Noise and sonic exploration
Rico’s first sonic path is grounded in experimentation and research—an embodied exploration of trans identity, migration, and the complexities of life as a person in constant movement. Through noise-based performances using XDJs, MPCs, contact mics, drum machines, and feedback, Rico layers interviews, voice messages, and field recordings with heavy basslines. These sets become a dialogue of waves—a visceral ceremony for the internal landscape, evoking deep physical and emotional states.
Rico is currently developing a collaborative performance with trans dancer—and sister—Bruna De la Fuente, a piece that explores the experience of migrating to the so-called first world as a gender-nonconforming person, and the psychological and material violence of borders, bureaucracy, and belonging.
RICO_505
Rico’s second sonic practice lives under the name RICO_505, a project focused on electronic music composition and live performance. Influenced by electroclash, dark pop, and the emotional complexity of queer nightlife, this work is composed and performed entirely on a Roland MC-505 Groovebox.
Dark, funky, and raw, RICO_505 is a sonic persona that gives form to the contradictions and tensions of trans life in New York City’s underground club scene—intimacy and alienation, pleasure and exhaustion, visibility and erasure. This project is in its early stages, with a debut demo currently in development.