Tarwater - Inside the Ships

by Maarten Schiethart

published: 4 / 8 / 2011

Label: Bureau B
Format: CD

Magnificent yet faulty electronica on latest album from Berlin-based two-piece Tarwater

Review

Les Frères Lippok have been masquerading as Tarwater for well over a decade, and their new album in a way brings back happy memories of explorations in sound from the turn of the century. Tarwater's lyrics and vocals still sound hilarious as 'deutsch' can be a language of such a melodic quality, yet Tarwater still speak in, and sing in , utterly clumsy English. Particularly painful, Tarwater try on accents which they obviously can't deliver in a proper manner. As far the music is concerned though, Tarwater are masters of an original lounge electronica style, which they more or less invented singlehandedly. The pattern of rhythm and rhyme juxtaposes and the predominantly instrumental tracks come off best. 'Furkan' melts jazzy orientalism with breezy microhouse schemes. Followed by 'Sato Sato' - a track at long last sung in 'German', we get to hear the true quality of Berlin's melting pot. The sequencing of the oriental bits to go along with the hefty soundbut worked well on this track. Kreuzberg meets Brooklyn, but sadly though 'Palace at 5 AM' next goes a step too far, and finds themselves babbling in pseudo English. An instrumental version of 'Inside The Ships' is what I'd really want. Both self-indulgent as well as rather magnificent, Tarwater leave the listener in a puzzle. 'In A Day' may perhaps be one of the finest tracks released in the year 2011. Buy the album and please be tolerant of its faults; they may help you to understand us continental fools.

Track Listing:-

1 Photographed
2 Inside The Ships
3 Radio War
4 In A Day
5 Now And Again
6 Get On
7 Do The Oz
8 Furkan
9 Sato Sato
10 There Never Was A Night
11 Palace At 5 AM