Pescadas | Don Ignacio's Music Reviews

Pescadas 2006 ★★★½

A very entertaining album from a Buenos Aires band I know almost nothing about, though I’d file them somewhere in the progressive-rock cabinet. Think low-budget Van der Graaf Generator if they had a sense of humor. The budget sounds limited, though you can hear everybody clearly. Drums, guitar, bass, keyboards. Basic supplies. Then the organ barges in every few minutes with a Hammond growl. Some of the gloomier passages sound programmed, or at least scraped out of a MIDI graveyard. The surprising thing is how fluidly the band keeps swerving. One minute they’re a psychedelic band right out of 1968. Then surf rock. Then something like a circus act. Then something that sounds like Halloween with jokes. I was trying to avoid calling these guys spooky, but late in the album I swear I hear a wolf howl. Either that, or the keyboardist finally started shrieking from all those fingers sliding up and down the keys. Maybe they do that too much, come to think of it. You are deep off the map with this one. Bring a flashlight, and maybe a cryptanalyst for the odd time signatures. This is a tightly played album full of strange, delightful turns. Homemade, but crawling with ideas.

Crisma 2014 ★★★½

Quite a bit longer than Pescadas, but not in the usual way. It comes in three EP-sized chunks, as opposed to one grand prog slab. Probably wise. Too much of this at once and you might notice you’ve started walking in strange time signatures. The sound quality is better this time, and the variety is a little more interesting too. The very first song starts out with singing that sounds like Grace Slick somehow plopped into a Buenos Aires prog theatre. This is prog that still sounds psychedelic, but in the old sense, back when the genre was still psychedelia that had learned math. The playing is sharper too. Good guitar. Wild energy. More strange corners to poke around in. “Secuencia al volante,” still on the first disc, might be the strangest moment, when the album turns into what sounds like a silent-movie soundtrack. It’s a fun enough idea that I’m surprised I hadn’t heard anyone try it before. “Camuflage bordado” trots along pleasantly with an organ solo that has nowhere urgent to be. “Humano” opens with a dark riff that briefly suggests Red-era King Crimson before turning pastoral in the middle with a pretty flute part. Hello, early Genesis. “Effects Sin Fin Singular” starts hard and loose, then settles into a slow jam with some great playing. Another highlight is “Encrucijada,” which keeps speeding up and tossing out little spaceship blips and whooshes. “Visiones fugitivas” has a more exotic texture, with xylophone-like sounds poking through. “Baby Vap Vela” closes the entire collection on a laid-back note, with pastoral drift and someone playing a very squeaky violin. Three little discs of noodling, odd meters, and prog mischief. Some of it catches fire. Some of it is more busy. Still has that homemade flavor, but I’m not going to complain when the noodling is this good. Call this a fun thing to get lost in.