Califone + Taras Bul'ba

On Saturday, May 17th, Califone played a show in Milan (at the "Cox 18" social center) to promote the splendid "Quicksand/Cradlesnakes", in my opinion one of the best albums released in 2003. The American band led by Tim Rutili and Ben Massarella (ex-Red Red Meat), deeply rooted in American folk tradition, once again proved effective live, even though their music isn't the easiest to take in on first listen. A great performance.

The real revelation of the night, however, was the support act: Italy's own Taras Bul'ba, a power trio with a classic setup (guitar, bass and drums, plus the occasional sample) who literally set the Cox 18 stage ablaze with raw, ferocious, martial instrumental music marked by pinpoint precision.

If I didn't find any kind of classification misleading, I'd describe the band's music with the term "math rock". From the very first chord, in fact, the style of bands like Laddio Bolocko or Don Caballero springs to mind. On top of that, Taras Bul'ba bring guitar tones close to Seventies prog (Gong and King Crimson, to give you an idea), while the structure of the tracks recalls the early work of Killing Joke and Jesus Lizard. An incendiary blend, then, which I hope will lead them to a certain degree of recognition.

I bought their third album (self-released), which confirms the power and energy of their Saturday performance. I'd advise keeping an eye on them, because in my opinion they could become a very interesting presence on the music scene, one that Italy badly needs.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google