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Rating: Beer flowing, intimate and gathered atmosphere, beautiful people pochimabuoni and guitar riffs rolling like boulders. This is how the concert at TABIR by MinimAnimalist presents itself, a band from Taranto that has been active for quite some time in Apulia, self-defined as “minimal but animalistic”. Not wrongly so, as their style is just that: direct, essential, authentic, without frills. The Tabir, a brewery (rather, a beer library) famous in Taranto for its exquisite craft beers, thus becomes a small temple of desert rock for one evening. And the evening flows nicely, between the desire to headbang and sips of Rauchbier.
Coming from a self-produced debut album (Ora o mai più, 2015) and the May Day concert in Taranto, the Taranto duo plays in a more than spontaneous manner, showing they know their strengths and how to entertain their audience well. The acid solos of Davide Bianco and the strong rhythms of Fabio Cazzetta create a rock tension that surrounds every corner of the room, with rocky riffs and an engaging attitude, despite the limited space and not very generous volumes. In all of this, the band always manages not to take themselves too seriously, with Cazzetta, after sacrificing a wok and using it to play, pulling out Star Wars-like laser drumsticks that light up in the dark and allow for the execution of the last song in total darkness.
The corrosive stoner proposed by the duo is a descendant of certain Queens of the Stone Age, but less melodic and much more focused on phrasing, the alternation of riffs, and rhythms, rather than the song form as such. Their music embraces influences ranging from the funk of Primus to grunge and alternative rock (especially in the vocal contribution), but always maintaining a typically “Italian” approach that reminded me quite a bit of passages from Nahui by A Blue Fire and, obviously, some things from Bud Spencer Blues Explosion (the less bluesy and more back-breaking ones).
Even the lyrics sung in Italian blend well with the combo's rhythms, as in Disturbo Bipolare (“a song dedicated to those who use this disorder to cover their ass”) where an almost whining voice accompanies a vaguely hypnotic guitar thrust. The songs follow one another between laughter and some entertaining anecdotes told by the band, with themes ranging from betrayal by one’s woman to curiosity, “the same curiosity that brought you here tonight” as Cazzetta recalls.
The MinimAnimalist prove themselves to be a band with great potential and an interesting live energy. They probably would have performed better in an outdoor setting with better amplification, but even in an intimate and gathered environment like Tabir, they managed to kick some decent ass and show what they're capable of.
We look forward to their next concert and, why not, maybe the next album.
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