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Daniel Varricchio.
 I do not recommend listening to the music of Daniel Varricchio whilst trying to do work. Such is the gravitational pull of the all-encompassing drone, which slowly becomes metallic psychedelic rock, that one can only surrender to it and let it sweep over like an incandescent wave.
Varricchio's debut release is a self-titled 20-minute CDR on fellow Adelaide artist Jon Dale's Rhizome label. Beginning with a druidic rainbow hum on homemade oscillators, he emerges Poseidon-like, his charging stallions the Krautrock guitar riffs drowned in layers of molten fuzz. It's like the first two Faust records played on top of each other coming from one amplifier. But it doesn't stop there: apart from his truly unique solo playing Varricchio is currently playing as part of the Fringe Festival as Interzone Express, his power duo with Patrick Saracino.
"Patrick and I are both sound engineers. We work together as well as playing together and have always been interested in the acoustic properties and peculiarities of sound as well as similar types of music. With that in mind we wanted to augment the sort of stuff that we're into - elements of drone and rhythm and improvisation - within that."
Varricchio and Saracino were both members of Headdress Of Neon Flames, a group of seven best known for veering in myriad directions on a bongload of instruments. Interzone Express builds on elements borne of Headdress, instantaneously creating gloriously primitive music with cosmological qualities.
Armed with a veritable hoard of electronics, a hub of synthesisers and amps and two electric guitars, the sounds from their first two Fringe shows exploded like early man from a mud cocoon. Warped ribbons of drone merged with brutish punk drumming. Tapes were manipulated to the point of disorientation and at the end of it all, the duo bowed heads with a transcendental super-hymn for electric guitars. All of this unfolded beneath the visual accompaniment of local artist Luku, his images of the occult streaked with technicolour geometry dissolving into ghostly mirrors and socio-political diatribes. The duo's final show at 11:59PM Fri 17 March will in be "the extravaganza, certainly. We did say from the get-go amongst ourselves that we wanted it to be a pretty multi-sensory experience. There'll be a few little surprises there. Pretty much name a sense and we'll try and cover them all."
While in some ways operating in his own realm, Varricchio is part of Adelaide's diverse experimental underground. There is a growing group of artists which have come to a subliminal meeting place via a variety of musics and practices, be it an extension of modern composition, the reinterpretation of punk or forays into noise.
"So many people have side projects and main projects. There's enough creativity there that they'll put together a once off collaboration or something that might not 'go the distance' so to speak. But it happened, it existed and it was performed."
While his own music is constantly refined and re-worked, Varricchio favours a sound that reflects the human side of playing. "You can't hide who you are or your abilities... I like to set up things that are open-ended," he says. "You'll know that what you're hearing is literally where I'm at in that week prior, at the most."
The tiny Delacatessen Gallery (Anster Place, City) is a wonderful space that bills its performances as concerts and projects an atmosphere somewhat more formal than the Exeter Hotel where Varricchio will support British avant-garde guitarist Mike Cooper. Varricchio takes into careful consideration the space in which he is playing, subtly adjusting his sound to what he thinks will best suit both himself and his environment. For his set at the Exeter he divulges that, "One piece will be a little bit more monstrous sounding. He [Cooper] is bringing his guitar and his devices and showing us what he does and I can only do the same."
Two things key to Varricchio's sound are the drone and the loop. "For me it's about ringing as much or as little as possible out of certain elements. I like movement and I like things that morph and grow out of things. When I set up a drone or a loop or an event or an atmosphere it's supposed to steer me in a direction as opposed to free playing which has that clean slate."
Lenin Simos
 | Daniel Varricchio plays Fad Bar & Gallery on Fri 17 March, the Delacatessen Gallery on Thurs 23 March and the Exeter Hotel on Tues 28 March. |
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