By now you will know that enigmatic and visionary composer, Ari Joshua, has captivated the music world with his audacious and often psychedelic compositions. His work is a kaleidoscope of sonic exploration, merging intricate melodies with experimental textures that challenge conventional boundaries. Ari Joshua‘s obsession with pushing the limits of musical form and function has led him to create soundscapes that are both captivating and disorienting, drawing us into a realm where traditional structures dissolve into a fluid, ever-shifting mosaic of sound.
What makes Ari Joshua’s music so compelling is its ability to evoke profound, almost transcendental experiences. His compositions have often been described by us as psychedelic, not merely for their use of unconventional sounds and effects, but for their capacity to alter perception and induce a sense of altered reality. Ari Joshua doesn’t just create music; he constructs auditory environments that encourage us to lose ourselves in the labyrinth of sound, where the familiar becomes unfamiliar and the ordinary transforms into the extraordinary. When we found our that Ari Joshua was back with Tagine, we were curious to say the least, and couldn’t wait to listen and share our experience.
Setting the tone with a somewhat subversive bassline with melodic nuance and textured percussion, Ari Joshua opens Tagine with an almost haunting feel, with intricate electronica detailing and a cinematic vibe. The opus expands with guitar riffs and atmospheric, breathy frequencies to take us on a dramatic journey. We appreciate the subtleties in sound design and there is no doubt that Tagine would make for the perfect score to a Hollywood thriller.
We learn that Tagine is in fact a very unique track from Ari Joshua‘s vault of recordings, and the piece was composed about the days following 911 in New York City, driving across the bridge from Brooklyn to NYC to play at a Moroccan Restaurant – hence the name! The song features Joe Russo and Marco Benevento, both well known for being members of JRAD and The Benevento Russo Duo.
Joe Russo is an American drummer who has toured, performed, and recorded with a variety of bands, including Cass McCombs, A Big Yes and a Small No, Fat Mama, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress, Bustle In Your Hedgerow, Younger Brother, Shpongle, Tom Hamilton’s American Babies, the Trey Anastasio/Mike Gordon duo, the Gene Ween Band, and Furthur (featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead). He also performs with the Shpongle Live Band. In 2013, Russo formed a Grateful Dead tribute band called Joe Russo’s Almost Dead.
For more than a decade pianist Marco Benevento has been amassing an extensive body of work. His studio albums and liveperformances set forth a vision that connects the dots in the vast space between LCD Soundsystem and Leon Russell, pulsating with dance rock energy, but with smart, earthy songwriting to match.
Tagine delves into a dark, jazzy sound inspired by psychedelic jazz icons like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Medeski Martin & Wood. The opus highlights the trio’s raw talent and synergy in their early 20s, capturing their early explorations much like uncovering an unlabelled old reel-to-reel recording.
The name Tagine specifically refers to the Moroccan restaurant that used to host a weekly jam session led by Marco, frequented by Ari and Joe. This recording serves as a rare audio snapshot from the time when The Duo was just starting at Knitting Factory and Ari had recently graduated college.
Ari confesses, “I was playing a lot around the city, Marco and Joe were two of my favourite players, and I would come to Tagine with my guitar, and later The Knitting Factory to play with them. They are two of my favorite players, so great to make music with.” Reflecting on the track’s origins, Ari recalls, “This track is something I wrote after 911. The week after 911, we were driving with all our gear in Marco’s Subaru across the bridge. It was like a military shutdown. They searched the vehicle, but the guys must have known the difference between a Hammond organ and a bomb ’cause they let us through, and we crossed the bridge and played at Tagine.”
We love the origins of the track and how the sound and evocative nature of 911 has been brought to life by the creators. We have added Tagine to our New Music Spotlight playlist, as well as our new TRIPPY playlist, whilst we continue to stream the wider discography of Ari Joshua, and anticipate future releases!