Those strings.

The first thing you hear on It's Cold in Baltimore has you immediately hooked. The V/Z collaboration between Valentina Magaletti and fellow Holy Tongue cohort Susumu ‘Zongamin’ Mukai hits pay dirt on this tape for Vladimir Ivkovic’s Offen Music. Released deep into December 2024 as a riposte to all those fools who saw fit to hit ‘send’ early on their EOY lists. Magaletti and Mukai first introduced the world to V/Z in 2022 with the excellent debut album, Suono Assente, for the ad93 label. A mature, hushed exploration of dub-laden post punk accompanied by a storied cast of featured artists in Coby Sey, Venus Ex Machina, Cathy Lucas and Agnese Fortuna.

This second V/Z missive is less a fully-fledged album and more a mixtape of thrilling improvised ideas, cinematic moods and chaotic post-punk jazz sounds. Discarding with the need for any further contributors, it finds Magaletti and Mukai cloistered away in their studio, vibing hard on their clutch of gear with wistful dreams of a trip to Maryland in their heads.

Back to those strings. Opener ‘Tobu’ unfurls the most heavenly of string arrangements that hangs icily in stasis for well over a minute. Is that a sample? If not, it probably will be sampled soon.… The spell is broken by a wonderfully grubby drum break from Magaletti busting into view, coaxed out by some plaintive keys from Mukai. There’s plenty more happening here, of course, but those strings and drums really grab you.

Sequencing is key to It's Cold in Baltimore, all the tracks here bleed into one another in a way that suggests a one-take recording and also augments the sense of getting caught up in the mood. Offen have also smartly provided ‘Continuous Mixes’ of both sides in the files to mirror the ‘tape-listening-experience.’ So as ‘Tobu’ fades out, a new crescendo of percussion arises to signal ‘Stickers,’ seemingly backed by the odd aural sensation of marbles spinning in a glass. Strange vocal snatches rip in and out of view, mangled together with hurried samples. At barely 2-minutes the track is over before it has any illusions to get going, a chaos that continues into the explosive, fiery ‘Jazz For Women,’ rife with vocal samples that investigate the track title.

Swift mood changes keep the listener engaged. The charmingly-titled ‘An IKEA Moment’ opens with a palate cleansing swoop of orchestration to break the tension of the aforementioned ‘Jazz For Women’ and ends somewhere completely different five minutes later. The title track almost feels like it was inspired by the sessions with Shackleton for Holy Tongue’s 2024 album The Tumbling Psychic Joy of Now, all snaky percussion and marauding low-end eventually enveloped by thick dub FX. Eventually we end where It's Cold in Baltimore began, ‘Tobu Reprise’ running rewind on those strings, this time the surrounding sonics upped a few notches for extra jaw-drop effect.

It's Cold in Baltimore capped off a masterful 2024 for crack drummer/composer Magaletti; projects spanning the excellent Basta Now publication as well as several limited, screen-printed 12”s on the all-female Permanent Draft label she operates with Fanny Chiarello; a critically-lauded second Moin album; collaborative long-players with Nídia, Shackleton and Jeugbrand; reissues of Tomaga projects; Cafe Oto residencies and so much more. Magaletti is an inspiration to us all, her drive for creativity and collaboration seemingly has no bounds.

It's Cold in Baltimore is available now on Offen Music