Bardo Todol + M.M. Peres + Úgjü Sectas
Adzer (Sucata Tapes; CS/DL)
Don’t let the crazy cover fool you, this is not Nat Geo – this is a three-way split tape of Argentinian goodness, packed with flavor. Adzer presents two tracks each by Bardo Todol, M.M. Peres and Úgjü Sectas. The cassette runs in an edition of 150 and is expected out this Friday on Sucata Tapes, a sub-label of Discrepant.
Bardol Tool: In what can only be described as a field recording from the middle of a cow pasture, this layered set of sounds combined moos, barks, running water, vehicles going over bumpy roads and percussion perhaps coming from found objects. This is El alfabeto cartílago, and its between a squawk box and a hard place, but somehow he manages to find a delicate string-like harmony amidst the daily bustle. It’s storytelling in a tiny village facing the unexpected changes of gentrification, and/or societal shift. Other than natural sounds there are woozy lounge vocals distorted, and some space bleeps for good measure. It’s a kitchen sink record made good. Caravania Maegenta is a bit more riled up. It’s a warm-up session for wind instruments of sorts, they buzz, blurt, and are otherwise naughty and brash. This toys with a quasi Philip Glass aesthetic from a posited Argentinian perspective, there’s something warm about its obviousness, it’s wacky warp. There’s a sensitive wryness, and a raw melody that plays stepped scales in formation. After a while this magenta caravan is elusively trance-inducing and unphased.
M.M. Peres: Translated this first track is about something I’ve never really considered for potential music composition, Semen de Pájaro (or bird semen). With its wispy vocal treatments and solid bell for punctuation, this is a meditative spot to rest deep listening ears. With the inclusion of jangling bells and cagey harmony this is like a bird taking flight. As one who watched cardinals and hummingbirds daily I can most certainly relate to their sense of instant jettison when their habitat is disturbed. It begs the question as to why humanity cannot be as sensitive and aware. The six minutes flow by ever too swiftly, leaving you wanting a whole lot more. On Semen de Mariposa (butterfly semen) we are treated to the lilt of playful flutes and continued jingle bells. It’s an animated, colorful piece that chugs along and doesn’t at all sound vapid or too twee given the circumstances as there is a low, almost inaudible drone, that grounds the whole magical atmosphere.
Úgjü Sectas: Soldado de Cremma_Rubio Claro Claro Ceniza is broad in harmonic spectrum translating into something like “cream soldier, clear ash” or something like that. It’s abstract and turns on a dime in terms of thematics, going from light and free to a spiral dive into a black hole vortex or the unknown in a split second. The artist delicately rouses his pedals to evolve and muffled a cloud of sweet noise. Along the way you can hear percussive shakers and other mishegas. The distortions slowly fall into ruin before your ears. It’s a contained noise that’s not overly noisy. On El Gran Vultan (aka Aster Diablo) he’s going for a distilled space music. It sounds like scraps pulled from Land of the Lost or another lost b-movie. The strings sound hipster haphazard and artificially truncated, but effective in getting across a sense of being out-of-space n’ time. It’s a fusion of drums, strings and effects that ends in a wheezing ball of vibrating one-man band drunken jam self pleasure. So much for a startling conclusion.
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