TAKAAT Find Their Own Path Through Desert Rock

TAKAAT began (and still operate) as the rhythm section to Mdou Moctar, the breakout Nigerien rock band named for its charismatic frontman. This puts Ahmoudou Madassane (guitar/vocals), bassist Mikey Coltun (the sole American in the group), and drummer Souleymane Ibrahim in the same realm as Calexico. That indie band started out as part of alt-country weirdos Giant Sand, but TAKAAT aren’t seeking to branch out from or expand the sound of their parent outfit. They might have more in common with one of Bob Weir’s non-Dead outfits. Like Weir, Madassane has had to invent his own method of playing rhythm guitar to accommodate a brilliant, dynamic leader–and when that leader’s not in the picture, there’s a lot of space left to fill. 

On their debut EP, Is Noise, Vol.1, the trio finds plenty of unusual sounds to plug that void while also sticking to familiar ground. Opener “Amidin” (as with Mdou Moctar, all song titles and lyrics are in Tamashek) thunders ahead with the hard-charging, asymmetrical gallop that drives many Mdou Moctar burners. Madassane sings in the chantlike, circular style of other Tuareg bands such as Etran De L’Air and Tinariwen; it’s melodic but unvarying. Unaccompanied, his vocals could be a funeral lament or a rapturous prayer. Backed by TAKAAAT’s ecstatic yet precise rhythms and percussive heft, they become something both guttural and spiritual, equally meditative and feral. 

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Sometimes, as in “Elwan,” which adds 4/4 handclaps and dubby reverb over Ibrahim’s choppy beat, he sounds like he’s addressing a crowd caught up in a village celebration or ceremony. On twisty numbers like closer “Imagighan Anagrou,” he sounds like he’s singing part of a call-and-response pattern, with the response portion taken care of by his guitar, the bass, and drums. 

Madassane’s guitar style naturally marks the biggest departure from Mdou Moctar. While Moctar favors big, fiercely picked, slam-bang riffs that owe as much to Van Halen as anyone from his native country, Madassane has a slushier, cooler yet still-powerful style, with more held notes, rough repetition, and bursts of drone. It can take TAKAAT a while to work up a head of steam–each of these four tracks begins with Madassane on guitar, setting up a winding, loosely woven pattern before Coltun and Ibrahim lock in and get down. While such stage-setting is common among Tuareg bands, usually there’s more than one guitarist involved–here, Madassane’s playing by himself. But the density and intricacy lost due to TAKAAT’s spare setup also gives the band ample room to create something new, something with more room to move and, perhaps, grow. With this impressive debut EP, TAKAAT have begun to find their own noise.

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