Jim Haynes, The Wire, September 2001

Throughout their brief career, San Francisco's avant rock ensemble Tarentel have pushed the art of listening to the point of perpetual reinvention. Not only do Tarentel constantly listen to how they sound and what their sound could mean, but they are also acutely aware of their relative position to their contemporaries and idols. Transfixed by the process of musical discovery. Tarentel approach each recording, live gig and probably even rehearsal as earnest attempts to capture the narcotic of some new form of beauty. If they can no longer get their fix in their pre-existing music,Tarentel rewrite one of their songs, thus squeezing just enough of that initial high to keep going. When that fails, Tarentel inevitably pull from outside their sonorous body. As a result, their first EPs synthesized US slowcore icons Low, Windsor For The Derby and Slint; then they drew on the majesty of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, This Heat and Mogwai for their luminous debut album From Bone To Satellite; now they present themselves as a weird hybrid of Arvo Part, :zoviet*france: and Radiohead on The Order Of Things.

The album opens benignly enough with "Adunai", upon which a plaintively persistent guitar strum introduces trumpet, synths and big tremolo guitar which all patiently take their time in uttering their mournful sounds. After a near crash 'n' burn into an exceedingly melodramatic morass of cellos and post-rock bass noodling, Tarentel signal a very distinct change in the progression of the record with a haunted loop of a Hindi female vocalist singing through shortwave. From here on, they strip away the majority of their instrumentation and foreground silence, leaving huge gaps in between their sombre marches or slowly evolving guitar drones, sustained melodica. There's also a guest vocal performance from Windy Allen. The Order Of Things strives for a breathtaking tension and theatricality through delicate timbres applied with utter simplicity, rather than the triumphant crescendos which marked their previous album. While such feats are noble pursuits, Tarentel never quite hit the mark, and probably would have done better to spend more time and money to further sculpt the last half of the album. The Order Of Things is not without merit, yet it should certainly be viewed as a cautionary tale for wide-eyed dreamers who believe they too can go into a studio without major label backing and create the next Amnesiac.

Cory Rayborn, fakejazz, Issue 19, 17 August 2001

Tarentel is increasingly mentioned alongside Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Bardo Pond, Tortoise, and the like as a central player in the present and largely instrumental post-rock scene. While still budding, the band has demonstrated over the course of one full-length album and several EPs and singles that they are focused on constantly honing their craft, never being content with releasing material that sounds like what has come before. Growth is what Tarentel is about as a band, and perhaps it is fitting that their latest album, The Order of Things, is adorned with a photo of lush foliage on the front cover. The record has been in the works for a while, but the results prove that the wait was completely worthwhile.

The album opens tremendously with "Adonai," a track quite at home with the band's previous efforts. The number slowly builds through guitar and bass, periodically accentuated with some wonderfully placed trumpet work and vocals. At the six-minute mark the tone shifts--slow work on the bass moves to the forefront while digital effects, artifacts, and guitars swirl the track into a low, slow drone. Eleven minutes after play has started, "Popul Vuh" follows appropriately on the heels and immediately moves the album into graceful, orderly, and powerful set of sweeping strings. Eventually a strong bass line comes under the surface that is immediately followed by drums and soon guitar as well, leaving nothing but one solid, fluid motion behind. The strings vanish from this mix, only to further reinstate their hold over their track when they reappear a movement later. Albeit only six minutes long, this might be one of the album's finest moments.

The band's piano-centered rendition of Ricky Lee Jones' "Ghosty Head" is obviously a first of sorts for the band. Not only does it feature ethereal and almost spectral female vocals, but it is also a cover. The lack of human voices (apart from samples) from the rest of Tarentel's output is relatively obvious. Tarentel has always seemed intent on using their music to create a desired atmosphere and has seemingly taken the approach that vocals were simply unnecessary to accomplish those ends. This track takes that sort of approach and demonstrates just how vocals can also be used in addition to instruments to position the listener in a certain location.

"Death in the Mind of the Living" is the closest that the band has come to venturing into the world of pure drone. Certain points over the track's fourteen minutes reach the same layered noise that is often only achieved during a Pelt show. This is obviously some choice material.

The album's final two tracks, "Pneuma" and "Blessed/Cursed", return to more familiar territory. Leading from one into the other, the tracks effectively close out the album and leave you content. The second movement of "Blessed/Cursed" is slow and quiet, almost like a lullaby. Beautiful.

Where The Order of Things is remarkably successful is in taking all of the powerful moments from the rest of their discography--the sweeping grandeur of "Steede Bonnet" from From Bone to Satellite, the noise manipulation from the end of "Looking for Things," the shorter and more straightforward song structures from the Two Sides of Myself 7"--and mix them all together into a sort of "Best of" package. You get everything that you would want. This record is not only one that would certainly please Tarentel fans but should just as easily create a number of new converts. A solid and well-produced release from a band that is doing little except growing and becoming one of the best voices in American music today. Period.

rating: 11/12

Jason Morehead, Opus, 2 February 2002

Tarentel got their start simply enough; simple guitar melodies, a strong beat, and that sheer stroke of genius, a keyboard with the right notes taped down. It's nice to see they haven't deviated too far from their roots. But all joking aside, "The Order Of Things" is proof that great things can come from such a simple setup. But it's also a fine example of the pitfalls of such an approach.

The first half of "The Order Of Things" is simply excellent, and amazingly modest in approach. Tarentel's approach is simple structures can beget complex, beautiful results. Such an approach is certainly not new; bands like Low and Labradford have done it for years. But that doesn't diminish the richness and substance of songs like "Adonai" and "Popol Vuh".

Everything that happens in "Adonai" occurs around a simple guitar melody. But as the song progresses, that melody gradually takes on a sense of vastness and distance. Eventually, other melodies chime in, creating a crystalline web of notes. Slowly, horns, organs, and strings begin to fill in the missing pieces, filtering through where the interlocking guitars leave space to do so. The whole song seems to breathe and glow, developing awareness and life with each passing repetition. And each time it seems like the song reaches its climax, like all of the missing pieces are in place, something else is revealed and explored.

"Popol Vuh" takes the same approach as "Adonai", but with additional weight and rhythm. The song opens with lush synth-strings, and an acoustic guitar takes up a plucked melody that feels related somehow to "Adonai"'s. Drums make their only appearance here, providing a solid beat, and working with the prominent bassline to propel the song towards its final destination. Like "Adonai", "Popol Vuh" never feels complete, but always changing and evolving, in spite of the relative minimalism of its individual elements. At times, it evokes shades of Jah Wobble's pan-cultural "Heaven And Earth", minus all of the jazz noodling. It makes for the album's finest moment, and it's a shame it comes so early on the album.

"Popol Vuh" may be the album's finest moment, but "Ghosty Head" might be the most haunting. The group is joined by Windy Allen, who contributes a sparse piano melody and her ghostly vocals. Much of what happens over the song's 12-minute length occurs in the background, as odd factory rumblings, distant field recordings, and the cutup, distorted echoes of Allen's own voice come back to haunt throughout. Given the song's length, and its relatively experimental nature, it's impressive how compelling and interesting it is. Like Lucid 's odd little odes, it's both eerily comforting and creeping, especially as Allen duets with the spectral fragments of her voice.
It's an impressive first half, but the album lags by track 5. Compared to the depth of sound on "Adonai", the droning of "Death In The Mind Of The Living" feels incredibly simplistic. After 8 minutes or so of this, the album take a more interesting turn, with a stark string arrangement fading in before the drones take on a darker, more dominant tone.

"Pneuma" opens with the same sort of ominous, thundering sounds one would expect from Lustmord or Caul . It's hard not to resist the urge to scan forward until something more interesting happens. Eventually it does, when "Blessed|Cursed" adds a sparse beat, along with squiggly electronics and more distant vocals.

It finally does, with a soft organ and more sparse guitars takes the place of the darker sounds, but little of the magic that permeated "Adonai" or "Popol Vuh" is there. It almost seems like wading through all of those dark drones (which seem obligatory, given this came out on Neurot Recordings) leaves the song exhausted and unable to gather up steam for the final denouement. In this case, the album's simplicity is its Achilles' Heel, preventing it from developing any more than it does.

It's at these times that you wish Tarentel had removed the tape from their keyboard and tried a different approach. I have a feeling the results would be an album that's challenging and lovely throughout its entire length, rather than one that opens with beautiful flourish but ends on a mediocre note.

Paul Clements, Magnet, June/July 2002

With its Ennio Morricone allusions, epic length songs and ever-mutating lineup, Tarentel once seemed poised to usurp Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s throne. On earlier releases, the instrumental combo proved adept at snowballing slow guitar arpeggios into something expansive, but The Order Of Things never fulfills the band's promise. The opening "Adonai" shows these San Franciscans still know how to turn a guitar chord on its side, but they resist picking up dynamic power. Afterward, they seem restless with their own formula and experiment recklessly. They do a vocal track – a cover of Rickie Lee Jones' "Ghostyhead" with wistful piano and lighter-thanair singing by Court & Spark collaborator Wendy Allen-that's pretty but drags on for 12 fidget-inducing minutes. They do a song that starts with an eight-minute pulsing drone punctuated with insistent banging sounds (wait, the banging is my next-door neighbor), which is then interrupted by listless Arvo Pärt-styled strings. They also do an untitled, eerie snippet of a heavily treated female voice (from Indian television) that's both mesmerizing and uncharacteristically short; it's the album's highlight. Order does offer pleasant moments, but there's just too much of this type of music right now, and none of it touches Godspeed's Lift Your Skinny Fists. With the new short, sharp and noisy sounds rumbling in the distance, is it time to say good night to epic post-rock?

J. Ryan Kee, Action Attack Helicopter

The Order of Things is Tarentel's second proper full length, following their 2000 release From Bone to Satellite on Temporary Residence. For those unfamiliar with Tarentel, they are a spacey, post-rock Instrumental outfit from San Francisco mainly comprised of three members, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, John Hughes, and Danny Grodinski. That was the original line-up, but on this recording, two other members, Trevor Montgomery on bass and guitar, and Jeffrey Rosenberg on bass, guitar and drums (although Jeffrey soon left to peruse his other band LUMEN full time) were added. On The Order of Things, the boys toned things down a bit, using more samples, string arrangements, and keyboards to create more of a mood music feel then ever before. From Bone to Satellite was more of a raucous affair, and this new record only has drums on one song. There are even some vocals found on this one by Windy Allen, as well as a slew of guest musicians sitting in to create a landscape of mellow sound that is highly melodic and spacious. The music ranges somewhere between the sparse sounds of Labradford and the hypnotic bouncyness of Sonna. In my opinion, this record is not as good as From Bone to Satellite, but that by no means means it is not good. This is sure to please fans of Sonna, Labradford, Tristeza, Mogwai, Lumen, and The Album Leaf.