The Who: Dani Bell & the Tarantist (San Diego, CA)
The What: Sometimes what you don’t see is just as – if not more – compelling than what you do. Who are that masked man and woman?
As Dani Bell & the Tarantist, Dani Bell and Alfred Howard (aka the Tarantist) released their full length album, Dark West, as part of the San Diego based Redwoods Music Collective. It’s a record that reeks of dark sonic charm and vintage soul with a haunting atmosphere like that found on the song “Guilty” as well as in its video which we’re happy to premiere here.
“Guilty” was the first song that Bell and Howard wrote together after meeting at a record store: Bell wrote the music and Howard, the lyrics. Mysteriously masked and surrounded by a bevy of old school radios, Howard says, “The video was filmed in Matthew Molarius’ living room. And all the boom boxes came from various San Diego swap meets. It’s stiff a.m. competition with the hip hop kids out there for boom boxes.”
Whatever Bell and Howard are guilty of, at least they own it and make their culpability sound simultaneously hot and cool.
The Where: Do we encourage you to dig deeper into Dani Bell & the Tarantist? We sure do, so follow their masked musical activities via their official website, Facebook and at @TheTarantist / @RedwoodsRecords on Twitter.