Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Tarentel. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Tarentel. Afficher tous les articles

jeudi 8 janvier 2009

Tarentel - Latency (En/Of, 2003)


A Latency A
B Latency B

Disque réalisé pour la série En/Of du label Bottrop-Boy qui associait artistes musicaux et visuels d'avant garde. La guitare de Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, qui tourne souvent au drone, donne le ton aux autres instruments, pour former deux morceaux où tout flotte dans une atmosphère de tristesse et "d'ennui"....

The ongoing EN/OF series from Bottop-Boy has been a curious marriage between the vanguards of visual art and music, as each EN/OF limited edition, vinyl-only release is coupled with a unique artwork from a respected visual artist. Price may be the prohibitive factor for the music fan, as a single edition from the series can fetch over $100 in a retail shop, and perhaps more through an art gallery. I can at least report that this contribution from San Francisco's Tarentel is a strong addition to the catalogue.

Since their monumental debut album From Bone To Satellite, Tarentel have been searching for an identity beyond the sum of their influences. Numerous line-up changes and false starts have been the downside to this existential crisis; but the upshot is that Tarentel have arrived at a very similar aesthetic space as the nascent post-rock forms of Talk Talk and Bark Psychosis in the early 90s. However, they have benefitted greatly from the miniaturisation of hardware, as the studio tricknology that crafted the respective Laughing Stock and Hex albums can now be actualized with the ubiquitous Max/MSP. Latency, which found Tarentel paired with conceptual artist Jonathan Monk, centres on the prowess of laptop jockey/guitarist Jefre Cantu. Rarely engaging the digital pixellation that is the signature of Fennesz and Stephan Matthieu, Cantu models the group's guitars, piano and drums into an overcast atmosphere drizzled with sadness and ennui. Blurred into distant mirages and ghostly shadows, the instruments float in and [out] of focus, occasionally emerging as recognisable plucks of sparse guitar chords or soft rhythms, but more often than not appearing as abstracted drones loaded with romantic metaphors.
The Wire

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Tarentel - Mort aux Vaches (Mort aux Vaches, 2002)



1 Adonai (10:27)
2 Steede Bonnet (13:13)
3 When No One's Listening (9:30)
4 For Carl Sagan (18:11)

Tarentel, dont la musique s'apparente au post rock expérimental, n'est pas le genre de groupe auquel nous a habitués la série Mort aux Vaches... Enregistrement live le 10 avril 2000 pour VPRO. Quatre longs morceaux s'appuyant sur un post rock à la guitare lente...

The latest in Staalplaat's acclaimed Mort Aux Vaches series of live recordings for VPRO. Tarentel might not seem like the sort of project you would expect to find on Staalplaat; their sound somewhere between Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Mogwai. Their music (at least, as it appears on this release is a compelling form of slow moving guitar-based rock (could one even call it space rock? or post rock?) with some fantastic feedback, rolling rhythms and a heavy, cradling bass that carry you through these four long tracks. Probably my favourite track here is the second one, with its balance of elements, moving from a rocking groove to quiet guitar drones, incidental sounds and feedback. It seems to capture all aspects of the band's sound in one go. Formed in 1997 and having throughout their history gone through various personnel changes, each of Tarentel's releases (on Temporary Residence, Awkward Silence, and more recently on Neurot Records) has reflected a particular shift in their sound. Their latest full length on Neurot has been likened to a somewhat unlikely combination of :zoviet*france:, Radiohead and Arvo Part. Sounds fantastic. This record for the Mort Aux Vaches series was recorded mid-2000, and is more rock-based, but the music reflects a great talent for creating some intoxicating guitar-based experimental rock music.
Incursion

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