A Momentary Convergence of Differently Paced Trajectories

The 12" EP A Momentary Convergence of Differently Paced Trajectories is a heterogenous dj-oriented release, prelude and companion of Maurizio Ravalico's first solo percussion album Nobody's Husband, Nobody's Dad, released in November 2018 with the Funkiwala label. It comes in 180gms vinyl on a hand-numbered run of 300 individually screen-printed 320gsm brown card sleeves.

- - -

THE MUSIC

Side A opens with a full-size batucada version of Fear of Mapping, one of the tracks from No Fiction Now!, the 2013 debut album of Maurizio's trio Fiium Shaarrk.

It is followed by a personal take on one of Collocutor's second album tracks, Here to There to Everywhere, arranged here as a spacey 5/4 drum'n'bass epic.

Side B contains an old-school jungle remix of Just Bring Your Toys, one of the tracks from Maurizio's forthcoming album, by the Italian d'n'b veteran Enjoy (Omni Music, Bustle Beats). The EP closes with an edited version of the same track: a taste of the album.

Despite being both loosely presented as remixes, neither of the two arrangements on side A makes use of samples from the respective releases, and any material not progammed or played anew by Maurizio comes from either unreleased off-cuts or preliminary demos.

MAURIZIO RAVALICO

Italian-born visionary cross-genres percussionist Maurizio Ravalico has been one notably eclectic presence in the London music scene since his arrival in the UK, in 1991.

Regularily seen on stage and on releases with the like of Jamiroquai and the James Taylor Quartet throughout the nineties, as well as with virtually every salsa and Cuban-oriented projects to originate from London in the same period, he has subsequently collaborated on many of the projects of the experimental music label Not applicable (Icarus, Isambard Khroustaliov, Alex Bonney, Tom Arthurs) since 2005, and is now an established name in both the London and Berlin improv and experimental scene, having played with John Edwards, Oren Marshall, Steve Beresford, Pat Thomas, Frank Paul Schubert and many others.

Maurizio Ravalico's peculiar approach to percussion is one of the distinctive traits of Tamar Osborn's modal jazz 5-piece band Collocutor (On the Corner records) and of the pan-European trio Fiium Shaarrk (on BBC3 Late Junction's 12 Best Albums of 2017). Maurizio Ravalico also collaborates with the string quartet Phaedra Ensemble, the composer Fred Thomas and the French contemporary dance company Silenda.

CREDITS

A1 - drumkit on intro: Rudi Fischerlehner - MaxMSP electronics: Isambard Khroustaliov

(c) Maurizio Ravalico

A2 - (c) T.Osborn, M.Ravalico

A1, A2, B2 - produced by Maurizio Ravalico

B1 - produced by Enjoy - (c) A.Corsini, M.Ravalico

B2 - mixed by Alex Bonney

All percussion on all tracks: Maurizio Ravalico, except as diligently noted on A1

Lovingly mastered by Bob Macciochi at S.C. Mastering, except B2

Sleeve designed and manually screenprinted by Maurizio Ravalico at DesignJosef, Berlin

SOME PERSONAL NOTES from MAURIZIO RAVALICO

In anticipation and preparation for the release of my first solo percussion album, "Nobody's Husband, Nobody's Dad", I felt a need to stop for a moment, and mark this new episode of my creative life by firmly establishing its place in time.

Two recent musical adventures were instrumental in the consolidation of the sound vocabulary that is at the core of my solo act: the trio Fiium Shaarrk and Tamar Osborn's 5 piece modal jazz combo Collocutor.

Both gave me the possibility to test the functionality of material that was created and developed during hundreds of hours of solitary explorations, strengthen its meaningfulness by applying it to the challenge of different musical ensembles, and putting it at the service of music composed by other people.

Side A of this 12" ep is a personal take on two tracks from these respective bands.

I have been playing with Collocutor for quite few years now, and I have worked closely with Tamar Osborn since the band's inception in the creation of its peculiar sound. "Here - Fanfare for the End of the XX Century" is my personal take on the first section of the triptych "Here to There to Everywhere", from Collocutor's second album "The Search".

Fiium Shaarrk is a musical Hydra resulting from the equal creative input of three minds. Isambard Khroustaliov (electronics) and Rudi Fischerlehner (drumkit) are possibly the best musicians I know in their respective field; with them I had the good luck of playing for seven years, and release two albums which embody my ideal of ensemble music probably more than any other work I've released in my life; so far that is.

Despite being both loosely presented as remixes, neither of the two tracks on side A makes use of samples from the respective releases, making them both more covers than proper remixes.

In the case of Fiium Shaarrk's tune the material used from the original session is actually from an out-take; an attempted variation on "Fear of Mapping" that didn't make it to the final album (No Fiction Now!, Fiium Shaarrk's first album). On Here I have played and programmed everything except the horn lines; these are taken from the pre-production demo which I have produced and co-ordinated prior to the actual album recording.

The B side opens with a remix of one of the tracks from my solo percussion album. "Just Bring your Toys (Enjoy remix)" is the work of Alessandro Corsini, aka Enjoy, a long time friend who has also remixed two Fiium Shaarrk tracks in the past years. Enjoy dj releases with Omni Music, Bustle Beats and some others. You should check him out if you're even remotely interested in old school drum'n'bass.

The ep closes with a heavily condensed edit of "Just Bring Your Toys" (the full length album track is over 10 minutes long).

- - -

Fiium Shaarrk have released two albums, with the Not Applicable label. Their 2017's "We Are Astonishingly Lifelike" was included in Gilles Peterson's 50 Essential Jazz and Beyond Records of 2017, while BBC3's Late Junction listed it as one of the 12 best albums of 2017, in the good company of Bjork, Kendrick Lamar and Arca.

Collocutor is lovingly looked after by On the Corner records. The track "Here to There to Everywhere", from which track A1 of this EP is derived, comes from the album "The Search", which was number 45 on MusikExpress' Top 50 Jazz Albums of All Times list.