New Music: Tinariwen, Antelope, The Poison Arrows

Tinariwen - Imidiwan Winakalin (World Village 2007)

Tinariwen – Aman Iman: Water is Life / World Village

When you hear modern renditions of the blues, they just don't quite have the same emotional impact of recordings from the Delta bluesmen of the 40s. It's not that they aren't true to the characteristics of the genre or they lack the musical chops, but the emotional impact just does not parallel. It's been a good chunk of time since the majority of American blues men had something truly soul-stirring to be emoting with their rural twang and heartfelt, down-trodden lyrics. Now if we leave the muggy swamps of the Delta and head across the Atlantic to the desolate plains of the Sahara I bet we can find a few people who truly have the blues.

"I was walking down the street in Tessalit when I saw two of my friends being bundled into the back of a police vehicle," he recalls. "So I immediately returned to Algeria. Whilst on my way back, I heard that Iyad Ag Ghali had begun the rebellion, which was in progress by the time I returned. I joined them, living in the hills, attacking convoys and so on." It was during this time that the great legend of Tinariwen – involving them riding into battle with Kalashnikovs in their hands and Stratocasters across their backs – was first coined. All true, he confirms. – "Riders on the Storm" -Andy Gill, The Word (UK)

Watching friends disappear without a shred of hope for their return, kamikaze-like attacks on passing convoys, attempting to change a society built on archaic feudal hierarchies, living in the unfriendly and desolate wasteland of the Sahara; yeah, I'd say the Tuareg group known as Tinariwen has the blues. Hell, even their band name means "empty places."

Formed in the aforementioned rebel camps of Colonel Ghadaffi, a Libyan strongman, in the Western Sahara, group leader Ibrahim Ag Housseyni, who is said to resemble a mesh of Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana physically and spiritually, and his cast of nomadic band members travel the Sahara playing for fellow nomads and whoever else cares to listen. Appropriately called Tishoumaren or "the music of the unemployed," Tinariwen's music parallels the ethos of blues, reggae and punk's early days, a rebellion against the masses, music for revolutionary change, music for political awakening. They have been developing this style for upwards of 25 years though, so the message has been considerably softened, or perhaps waned is the better word. Not that they have stopped fighting for their beliefs, but the subject material has widened to include traveling, love, friends and the unparalleled life of the desert. Aman Iman: Water is Life could be called their third proper album; 2001's The Radio Tisdas Sessions and 2004's Amassakoul have been banned in Algeria and their home country of Mali, but are thankfully available to Western audiences.

Now if the back-story was not intriguing enough, we get to the fantastic music. You will immediately recognize it as the blues, but this is a whole new derivative of the genre. The obvious reference points are going to be "the African John Lee Hooker," Ali Farka Touré, or even Pakistan's Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, but we are definitely dealing within a secluded niche. Gone are the traditional lutes of Middle Eastern and North African music and in their place guitars and more electric guitars. In fact, Tinariwen have four guitarists who rotate taking the lead while the others weave in and out with a mixture of bluesy rhythmic chops and the quick elliptical curlicues heard in so much Middle Eastern music. But as compared to most music from that region you have probably heard, the tempo is significantly slowed down; it grooves along on that Western African pace that guarantees head nodding if not some relaxed dancing. The hypnotic circle of guitars usually constructed in five-tone scales is supported rhythmically by a slew of handclaps and traditional percussion like the djembe hand drum and the rattling shekere. The call-and-response vocals and shrill ululations hark back to traditional music,and the sinuous and smooth lead vocals sung in French and Tamashek acts as an instrument in its own right. Nothing is rushed and the results sound more like a jam session than anything else. If you close your eyes and concentrate, you can easily picture yourself surrounded by the musicians sitting under the ancient Saharan night sky.

Aman Iman is a mesmerizing album that I guarantee will have you reaching for the repeat button on numerous occasions. Hypnotic, psychedelic and exotic, Tinariwen is probably playing the truest form of blues in modern music. As opposed to just about any contemporary musician, they play because they have to play; it's just their way of life. In recent years, the group has gained a significant amount of attention and has performed at a number of festivals around the world from the Festival International in Lafayette, Louisiana to Le festival au Désert in Tin-Essako, Mali, a remote region of the Sahara Desert. They live the life of a true nomadic musician, completely homeless, practically outlawed in their home country and performing for revolutionary change. Tinariwen is the blues.






Antelope - Reflector (Dischord 2007)

Antelope – Reflector / Dischord

I initially came across Antelope back in 2003 during my first and only MacRock experience (whatever happened to MacRock anyways? it seemed like a really big deal back then but has exponentially diminished in every year since). It was the final night of the conference and I was determined to see Prefuse 73 even though it was one of the few shows off James Madison's campus and my geographical knowledge of Harrisburg, VA was minimal at best. After looping around the mountain town for a good hour or so, I finally stumbled across my final bar destination and grabbed a wall seat to enjoy the Dischord showcase before the main attraction finished off the night (Dischord showcase and Prefuse 73 together??? Yessir, pretty fucking awesome). It was just days after Black Eyes had decided to part ways and I was pretty pissed because they were one of have-to-see bands of the weekend, but the group that stepped into their slot ended up being just as captivating. Three skinny white guys took the stage announced as Antelope and proceeded to rip through thirty minutes of minimal but catchy-as-hell pop-punk tunes and rotating instruments between each song. They left the stage as quietly as they arrived and the memory was eventually eclipsed by amazing sets from El Guapo and Prefuse 73.

That was the last time I heard from Antelope until last week when I merrily pulled Reflector from my large pile of mail, their first proper full-length and the first released music since 2003's two EPs. Made up of multi-instrumentalists Justin Moyer (who goes by Justin Destroyer in Supersystem, formerly El Guapo), Bee Elvy and Mike Andre (both ex-members of Vertebrates), Antelope is exactly how I remember them: tight, minimal and catchy-as-hell. They craft a sound that could be described as post-pop-punk-dance, but that is probably one too many hyphens for it's own good. If you think what a stripped-back, calmed-down Supersystem might sound like, you are getting closer. But there is a lot more going on then just fluctuations of Dischordian characteristics; there is a definite inspiration from Western African music, especially the Senegal/Mali region. They utilize these tight, elliptical electric guitar melodies over simple dance rhythms that draw influence from groups like Orchestra Baobob but with a DC vibe. Reciprocal bass lines circle effortlessly and Moyer's nasally, unassuming voice acts mostly as a fourth instrument with the compact, repetitive lyrics. Produced by Ian MacKaye, Reflector is only 25-minutes long, and the longest track barely reaches over three-and-a-half minutes, but does not leave you unfulfilled because it packs a hearty punch with each of the ten songs. If you are like myself and just find Supersystem a little too overbearing and headache-inducing, Antelope is for you. Stripped down to just the essentialities, Reflector is Dischord punk philosophy at it's finest; and don't worry, the lyrics contain the subtle political pessimism you crave with each Dischord release.






The Poison Arrows - Straight into the Drift (File 13 2007)

The Poison Arrows – Straight into the Drift EP / File 13

Chicago’s Justin Sinkovich is not a man content with sitting idly for too long. Best known for fronting the lush post-rock outfit Atombombpocketknife in the late 90s/early 00s, he first spent time with mid-90s Fugazi-inspired alternative rock band Thumbnail. When ABPK all but disbanded in 2004 for side projects, Sinkovich was left to concentrate on his remix alias The Poison Arrows. (He has also had a hand in starting music discovery sites like Better Propaganda and Epitonic) The first EP under the moniker, 2004’s Trailer Park, featured Sinkovich experimenting with a spatially gigantic mix of dark electronics, noise and underlying melody. The solo act just wasn’t working though and he began collaborating once again, this time with ex-Don Caballero bassist Patrick Morris and drummer Adam Reach, who backs another ex-Atombombpocketknife member, Che Arthur. The trio solidified the final line-up of The Poison Arrows and they holed up in Sinkovich’s effect pedals and second-hand instrument-laden studio basement, The Plaza, to record and rehearse. Unorthodoxly, the trio decided to ship out the resulting material for remixes before they even put together an album themselves and the digit-download only Premix was released in late 2006 featuring similar-minded artists like Martin Rev of Suicide, TRS-80, Brian Deck of Red Red Meat and Califone, Trans Am/Hot Snakes producer Jonathan Kreinik and more taking turns re-imagining the unfinished material and included an accompanying music video for each song. This brings us to the first proper un-remixed material released by The Poison Arrows as a trio, the Straight Into the Drift EP.

With the musicians involved, there are a couple rightful assumptions you can go ahead and make. Number one being Morris’s signature bass sound he perfected during his days with Don Cabellero slashing effortlessly through the mix. And like Atombombpocketknife before it, the Arrows’ sound is very atmospheric and on the darker side of post-rock. In fact, the music is so reliant on Morris’s chugging bass loops and the chunky, blown out rhythm of Reach’s drums, at times it comes off Tool-ish, but in the best way possible. Sinkovich’s stark metallic guitar pierces the thick low end though and sends the music shimmering into aggro-pop territory. All four of the songs sound as if they have been poured over endlessly perfecting just the right feedback noise and instrument tone to wrangle every unnerving emotion possible, think Thee More Shallows collaborating with Shellac. Sparse vocals from Sinkovich and friends add a needed degree of humanity to the sound infusing an underlying pop sensibility that blindly finds its way through the dense atmosphere on several occasions. Though only four songs, the 25 minutes of music is a surprisingly hearty meal. “Straight into the Drift” has almost a late 90s dark alt-rock nostalgia vibe to it, “Lockaway” rides on Sinkovich’s shimmering guitar and Reach’s effect-trigger-happy drum kit and “Clear Cut” is a hypnotic blend of menacing, off-kilter vocals, Morris’s unrelenting bass and metallic guitar stabs. Straight into the Drift is definitely a promising debut from the Chicago trio and hopefully they release some more material before losing interest and forming a new set of stemming side-projects.