Racing Junior
2002
Tempo
About This Album
Salvatore are an enigmatic Norwegian ensemble who, since 1998, have created a sinewy, pulsating, jazzy brand of arty instrumental rock derived from early Tortoise records and the electro-acoustic Motorik of Teutonic brethren Kreidler and To Rococo Rot. On their 2002 release, Tempo, they keep an air of mystery by not listing the instruments played by each bandmember nor including any obvious photos of them, being content with a few grayed-out black-and-white landscapes and interiors. This helps add to an aura of mutability to the package, leaving the music to speak for itself and take on whatever shape the listener envisions. Not surprising the originators of the Chicago school of post-rock are emulated here, since this session was recorded and mixed by Tortoise's John McEntire in his Soma Studios in Chicago, and the band even did a brief European tour with Tortoise. But Salvatore, despite wearing their influences on their sleeve, manage to forge their own identity with this collection of evocative soundscapes. The tracks here are relatively short for a genre that tends toward excess, which leaves them concise and to-the-point, almost disappointingly so, because they set up some exceedingly tight and memorable grooves which could enthrall a listener even if they went on forever.
Track List (try tracks 1 and 4)

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