TAKADIMI – NEW COMMON SENSE
Folk. Jazz. Latin. Bluegrass. However you want to label them, Sydney instrumental quintet Takadimi are definitely worth paying attention to. Their debut album New Common Sense mingles these styles and more on what can be best described as an eclectic global tour-de-force. Opening track Into The Night begins with an Afro-pop guitar riff before being joined by punchy fiddle-playing that could have come straight from the hills of Ireland. Some of the rhythmic grooves are drawn from the freakier ends of jazz and European folk music, but each track takes a memorable lick and expands on it with the utmost skill and virtuosity. There are Latin flavours on Therese, and Plans combines elements of prog-rock and Spanish flamenco to surprising effect. Although New Common Sense features heavy improvisation, the light-hearted melodies on which each song is built ensure that it never gets tiresome. Together with the fact that Takadimi are as tight as be-bop’s finest, this is an infallibly crafted album which showcases some serious young talent. Some might argue that Takadimi are a musical embodiment of Australia’s cultural diversity. Others might simply say that New Common Sense is a damn fine album which will appeal to anyone with a taste for the exotic. Either way, get your hands on these ten tracks and be sure to catch a Takadimi performance – apparently they’re a formidable live act to boot.
**** ½
