banlieues Bleues
Lovers & Lollypops/ CZN - (Valentina Magaletti & João Pais Filipe)
The Wire/ May 2022 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Rumor Magazine/ Interview: Valentina Magaletti 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
Musica Jazz/ Valentina Magaletti - Across The Lines 1 / 2
QUIETUS/ Interview: Valentina Magaletti- Baker’s Dozen
ROCKIT/ Interview: Valentina Magaletti - My drums against machismo
Sodapop/ Valentina Magaletti & Marlene Ribeiro - Due Matte
Scene Point Blank/ ”Part None” by Valentina Magaletti & Marlene Ribeiro
African Paper/ Valentina Magaletti / Marlene Ribeiro: Due Matte
RADIOACTIV/ Valentina Magaletti & Marlene Ribeiro - Due Matte
La Linea Mason & Dixon/ A Sophisticated Adventuress — Between Vanashing Twin and Tomaga: Valentina Magaletti
Billboard Italia/ Valentina Magaletti: La batteria é femmina
The Wire/ New album by Valentina Magaletti & Julian Sartorius
Noise Not Music/ Review: Valentina Magaletti & Julian Sartorius — Sulla Pelle
Bandcamp/ The Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp: September 2019
A Closer Listen/ Valentina Magaletti & Julian Sartorius ~ Sulla Pelle
Exclaim/ Valentina Magaletti & Julian Sartorius — Sulla Pelle
PRS M-Magazine/ Interview: Valentina Magaletti
Tom Tom Magazine/ The Chosen — Vanishing Twin’s Valentina Magaletti
The Quietus/ Reviews: UUUU
Echoes & Dust/ Interview: Valentina Magaletti
The Quietus/ State of Tension: Tomaga Interviewed
The Florentine/ Behind Tomaga’s Tuscan Metalwork
Hartzine/ Tomaga — The Shape of the Dance
Music, Culture, Vision./ Valentina Magaletti — Drummer Extraordinaire!
London Jazz News / Valentine Magaletti Solo & Duo with Susumo Makai at Cafe Oto
Bandcamp Daily/Drummer Valentina Magaletti is a Musical Chameleon
Juno Daily/ Best New Album