Reviews 292: Quiroga
For whatever reason, I feel a close kinship to the far-out sonics emanating from Napoli and among the many eclectic and adventurous artists working there, I am particularly zoned in on the productions of Walter Del Vecchio, otherwise known as Quiroga. With his label Really Swing and alongside a collection of like minded musicians and producers that includes the 291out collective, Dario Bass, Bop Singlayer, and Edizioni Mondo main-man L.U.C.A., Quiroga has created a wonderfully weird and completely unique universe, which, to paraphrase and expand on what I said in my review of Cups and Balls, mixes live instrumentation and sampling to explore the outer realms of library music, Italo funk, soul, chill-out, ambient, drone, and jazz fusion. And on Passages, the long-awaited full length from the artist released through Hell Yeah Recordings, all of these styles (and more) have been deftly woven into an immersive journey of paradise balearica. Riffed out expanses of stoner prog give way to laid back stretches of sun-kissed jazz, with sea foam pads washing over e-piano starscapes and cinematic orchestrations wrapping the heart in golden threads. Energetic house jammers break into funky keyboard freakouts, exotica textures morph and mutate through fourth world jungles, instrumental hip-hop burners sparkle with aquatic chill-out energy, and shimmering new age electronics ripple through interstellar oceans as the spirit is transported to some faraway dreamworld, one where all worries, anxieties, and fears melt away into a fantastical coalescence of Caribbean beaches, Hollywood sunsets, Mediterranean breezes, and Afro-cosmic jungles.
Quiroga - Passages (Hell Yeah Recordings, 2019) Passages starts with “Got Your Love,” which originally opened the B-side of Quiroga’s Vol 8 on Really Swing. Interstellar transmissions flitter while tribal machine toms interact with gurgling vocalisms. Aquatic squelches filter and flow as the drums pull away, leaving smeared out keys to hover, and as the rhythms drop back in, the vibe is like a dopamine kissed hip-hop instrumental, with cut-up breaks lead by jazzwise snares and claps rocketing around the spectrum. Voices diffuse in and out over layers of ambiance, resulting in a narcotic call and response of soulful cut-ups and spiritual falsettos. Synthesizer leads continue morphing joyously as the tripped out rhythms pull in and out, sometimes sucking the air away while ping-ponging electro oscillations fire amidst delirium voice layers. “Martinica Feelings” also comes from Vol 8 and features Luca ‘Presence’ Carini and Vincenzo ‘Warren’ Ciorra of the ever amazing 291out. Carini’s bass moves through romantic motions, sometimes pulsing low, other times slapping and quacking through zany prog ascents, while slow motion funk drums crush the air. Ciorra’s wah guitar traces hallucinogenic curlicues as pianos bang out midnight chords, and at some point, a delay soaked six string casts ethereal moonspells. Later, after a smashing drum and blazing synth passage, we break into a classical jazz guitar solo, all clean glassy perfection snaking amidst jangling tambourines and sensual bass slides. Harmonious mermaid choirs coo in the background while layered riffs execute magical conversations across the spectrum and there are these passages of beatless wonderment, with one seeing everything wash away as aqueous synth waves blow across the void, while another features gorgeous guitar webs floating above hand percussion vibrance.
At the start of “The Zoist,” synthetic wind blasts carry cyborg computations, equatorial arps flutter, and fat bottomed bass squelches ride on a lo-fi machine groove, with snare and kick cracking through spacey reverberation. Pads generate a calming glow and cut-up chime strands are threaded into the percussive panorama while Dario Basslino’s electric piano smears into starlight overhead. And as hissing voices raise hair on the back of the neck, the robo-basslines journey further and further into future funk fireworks. There’s a false ending that sets white noise whooshes and sunset pianos afloat amidst an ambient paradise, one that perhaps recalls film scores from the Golden Era of Hollywood. Then, as the drums work back in, conga accents and mechanized clicks mutate things into a low slung tropical house jam, wherein greasy basslines wiggle and slide, shakers push the body towards hypnosis, and pianos dance on sunbeams...the whole thing coming together and radiating that deeper than deep Moodymann glow. The B-side opens with “North Hollywood Witches” and its clippy kicks and snares stoking an ecstatic groove, with brass chords flashing and lowdown funk basslines slithering beneath the blaring flamboyance. Smoother than silk keyboard solos flow up and down the scale and cymbals and cowbells progress into strange electro patterns while the kick drum pulsates nervously. Wavering synth chords intertwine and the drums move into an irresistible swing, all setting the stage for what is surely the best synth solo all year…this monstrous and magnificent lead ripping through the cosmos and smothered in galactic delay, shredding ever towards the center of the universe and dripping layers of rainbow psychedelia over the stuttering machine funk jam out.
“Non dire notte” was released on Quiroga and Hell Yeah’s first collaboration, the Viaggio a Tulum EP, and again features Carini and Ciorra of 291out. Colorful tom fills and cymbal patterns set the stage, while a fuzzed out bass guitar drops weirdo doom riffs. Horror movie themes rain down from a stormy sky and huge tom fills push thunderous bursts of air before it all reduces to a haze of euphoric voices. The drums smash back in as Carini drops sludge funk bass sorcery and Ciorra’s guitars morph through delirious vibrato fx, coming out the other side like some sort of space age liquid. At some point, things take a turn, with everything fading away in favor of a mutant acid lines and cymbals that blur into granular static. Then, as the sinister rhythm section returns to stomp druggily through lands of shadow, harmonious voices are reduced to a feverish fog, freakedelic guitar licks disperse into phaserwave hallucinations, and Goblin-style synths climb ever higher towards a blood red moon. The first LP ends with the fittingly titled “Africa Addio (Ode to Fourth World),” wherein woodwinds from various cultural traditions bleat and scat over a hand percussion panorama. The ethno-groove is given further shape by shining mallet tones until an unexpected breakdown, and once the propulsive drum energies re-emerge, a contrabass slips and slides through freeform motions while brass synthesizers cast spells of exotica. Electric pianos are used for percussive effect and dance along mesmerically with the spiritual percussion groove and throughout the track, I detect touches of Finis Africæ, though as if merging with a wilder sensibility recalling Art Ensemble of Chicago or even Sun Ra. In other words, it’s music for interplanetary jungle treks and astral adventures into the rainforests of the Congo.
“Città di Mare” first showed up on Quirago’s Cups and Balls, and here appears in edited form. The original introduction of pot-soaked drumming and 80’s prog sequencing is excised and Quiroga drops us straight away into world where soft waves of fusion synthesis create ethereal dreamscapes above a massive downbeat shuffle, here sourced by Aniello Gentile. Electric piano lullabies, again from Bassolino, drift peacefully overhead and low slung bass guitars dance around the fretboard as the groove progresses further and further into smokey lounge territory. A deeply emotional synth solo soars above expressive tom fills and vibrant cymbal and shaker patterns, with everything awash in vibes of mysterious twilight. It’s almost as if the synthesizer solo is trying to mimic the paradise scats of a 50’s jazz diva, with the track evoking some fantasy rememberance of 1940’s era big city nightclubs. The e-piano sometimes works itself into hallucinogenic vibrato waves, while at other times it backs down into sultry blues fantasias surrounded by narcotizing synth swells. And completing the classical jazz vibe, the song softly fades away on brush stroke snare rolls, cymbal taps, and pianos that seem too disperse into vapor. “Luzhin Defence” marries woodwind synthesis and kosmische sequencing to create a new age starscape, one where galactic wisps generate underwater ripples. Existence itself slowly modulates through layers of aqueous fog and at some point, sequences constructed from glowing crystals dance through the mix. It’s as if Quiroga is scoring a 90’s RPG, specifically an exploration of some faraway gemstone cavern, with synthesizers sounding like plucked strands of glass, cushiony basslines dancing, and french horns bluring into cloudform majesty amidst a hypnagogic tapestry of Reich-ian minimalism.
In C-side closer “Amori Proibiti,” echoing e-piano chords are awash in AOR melancholia and synthesizers trail laser liquids. The drums smash on a perfect downtempo groove, with subdued yet funked out basslines following in support. Occasionally, the electronics oscillate out of control and blast the mix with starshine tracers while elsewhere, increasingly romantic piano excursions see high notes blurring into midnight panoramas. Finger rolling conga rhythms join in as the drums pick up energy and after a vocal bass synth sings soft fusion harmonies, the rhythms reduce to a hand drum whisper while at the same time, strings swell amidst alien textures, resulting in a stretch of synthesized symphonic majesty. Later, after the mix squelches into silence, the beats crack back in, now surrounded by interstellar cloudforms…these deeply affecting synth layers evoking some orchestra of the cosmos. Side D opens with “Chiaia Sunset” and its new age arpeggiations cycling amidst wisps of galactic light. A bouncy house rhythm enters…airy and hypnotic…with claps cracking, rattling cymbal patterns tickling the mind, and basslines moving with emotional funk fluidity. The vibe continues growing impossibly hopeful, resulting in stretches of pure ocean dance mesmerism, wherein drunken synths whoosh across the spectrum, further enchanting the spirit. Then comes a piano solo that is so perfect as to almost defy description…a simple yet timeless ivory led dream exploration that I can only compare to Cantoma’s “Sea of Blue” (which is about as high praise as I can possibly give). It’s so easy to close your eyes and sway along to the sunset incantations and tropical house vibrations, especially as the pianos back into radiant chord themes while increasingly trancey electronics add touches of cosmic ecstasy.
“Viaggio a Tulum” introduced me to Quiroga’s weird and wonderful world, as the track was first released by Hell Yeah back in 2017. We cruise on a hip-hop kissed house beat, with slapback snares carried by kicks, woodblocks, shakers, and cut-up tambourines. Oceanic synths cycle through each ear and a voice repeats “good”, bringing a perfect touch of summer anthem magic while squelching leads dance over sequential bubble clouds. Oscillations soar overhead and laser blasts mutate as a polysynth dazzles with neon melodics, which move in counterpoint to the booty shaking bass progressions. The stereo field is alight with pointillist keyboard patterns that circle toward the stars and all the while, string synth orchestrations bathe the body in spiritual warmth. The drums wash out at some point, leaving behind shakers and rimshots, and after whooshing blasts of sonic shimmer obscures all vision, we drop into funky fried fusion brilliace, with e-pianos dancing like Herbie Hancock, bass notes sliding into subsonic growls, and angel voices swelling into ethereal dissonance. And like in “Got Your Love,” Quiroga crafts a soulful call and response, with voices sourced from who knows where repurposed into a vibrant and jammed out vocal house climax. Closer “Bava” also comes from the Viaggio a Tulum EP and two years later, the track is a mysterious and otherworldly as ever. It’s like exploring an underwater cavern, wherein everything is smothered in hiss. Rhythmic clacks smear into drone psychosis and feedback voices scream as alien sonics bubble in from the depths, with Quiroga reveling in pure abstraction and making the enigmatic choice to conclude his epic journey of fusion kissed balearica with a futuristic experiment in musique concrète.
(images from my personal copy)