On his 2005 debut, Tardin was backed up on drums by live drum’n’bass pioneer Jojo Mayer as his sidekick. With "The Biggest Piano In Town" he enlists two new heavy hitters. Syncopating in staggered rhythm are the prodigious drum masters: Deantoni Parks (Kudu, The Mars Volta, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, Tom Waits) and Adam Deitch (50 Cent, Talib Kweli, The Game, John Scofield). Alternating each of these two drummers, the keyboard/drums duo that is Grand Pianoramax strips the music down to its most essential form. With every note, the clichés of electronica and acid-jazz fall away, saving listeners from their musical diet of mainstream junk food.
This second group effort also introduces narrators to vividly tell the album’s story through the trials of our modern age. The Geneva-born artist brings in an international crowd to serve his cause: Mike Ladd, one of the revolutionary ministers of rap in 2008, tells the very adult superhero battle on “Showdownâ€; Detroit-based Invincible flows about water rights on “Blue Goldâ€; Brooklyn’s Celena Glenn channels the poetic fury of Amiri Baraka on “The Hookâ€; and Spleen, the Frenchman from Cameroon, collaborates with Glenn and shows that he just might be a punk-infused successor to Prince. The Biggest Piano In Town is an oratorio on demolished ecology and urban consciousness using poetic sensuality. The songs and slams unravel and take on the failings of a jubilant world, avoiding the gimmicks cluttering much of the extemporaneous fare on the market.
Tardin’s music and his freshness of purpose shine as he dedicates himself to playing instruments which these days are seen more as museum objects; namely, the Minimoog, Fender Rhodes and a real grand piano made of lacquered wood. With these three instruments put to good use, Grand Pianoramax’s eruptive, organic sound is a joyful explosion that ransacks conservatories, transcends categories and aims for the dance floor.
In a musical landscape dominated by sampling, Grand Pianoramax’s new album goes beyond. Tardin reintroduces the joy of playfulness and the music radiates profoundly. It doesn’t quiet the paradoxes of our time; instead it brings them out for a musical examination and exploration." The Biggest Piano In Town" earns its bold title. It is no bluff.
NEW ALBUM W/ GUESTS MIKE LADD, SPLEEN, CELENA GLENN, INVINCIBLE AVAILABLE NOW ON OBLIQSOUND. TO ORDER IT: WWW.OBLIQSOUND.COM
