Marco Tansini
Blues Garage

Marco Tansini is a name that may be new to many, as it probably was with Tacita Intesa in the last review. However, in the North Italian blues scene, this guitarist pops up all over the place, and, damn, even Pitbull probably hasn't participated in as many works of other artists. A classic bluesman and a very skilled guitarist (I can attest to that live), releases his Blues Garage through Tanzan Record in Lodi, an entirely instrumental album, between one session as a session musician and another. All the tracks on the album have a slight Mississippi scent, and even the idea of naming each track with a different color suggests that Tansini doesn't give a damn about making clear where he wants to take his music. Tansini's Blues is a simple Blues, one of those that you can enjoy at night with a coffee in one hand and a good book in the other.

The first track, Brown, unexpectedly starts with garage noises. Literally. We hear the garage door being closed, someone moving tools...
Then Marco's guitar enters, the sound is clear, and the notes intertwine, swirling freely on a standard rhythmic carpet. The alternation between slightly more Hendrixian phases and more reflective and pondered moments is interesting. And the music goes down smoothly like a good glass of wine. It's followed by Cherry, which decidedly winks at commercial appeal with a bass groove strikingly halfway between blues and rock and roll and a big keyboard of the kind we learned to hate after the eighties. Nevertheless, I don't want to lead you to think the musical quality is lower; in fact, Marco uses all these elements to his advantage, managing, in my opinion, to deliver another wonderfully flowing piece.

And then night falls with the album's title track. Knopfler would be euphoric to hear a piece like this. The tone is that of a Private Investigation, and the guitar becomes mournful and bouncing. Worth highlighting is the incredible use of pauses and silences. And I'm still surprised this piece hasn't been included in any road trip compilation because that's indeed the mood, it almost feels like seeing the Utah desert at night and a wanderer sitting by the roadside playing to passing cars.

Speed, with Orange. And it was needed after the relaxation of what came before. Orange is another of those highly marketable pieces that don't tend to distort the concept of companion music. However, here you might feel the absence of a vocalist, and it seems too much like listening to one of those YouTube backing tracks. Green is instead a clear example of how with Tansini nothing goes without saying. Parabolic blues scales and arpeggios make the instrument, which is the protagonist of the album, a true singer, so much so that you feel like improvising something like "Oh baby, why did you leave me?". If I had to explain how I picture this track in my mind, I would definitely associate it with the definition "It's a song that gives birth to babies". An honorable mention is a passage towards the middle where, listening carefully, you can hear the same guitar phrase played twice, but the second time almost imperceptible and sighing, leaving a small author's signature.

Then there's Yellow and then Amber, and then again Purple and also White. But at this rate, I would keep repeating the same things, a very good guitarist who plays light music but at the same time very deep atmospherically speaking. I just linger a bit more on Black because it stylistically reprises Blues Garage and amplifies its emotionality, resulting in a real gem that holds the ears glued until the last chord in a tornado of sensations and a slight smell of gasoline.

Well, I've already given you my verdict at the beginning of the review. A good 7 and a half almost 8 to this album, translated in Debaserian terms a 4 because giving it a three would break my heart.
Ah, and...Tanzan is a label to discover, one that I've grown fond of over time (as with Record Kicks and others) with artists ranging from Pop-Rock to Metal. So if you liked the album, I invite you to buy it rather than pirate it because it's not like they have a money tree in the yard.