A complete artist, Tenedle is not the last to arrive, for at least twenty years of experience in the world of experimental music. From Laughing Silence in the eighties until the artistic experiences gained abroad, not to mention the recent infatuation with theater. So a character “out of common”, eclectic enough, a philosopher of music, a sounds hunter. Here “Rock” is not a factor, dies and is reborn at the same time, we are talking about trials, electronics from dreamlike to electronic, from digital to esoteric. And this work of 2007 is clear, “Alter” is not that kind of record you can listen with distraction. Culture and complexity of Tenedle are ingredients that make juicy approach to his music.
A dense texture of sound, never casual, always right and dispensed with care in order to achieve a “harmony” with the universe.
Electronic music, appearing too smart for forays into a ballroom, maybe “uneasy to dance” music, but Tenedle’s message is addressed to everybody. Without mincing words, but by appropriating a refined poetic , shows a bright unwell for a pagan times, unrecognizable in the values, off in the middle of his journey to the dark path.
At times in his occasional trip-pop catchiness, vaguely new-age travel in some hedonistic dream. To make you understand I will propose an exaggerated comparison, imagine Franco Battiato facing towards the early Depeche Mode, are you there? Here you are only halfway. The rest is made of that dark metropolis-chemical ‘nineties and a digital boost typical day. Mention one by one the 21 tracks on the disc would be a cognitive task that is beyond the scope of this review, and frankly I would take at least an entire afternoon to decipher every single rope loose from the mind of Tenedle. However do not panic, this is not a disc-eating-men, but to appreciate its maximum energy must be able to listen.
They range from pop-languid of “Domino” (spectral images worthy of a film by Cronenberg), the-pocket mesmerism of “Musica idiota” in which evokes the power of reminiscence. In a few pole trip-pop, see the pull or of “Notte fonda” or “Sogni profondi” (e tar-soaked, I’d say) becomes an affordable space pop elusive: good then the lyrics in “La terra è il mio pianeta” (inner alienation anthem human, comparing but “others” with Ziggy Stardust) or “Le mosche sul dolce”, refined and sincere in his bittersweet pain.
On the velvet of “Fintorgasmo”, while slightly dub, no take itself too seriously, is the reasoning expressed in “Ascensore per lunatici”, in some subtle but unsettling truth philosophizing. Closes “Katasmerismo” sobbing, unsuspected poetic exercise that takes his leave in a glittering with these verses: “And if thinking is a bit travelling / I stay close at home today / I turn off everything for a while” Oh no, something like that Depeche Mode have never written.
Tightrope walker, quenching for those who are thirsty of music and for those who want to learn something. Discarded from Sanremo (but that’s not new!) Tenedle do not need stages too much “in”, then, he would ask to deface the beautiful statues of “reality”. Wise, immense, to discover. Finally something that can be considered truly alternative!