On the Vai e Vem album (Care Of Editions) by Geneva’s Tresque (12″/DL) we start with a stunted beat that is more like a broken tape spool. Tre Cavalli stays in a centered zone with minor beats being slightly augmented, like a dance track that never gets off the ground. The pulse is low and slow and not until five minutes in are there micro percussive manipulation. There is something post-Basic Channel going on here. The unadorned repetitive nature of the track displays only minimal mechanics until the very last minute when the bottom drops out – all mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
After some jittery silence, from the first notes of Cikade there is a microgroove that has instant funk in the junk or the trunk or something in reverse, just like that. A steady cyclical 1-2-3 set of beats, with gradually folded in layers of delicate percussion and flared synth. This track keeps you grounded and feeling good as if there were a chocolate grinder at work nearby. A shaker emerges, perhaps referring to the title’s night creature. The bass volume grows steadily and is dropped/faded into the outro.
On the b-side comes Mwen Se Be which is a quasi minimal dub-like track, but there always seems to be one less element making this beyond the tropes and trappings of its step cousin, otherwise known as full blown techno. By courting certain static the Swiss sound bender (aka Laurent Peter) has a way of distorting the medium into something that gives you some pause, to contemplate the actual structure, but have fun while you stop and stare. The percussion and other effects are delivered fluidly yet seem to break with snappy formula. That said, this is likely the least successful track of the batch given its squeaky wheel percussive reruns. Tendresse brings in a steely chain-dragging effect that changes things up. Take a listen to a performance at Flatterschafft (Basel):
With a running time of just under 50 minutes in total, the shape-shifting is greeted with a minimalism the ear will appreciate. It’s engagingly grainy and rustic, and dear I say a bit tender. If the whole record had the inflections of this particular track I’d say it would be a contender for top ten on Toneshift for 2018 thusfar. Perfectly minimal, and just enough mood and mystery. In the finale, Afoxç, the slightly more aggressive wave-like beats lap and draw back in successive motions. It has the effect of a washing machine, but is far more elemental. It’s a presence, a bit subliminal and trancelike. The minor changes in structure are barely noticeable though, again, in the end he creates a stripped down set of near raindrop effects that find a certain peace bring this record to its subdued conclusion.
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