VOLUMEN 1 (BUENOS AIRES FREE EXPERIENCE)

This is the new CD from the young and promising Argentine 'cuartetto' Amagrama. It is not a new studio album but 'jam sessions that are recorded live in the studio'. The Brasilian progrock label Record Runner has released it as the first in a serie, Argentine progrock revalation Nexus will be the next release! Amagrama consists of four young Argentine musicians who know each other very well, from their childhood. They began to play covers from their favorites like The Beatels, Queen and Pink Floyd but then Amagrama started to write their own material, influenced by fellow Argentine legends Crusis and La Maquina De Hacer Pajaros along Genesis, King Crimson and Dream Theater. Their debut CD "Ciclotimia" from 2004 was received very well by the worldwide prog press. It took a few listening sessions before I captured the spirit from this CD but then I got excited, these guys can play and in many different styles, great!

1. Hi Circus (8.24) : The band needs a few moments to warm up but halfway it starts to cook featuring classical inspired organ play (evoking Crusis) and strong soli: fiery electric guitar, swinging piano and flashy synthesizer. The rhythm-section sounds dynamic and powerful.

2. Delay 2ms (6.23) : The echo-drenched guitar play and soaring string intro reminds me of early Twelfth Night. First a bluesy - and then a jazzy climate delivering sensitive electric guitar and tender piano. Halfway a jazzy piano solo and spectacular synthesizer play (a very fat sound), the final part contains a mid-tempo rhythm with lush organ and a splendid, metalish-like guitar solo with great use of the wah-wah pedal.

4. Kaos Blues (11.54) : It's blues time! First a slow rhythm with bluesy electric guitar and piano, followed by soaring strings and howling, sensitive electric guitar runs and and organ solo. Then this song alternates between slow blues and powerful rock. The final part is very bombastic, like ELP (keyboards) meets King Crimson (guitar).

5. Enigma (13.34) : This is both the most exciting as the most complex and experimental track. The keyboard sound is varied (electric piano, organ, synthesizer, clavinet) often duelling with propulsive drum beats. The guitar is a bit on the background but at some moments it is howling. The climates and sound bring the early, more complex and cacophonic King Crimson to my mind.

6. Patriarcal (13.08) : This song has a contribution from Eduardo Amaya on bass (he's the father of keyboardist Agustin and drummer Juan and plays in Pulso) and Nexus their guitarplayer Carlos Lucena. The first part delivers a sensitive electric guitar solo and soaring strings, evoking the atmosphere from Grobschnitt their magnum opus "Solar music". Then an up- tempo rhythm with dynamic drums and an organ solo, supported by great electric guitarplay. This long composition delivers many good soli on guitar (fiery, wah-wah), swinging piano and spectacular synthesizer and strong interplay between a jazzy piano and fiery electric guitar. The final part has a mid-tempo, the bombastic sound and exciting interplay between the fiery electric guitar, organ and propulsive rhythm- section evokes the sensational sound from Hungarian progrock legend Solaris, great!

I'm impressed by this performance from Amagrama: they have chosen to make a CD in the spirit of the Seventies by "improvising and showing the hidden side of the musician". Not an easy goal but Amagrama has prooved that they are good and adventurous musicians, playing not only prog. Not every part of this CD is great or captivating (sometimes a bit fragmentic or freaky) but most of the time Amagrama succeeded to keep my attention and I enjoyed their improvisional skills. RECOMMENDED TO THOSE WHO LOVE THE FREE MUSICAL SPIRIT OF THE SEVENTIES!!

The "Buenos Aires Free Experience" project is an associated production of Brazilian Record Runner company and Argentine UTOPIA Music Factory with the intention of showing the hidden side of musicians and their playing of instruments from the spirit. These "jam sessions" consist in meetings where every musician generates a musical frequency of energy able to harmonize with the others.Every piece of music is created and improvised live at the studio, without overdubs nor rehearsing, and later they are edited and mixed with a very creative criterion.

That's the description of this record series cited from the booklet of this disk here in review. I think that's a great idea and so is to be called what young talented band AMAGRAMA is presenting us here. The six loosely structured musical pieces (all instrumental of course) actually don't sound that much like typical improvisations (apart from a few sections) but represent some really enjoyable music played off the cuff with a high degree of soul and spirit. Moreover I've to say I almost prefer this one to their eponymous debut "Ciclotimia" (which I like a lot as well) just for the reason that here they are sounding much more native, inspired and their obvious influence by DT is much less present. There are some guest appearances by Eduardo Amaya (father of keyboardist Agustin) playing bass and Carlos Lucena (from country fellows NEXUS) on guitar in the last track "Patriarcal" which is a superb collage of many different influences starting from the 70's until recent past. Some people might call this band's style derivative I would call it rather eclectic since they're trying to combine the best essence from more than 30 years of progressive music and they're doing this very successful and highly appealing (obviously not only for me but for many Prog fans). To make another citation from the booklet, what AMAGRAMA actually is presenting us here can be called "a sound collage including rock, hard-rock, blues, psychedelia, symphonic rock, jazz, avant-garde, etc. fully in the spirit of the legendary and endless jam sessions of the seventies which were the most sublime passages of musical expression."

Though this record might certainly not be considered an essential addition in a general sense I'd still call it an excellent and much impressing work and therefore I'd highly recommend it not exclusively to fans of this band but to anyone who doesn't mind instrumental jam-session music and would like to hear how a modern foursome of talented musicians sound like when they're allowed to play without any limiting studio chains. For this reason I think this album deserves a 4-stars rating.

As a little additional information, there's also an interview with the musicians (both in Spanish and English language) to be read in the booklet making this CD even more a worthy purchase!