Composer - Drummer
Press
"Orlando Furioso“ by Vicente Atria has been nominated for the German Jazz Prize because it convinced the expert jury above all with its irrepressible musical energy. His music surprises with microtonal harmonies and hypnotic ostinato rhythms, and by linking widely ramified elements from the musical vocabulary of the 21st century, Orlando Furioso succeeds in abducting the listener into an almost bizarre, novel sound cosmos. The result is enormously expressive music; anachronistic and counterfactual, with harpsichord, saxophone, acoustic nylon guitar, cello, trumpet, double bass and various percussion instruments. Chilean drummer and composer Vicente Hansen Atria creates new, unprecedented listening experiences, becoming an important innovative voice in the improvised music of our time.
“Making liberal use of microtonal harmony and hypnotic, ostinato rhythms — as well as the occasional stylistic smash-cut, reminiscent of John Zorn — Orlando Furioso announced itself on Wednesday as a punchy, creative force on the New York scene. (…) Atria’s rhythms had a welcoming, social propulsion, and the microtonality of his writing for keyboard proposed an individual — even insular — language.”
"Bassist Mat Muntz and drummer Vicente Hansen Atria have collaborated as The Vex Collection (...) A series of ecstatic punky improvisations filled with a wild, distorted energy.”
"…imagining [instruments] that haven’t been invented yet: space harps, cosmic gamelan, Venusian banjo. It's the purest distillation of Atria’s musical language, simultaneously grounded and unearthly." For Orlando Furioso
"A complex full-kit rhythm tattoos the alien woodwind cacophony and sonorous background drone. Atria’s skewed, tumbling beats contrast well with the high-end gusts…The drums hit with the savage finality — although with more intricacy — of Swans at their most brutal (…) At its most intense, this music achieves a relentless ominousness that demands almost superhuman endurance to absorb. It’s rare and rewarding to be challenged thus.”
"...impeccable playing, both individually and as a unit..."
"Atria and Muntz burst to life, their heady rhythms filling the space left in the wake of Welch’s and gamin’s frenetic tonal blasts. Ferocious grooves push toward the peak and once they reach the pinnacle, 'Fugue' relaxes into a powerful, moving drone. The Vex Collection is out on an island creating an incredible new world…”
“Vicente’s work is a deliciously microtonal labyrinth of polyrhythms...”
“Celebratory opens the record with an effortless sense of synchronicity and rhythmic astuteness… [Family Plan] is a forward-thinking trio that deserves to be heard.”