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CD Feature/ Tanake: "3ree"

  Tobias

So much of our life is based on easy categorisations. The music business, especially, seems to be built entirely on the merits of labels, references, quotes and the possibility of integrating a particular tune into a DJ mix. Tanake are a threat to this line of thought and intellectual arsonists to a world which despises being woken from its comfortable slumber.

A trio of Roberto and Martino Acciaro as well as Maurizio Bosa, the band have made it their creed to allow their improvisations to flow where they please and to follow them at all costs. The outcome is not always easy to consume, does not seek to please or aim for facility, brims with the energy of the club and the power of collective performance and welds the worlds of (Post-)Rock, (Free-)Jazz and Sound Art firmly together.

If you want to catch a glimpse of what to expect, it will suffice to listen to the first and last track of “3ree”, their (you might have guessed it) third album since they started playing together around the turn of the millennium - as well as a random piece in between. Seven minute opener “Loft Serenade” debuts with crackling radio samples blurred by parasitic frequencies and the sounds of the instruments charging into action, enters a phase of gradual rapprochement between the trio before unleashing a storm of angry bass notes, wild percussion rolls and tight-lipped trombone compressions.

The concluding “Ozio Acrobatico”, meanwhile, is a quiet noisescape built from rhythmic typewriter emissions, spatial feedback and the sweet hum of amplifiers, as well as haunting rushes of what could be processed cymbals or metal processings. Bosa’s bass enters the picture by silent accord, lending a monotonously pushing forward drive to an otherwise perfectly static piece.

On yet another note, a track like “Dismorfobia di Marylin” is close to a spooky mirror image of what a Space Rock band would play on a funeral, glassy guitar tones hitting the reverb space of deep undulations running at half-speed, while the drums provide nothing but occasional impulses and structure.

This constant hence and forth between styles and genres keeps “3ree” alive and well throughout, even though the music eschews both lyrical melodicity and utterly stunning technical virtuosity. Rather, it focusses on how its musicians are finding ways of communication in perpetually changing situations, which never award them the triumph of being content with what they’ve achieved.

As a listener, too, there are just as many moments of elation as of frustration. But that should not scare you off. Challenging your own categorisations may be painful – but inevitably leads to greater enjoyment in the future.

By Tobias Fischer

Homepage: Tanake
Homepage: Fratto9 Under the Sky Records