“This is a beautiful little gem that is mixing Krautrock and EM that you must discover”
1 Hanan Pacha 8:12
2 Kay Pacha 8:04
3 Uku Pacha 14:56
4 Tamya 9:06
(DDL 40:18) (V.F.)
(EM Krautrock, Latin School)
After my discovery of ¿Dónde habitan los recuerdos? I had to know a little more about Lucas Tripaldi. I had already heard Aldea Olvidada on the Dreams #1 compilation and had seen the musician in action on FaceBook. Moreover, he had sent me this first album last spring. The stars were aligned, as they say, to write a review. From the start, I must admit that ANTES DE LA LLUVIA is very different from the album made with his friend Tony Jimenez. It's easier to approach with good rhythms and very beautiful synth solos which brings us back more to the universe of the Berlin School of the 70's. I also found that there is a clear influence of Edgar Froese on the music of this album.
But it is much more the essence of Johannes Schmoelling that is behind the staggering sequence line that opens Hanan Pacha. A bass leans its chords on the sequences, merging into a sensual aboriginal rhythm that thickens its membrane with keyboard riffs. Synth solos water the open spaces of this tribal rhythm that survives even better with a delicious bass line with elastic chords. In doing so, the rhythm is slow and driving with that slightly imperfect cha-cha-cha movement that is fed by a texture of compactly dribbled sequences so that the structure is short of its jumps and fast of its drive. The synth solos, having left us to admire the rhythmic texture a little more, come back with a different tonality in the second part of Hanan Pacha. They have from then on this light perfume of my dear disappeared friend Edgar... They also espouse marvellously this delicious electronic step connected with a stroboscopic string, allowing this limping air of a rhythm imagined in the Antilles. Kay Pacha proposes another structure of elastic Krautrock rhythm in a jungle whose scarlet colors of the sunsets establish these contacts with the stars. More driving, this rhythm is fueled by sober percussion and percussive sequences that tinkle on a zigzagging sequence of bottles. Pabellón Sintético lends his visions on modulations and synth effects on this track that unleashes a tribal flute to dance with this robotic-looking rhythm. His harmonies are right and high with a festive vision that makes sense when Kay Pacha goes on a technoïd tangent towards the finale. Uku Pacha is an excellent track that is somewhat in the same festive and rhythmic vein as Hanan Pacha and Kay Pacha. We find the same harmonious synth master of its solos with this Latin tint and harmonies like Senor Ananas. The rhythm is fed by tribal percussion samplings and rattles flowing like a turbulent river. The style is very Ashra that merges with a latinos' EDM in a very danceable way. A very good track that makes the legs move, no matter where we are. It's under a crackling fire that the ghosts of Tamya evacuate the ambiences with humming singing over an undulating line. A sequence clings to this oscillation, releasing tiny marbles jumping just as timidly as these crackling sounds that we almost don't hear anymore. Quietly, more translucent lines start to radiate. Thus, awakening this walking pace, wrapped in its shadow where these percussive sequences so unique to the universe of Lucas Tripaldi, for having heard them in ¿Dónde habitan los recuerdos?
I have not regretted for a single moment the time spent to discover this brilliant album of a non less brilliant artist who knows how to make the bases of convoluted rhythms. ANTES DE LA LLUVIA proposes a big 40 minutes of structured EM on festive and tribal rhythms with a good dose of creativity in the way to bring this organic vision crackling around the rhythms. This said, Lucas Tripaldi also knows how to play the synthesizer that he uses for harmonies, effects and solos in this beautiful little gem of EM that you must discover.
Sylvain Lupari (June 29th, 2021) ****¼*
Available at Lucas Tripaldi Bandcamp
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