Tartufi: live @ Supersonic 2009

Another band that were interesting for ten minutes until you either got hooked on their repetitive technique or began to find it pretty dull. As is probably clear I’m in the latter camp.

They were both skilful musicians, the drummer was deep in concentration throughout the set, clearly feeling the music for the right contribution. Both he and the guitarist/vocalist used loop pedals adequately with no glaring mismatches of beat occurring (which is harder than it sounds when you’re playing that loud). However they did suffer from that age old loop pedal problem, the recorded sample comes out a fraction lower in volume than the original signal, in the case of acoustic instruments like the drums the looped audio was noticeably flatter and much quieter.

There’s not much that can de done about it unless you’re loaded or have an hour to sound check so I don’t blame them. All I’m saying is that music which is as tight and polyrhythmic as theirs would benefit from not experiencing these dips in volume; it breaks the spell. I quite liked the eerie, distant vocals for a while. The words were entirely hidden behind a mixture of reverb and a singing style which I can only describe as sounding like a distant, androgynous Tarzan one minute and some kind of alien pixie the next. But without meaning or poetic imagery the appeal wore off.

I got the impression that they were really warm people and they clearly enjoyed creating these sounds for people, but their music had little to communicate in the long term. It’s a momentary experience of layered beats and pretty guitar intertwined with post-punk bass led melodies and the occasional diet-metal riff. They have a good sound, but it’s not something I want to hear more four minutes of. Incorporated into a set of more diverse structures and sounds, or even as the backbone for a band, it could be something worth hearing. It just struck me that they were playing on a day in which I saw some sets which blew me away, so perhaps there just wasn’t enough room for them to find a foothold in me.

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