Ritmo Tribale
Bahamas

THE REVIEW

The sunny tranquility of the beaches of the Bahamas islands clashes with the thought of the music from the old Ritmo Tribale, but fits well with the musical solutions of this album, to date, the last chapter (excluding the 2007 compilation) of the Milanese group. The Bahamas perfectly match when you think of them as those happy islands that each of us holds somewhere inside ourselves.

Fluid sounds, electronics, loops, and samples that fit perfectly with traditional rock instruments and Andrea Scaglia, the new master of ceremonies after the departure of the histrionic and irreplaceable Edda, are the fundamental traits of this work.

Released in 1999 after "Psycorsonica" (1995), the last work with Edda, which effectively represented the end of the first phase of the career of one of the foundational groups of Italian rock spanning the eighties and nineties. A group that introduced a new way of making music in Italy, which would be adopted by other groups that would achieve the success that Ritmo Tribale only brushed against.

The group changes skin, keeping intact its coherence and spirit. Bahamas was meant to be a new beginning but also turned into the farewell album. For this reason, it remains a precious and invaluable work, unique and unfortunately misunderstood, especially by those who thought that the tribals without Edda had no reason to exist. The contradiction is a record that today, eleven years after its release, still sounds fresh, gaining points.

I must admit it was hard to embrace the new path taken by Ritmo Tribale. The reevaluation happened gradually, with songs fluid and cryptic in their lyrics that circled around you, scrutinized you, and then penetrated you.

Recorded mostly away from the magical Jungle Sound, their natural home, the five tribals leave the urban daily routine to dive and take refuge in the tranquility of the Emilian countryside at the "castle" of Pieve Salutare. The beneficiaries are ten compact and almost unified songs, interconnected by Scaglia's almost visionary lyrics, who also produced the entire work. While contacts with the rock of the past can be seen in some tracks like Meno nove or the bonus track Cuore nero, the rest travels between liquid and psychedelic scores with the guitars of Scaglia and Rioda weaving elusive interplays and the rhythmic base composed of Briegel and Marcheschi always pulsating and lively.

An album with a nearly progressive imprint that also blends new electronic sounds of trip-hop (great work by the keyboardist Talia) with rock, playing with lyrics that are never trivial or obvious but open to any interpretation. Examples of the new course are the beautiful Il centro, Lumina, the single 2000 that opens the album and the title track that closes with violin and moog.

If this was meant to be the last album under the name Ritmo Tribale, no farewell was ever better. Now, however, 11 years later, the closed circle (momentarily reopened for the 2007 reunion) will fully reopen under the name NO GURU...and the premises look more than good. See you soon...

"With your sky full of black lines. Red cape but only halfway. Anonymous as if it were fake. You are what I don't miss." From "DIPENDENZA"