maurizio ravalico
percussion
FIIUM SHAARRK is a pan-European trio comprising of Isambard Khroustaliov on computer, Rudi Fischerlehner on drum kit and Maurizio Ravalico on percussion.
Started initially as a series of jams in Berlin in early 2010, Fiium Shaarrk has toured extensively on festivals and venues across Europe, and has released two widely acclaimed albums: No Fiction Now! (2012) and We Are Astonishingly Lifelike (2017).
Fiium Shaarrk's music alternates freely between a jigsaw of unquantised proto-dance grooves, the luxuriant austerity of 20th century composed percussion music and the fertile landscape of live electronics; it is at once visceral, cerebral and visionary; at times joyfully naive and at others virtuosic and painstakingly scientific.
Fiium Shaarrk draw freely from a diverse array of past musical influences; from Tortoise to King Crimson, Max Roach to Napalm Death, Autechre to Xenakis and Dubstep to Maracatu.
Praises to No Fiction Now!:
"… classic period modernism, Varèse, Berio and Stockhausen in particular, has helped shape an aesthetic otherwise rooted in improv and rock. This is music of fracture that somehow manages to move in continuous sweeps of sound"
Philip Clark, The Wire
"A truly innovative trio"
Verity Sharp, BBC Late Junction
"Earnest, mesmerising and oddly hypnotic."
Tom Banham, jocksandnerds.com
"Fiium Shaarrk’s truly ambitious sophomore album We Are Astonishingly Lifelike is about to be released. It’s been worth the five year wait."
Derek Anderson, Derekmusicblog.com
"Oddly recalling free music experiments of the late 60s by Spontaneous Music Ensemble if timewarped to a post-rave warehouse ritual on the Moon. Fearless"
K.N., Electronic Sound
"We Are Astonishingly Lifelike is enthralling, beautifully realised and, for all its apparent influences, refreshingly box-fresh unorthodox."
Tim Owens, Dalston Sound
Praises to We Are Astonishingly Lifelike:
"Like famished animals whipped onwards by drum and hi-hat, processed electronically but gripping onto materiality by their fingernails. (…) Exhilarating."
Adam Harper, The Wire
"(…) you are essentially blind in a fighting circle of beats. But that's the thrill."
Kostas Lucas, DIY
"A behemoth of electronic and percussive dynamite that sounds downright terrifying"
Adam Reeve, Elusive Little Comments
"(…) a cerebral and visionary trio (…) a fascinating collision between the fragile, visceral textures of electronica, the percussively dynamic explorations of genre-bending rock and the wayward, maverick intensity of 20th century composers like Xenakis and Stockhausen. (…) Fiium Shaarrk's music is joyfully naïve, virtuosic (…) hypnotic, engaging and beguiling."
A Negative Narrative
"A crazier take on Humcrush, a blend of avant-rock, noisy free improvisation, and contemporary music. A dash of humour, a helping of zaniness, over a well thought-out and mastered foundation."
Monsieur Delire
"Call it Post-World-Beat (…), but with "No Fiction now!" Fiium Shaarrk delievers the most succinct and convincing entry in this fresh new genre."
Curt Cuisine, Skug
Live Reviews:
"(…) we're talking, or rather tuned into Fiium Shaarrk, and they just so happen to comprise two of the finest percussionists I've seen here or indeed anywhere (…) They're wholly worth watching."
Josh Holliday, Dots & Dashes
"(…) we were instantly treated to the sensation of having our bodies invaded by thousands of infinitely complex machine insects. It's rare that a band can have such an instant and disquieting effect, but Fiium Shaarrk's music, we discovered, is as unusual as their name in many ways. (…) They are one of the very few acts I've ever seen who can rival Autechre for inhumanly strange synaesthesic noise-making, but extremely distinctive too: an exciting proposition all round."
Joe Muggs, TheArtsDesk.com
