#músiac sin-fin

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 205: La llama de Prometeo

Discómanos is a record label and collective of artists operating out of Spain and last year they released a beautiful compilation entitled La llama de Prometeo: La puerta de entrada a las Nueves Músicas Españolas. The title translates to “The Flame of Prometheus: The Gateway to the New Spanish Music” and indeed, this collection serves as an adventurous and breathtakingly gorgeous survey of Spain’s space music, new age, and ambient scenes during the late 80s and 90s, with many of the artists here having been associated to Hyades Arts, Grabaciones Accidentales, and Música Sin-Fin. I have to thank Ban Ban Ton Ton for turning me onto this one, for if Dr. Rob hadn’t mentioned the release when writing about his Chilled / January 2019 mix, I might never have come across it. Which is altogether surprising given my fascination with this corner of Spain’s rich musical history as well as the fact the big names such as Finis Africae, Iury Lech, and Suso Saiz all appear. But there are many wonderful artists that are completely new to me as well and in every case, compiler Daniel Nielles has selected tracks that have never before been released on vinyl. The music itself is dreamy and meditative, seeing soundworlds of seaside folk, pastoral new age, heart-melting ambient, and bleary-eyed kosmische all unite for a balearic float on waves made of light. And it’s all tied together by the myth of Prometheus and some beautiful poetry from Daneil, a line of which sums up the spirit of the collection perfectly: “this compilation is a deep scream from modern gods; the flame that is still alive in this new century.”

La llama de Prometeo: La puerta de entrada a las Nuevas Músicas Españolas (Discómanos, 2018) We begin with Suso Sáiz’s “El mar que tendrá el mar” and the sounds of waves crashing to shore. Pastoral piano lullabies are shrouded in fog as bass arpeggios background crystalline leads that splash through sea-foam pools. Then comes the stunningly gorgeous and tear-inducing “Reloj de luna (María)” by Pedro Esteven, where heavenly piano chords hover in the air as heart-melting string orchestrating rain down. Chiming starshine electronics move gently through synthetic layers of violin, viola, and cello…their melodies evoking heartbreak and lost romance as layers of new age space music float the soul. At some point, an operatic angel voice enters, her wordless dreamspells swaying through dark hazes into radiant baths of moonlight while strings, voices, and pianos all surge together to lift the heart towards the sky and atmospheric bass pulses carry everything towards cloudrealms of paradise enchantment. In Finis Africae’s “Olas a Formentera,” joyous whistles fly above seaside reed orchestrations and thumping acoustic bass textures until someone calls out the song’s title, at which point we drop into a sun-soaked balearic folk dance. Riffing string instruments and soloing sitars play to the spirits of the sea and sky, their shuffling magic and waves of propulsive acoustic wonder surfed on by island breeze accordions while guitars solo and double basses thump ecstatically. Elsewhere the mix spaces out, leaving zithers and six-strings to solo softly above pulsing bass movements and sea-shanty reeds while deep and entrancing vocals chant “Formentera” from atop the rocky cliffs of Es Vedra. 

Pianos, marimbas, kalimbas, and other solar idiophones dance beneath starlight bell tapestries in Alberto Garralon’s “Iria Feliz,” while rainforest hand drums hold down an airy groove. Wavering guitar solos alternate with ghostly synth leads that squiggle through a sunrise sky and there are gamelan evocations in the way the interlocking loops of exotic metal generate hallucinogenic polyrhythms, with everything being wrapped around by aquatic organ waves. When the rhythms pull out, we find ourselves in a swooning section of nostalgic beauty, where FM synth fluids cycle around sprightly guitar patterns…everything moving together in a dance of multi-layered rhythms as organs drone out beneath noir-pop atmospheres that recall Angelo Badalamenti. One of the most surprising cuts comes from Juan Veron and Pedro Lahoze. Their “Adventures Flavour” locks ethnological drum explorations and alien hand percussion vocalisms into a hypno-groove that moves beneath wavering chime tapestries. Majestic synths, organs, and pianos climb through sparkling clouds of gold while dripping cosmic liquids coat skronking woodwinds. The ivory melodies are tracked by swelling space pads and ominous brass textures bring airs of exotic funk and Zeuhl prog. All the while, solar melodics skip through rainbow flower fields and the ritualist percussion energies merge with sonic clouds of ceremonial fusion fire.

The B-side opens with “Final sin pauses” by Iury Lech. Deep piano pulsations envelop the spirit in a fog of bass warmth as shadow and light swirl together. A mermaid sings out from oceanic depths with wordless songs of ancient magic…her mellifluous voice backed by ghostly male harmonizations as it all comes together for an aquatic aria of profound beauty. Ivory incantations and mystical voices coalesce and sooth the mind while the mix hisses and breaths with analog warmth and towards the end, the track gives itself over completely to haunted drone clouds built from dark and mysterious oscillations. The esoterica of Pablo Guerrero’s “Dragones negros” follows, with bowed string drones conjuring subterranean spirits. The mix is further adorned by bucolic windchimes while a sensuous and calming voice enters to entrance the mind, its enigmatic stories occasionally receding as harmonious clouds of ambiance swell and glow with a spectral light. The mesmerizing sonic motions are suffused by starshine chime tones and sometimes the vocalist zones out into pure throat singing and passages that resemble yodeling or Sami joiking. The droning voice fluids are backed by submarine clarinets that swim through the ever-present cascades of sparkling metal and the way these haunted woodwinds seem to float on a spectral sea of amorphous new age magic presages by decades one of my favorite songs: Eleventeen Eston’s “I Float, I am Free.” And as swirls of sound build towards slow motion ecstasy, the hypnotizing voice returns to entice the soul back to earthly realms. 

Antonio García’s “Guitarra primitive” features bubbling hand drums soaring beneath the kind of metal-against-guitar string noise associated with GY!BE’s Efrim Menuck. There are shadows of Roy Montgomery and Loren MazzaCane Connors as well in the way the searing waves of droning guitar push the mind towards bliss and as the wailing six-string orchestrations drop away, they are replaced by strange sliding tones..like drops of silver ether moving upwards along the walls of a crystal cavern. The delay fx on the hand drums morph in and out of phase and generate feverish polyrhythms in a way reminiscent of early Popol Vuh and Ash Ra Tempel and the track spends the rest of its time alternating between careening bowed guitar atmospheres and sci-fi sliding fluids until the beats drop away for a coda of pure ambient shimmer. We end with Eliseo Parra’s “Noche tranquil y serena,” which sees the calming beachside field recordings return as waves crash and seabirds sing softly. A zither modulates under aqueous phaser waves while wrapping the mind around with dazzling runs and enchanting ocean romantics. Glistening chime strands decay towards a blood red sunset and a mystical voice calls out above it all, his sliding modalities evoking a mythical Iberian ritualism. As the track progresses, a head nodding downbeat groove emerges and floats on throbbing bass currents while high in the sky, psychedelic string clouds drop subtle waves of strummed starlight and wood flutes harmonize together as they summon shadow spirits from forgotten realms.

(images from my personal copy)