Tarentel

This San Francisco outfit continue to shift from their beginnings as an above average post-rock outfit in the vein of Mogwai or Explosions in the Sky. Their subsequent output revealed a growing interest in improvisation, "Eternal Music”-style minimalism and probably pharmaceuticals. This limited edition double disc unleashes an avalanche of ideas, and like most avalanches there are only a handful of air pockets for those trapped in its path. The objection of "too much” belies the fact that Ghetto Beats is likely not meant to work as a coherent statement, more of a flare-lit aggregation of tribal beat-driven, ambience-heavy sketches. Long pieces like "All Things Vibrations” and "Sun Place” grow and unwind into their own ecosystems split free from greater context. Some of the shorter pieces, however, suffer from under- and over-watering. If fans of Tarentel have followed this far, they should have little fear wading into this foliage. Others may need to sharpen their machetes.