Aratan N Azawad

Terakaft – Aratan N Azawad
Reviewed by Sadie O., 7/30/11
Tuareg desert blues-rock, closely related to (almost an offshoot of) Tinariwen. Very much a rebel spirit, but really lovely (they get inspiration from Bob Marley and John Lennon). Rather more of a nod to international musical influences than you hear in Tinariwen, otherwise pretty similar sounding (e.g., damn good.) FCCs? I dunno – do you speak Tamashek?
1. 3:37 ***loping camel-walk groove, minimalist and very pretty.
2. 3:32 ***bluesy solo guitar intro, sort of uptempo, call and response.
3. 3:50 **odd grunty rhythm behind the guitar, claps and call & response. Builds into something quite nice.
4. 2:51 ***I swear this is almost Highlife – no idea why, but it’s really sweet.
5. 5:02 **long guitar flourish intro, rather wistful sounding, then loping, almost reggae groove.
6. 3:54 ****they’re channeling Neil Young! No kidding! Anyway, it’s waycool.
7. 2:36 ***and this one sounds like Riders of the Purple Sage – it’s like a cowboy song. Huh!
8. 3:42 **midtempo sway, a bit of southern soul in this one…
9. 3:46 **slow and downbeat, relaxed, rolling groove.
10. 4:22 **western sounding chord progression, sweet sounding vocals.
11. 3:17 ***midtempo camel walk groove, a bit of reggae in the rhythm guitar, very bluesy lead guitar.
12. 3:41 ***this almost has a Lynyrd Skynyrd aspect to it, unless I’m getting a bit tranced out and crazy. Midtempo, kinda stoned.