MÚSICA DISPERSA

One of those bizarre trippy albums that is so rare that modern day historians can't even agree what year it was released, this sole album from the Catalan collective M'SICA DISPERSA symbolizes the free spirit of the hippie era Barcelona. This band led by Jos' Manuel Brabo really blurred the boundaries between folk music, psychedelia, classical, jazz and the avant-garde. The band was formed in 1969 and by most sources released this album in 1970 but some sources cite 1971 as the true release date. Whatever the case the original vinyl is amongst the rarest of the rare with only 400 copies pressed but luckily the album has seen many reissues including several on CD.

A mere quartet of Brabo "El Cachas" (guitar, mandolin, flute, vocals), Albert Batiste (bass, harmonica, organ, percussion, vocals), Sisa (acoustic guitar, percussion, vocals) and Selene (piano, flute, bongos, percussion, vocals), M'SICA DISPERSA sounded much bigger given the larger than life talents of the four members. Throughout this album's wake you'll be treated to a mishmash of stylistic approaches ranging from traditional Catalonian folk to progressive folk, classical leanings, jazzy interludes, psychedelic freakery and just plain weirded out avant-garde madness. It's one of those albums that you can't decide if it's pure genius or just plain insanity that happened to hit the right notes much like a broken clock being right twice a day.

The album didn't come about without its antecedents. Albert Bastiste was a seasoned folkie having played with Grup de Folk and Miniatura, two Barcelona staples in the late 60s, the latter of which featured both El Cachas and Sisa therefore M'SICA DISPERSA is basically a continuation minus the fourth musician Pau Riba (replaced by Selene). The band actually released a single with 'Hanillo' but in all honesty there's nothing remotely commercial to be heard on this freak folk fest as it sounds very much like the Spanish cousin of bands like Comus and Jan Dukes de Grey albeit a bit less accomplished in the compositional department. Nevertheless M'SICA DISPERSA succeeded in delivering a memorable album that differentiates itself from all others bar none.

A rather short album at just under 33 minutes, ten distinct tracks playfully deliver a hypnotic quirkiness that makes one think of folk music except that everything is so imbued in psychedelic weirdness that often it's really impossible to classify. A mostly instrumental album that delivers a hypnotic groove punctuated by unorthodox time signatures and hairpin turns into bizarre surreal soundscapes, the sparse vocals are primarily onomatopoetic. The music at times sounds as if it's performed by seasoned classical composers whereas at other times the band reverts to a primeval campfire feel much in the vein of commune bands like Germany's Amon Duul (the first one!) This wide array of moods and angles makes this one a wild ride and one that allows your attention to never meander too far. While there is definitely weird for weird's sake, the tracks generally develop a well-established melodic song structure which allow improvisation to join in.


While in many ways this album is a bit challenging to grasp onto because it sounds like it's from a parallel dimension or something, M'SICA DISPERSA was a real band of this era and played these track in live settings as well. The tidal wave as the album cover art pretty much symbolizes how this album pretty much comes in like tsunami and sucks you into its torrent. It's a crazy fun little album which leaves me wanting more, much more from this bizarre tripped out unit from Barcelona! In short this is one of the most creative and unexpected albums i've encountered from all of 1970s prog from Spain. While many bands were simply emulating the greats of either England or Italy, some bands like M'SICA DISPERSA were taking the same route Magma took and not only ignoring all other bands from their own nation but seemingly looking to other worlds for inspiration. Guaranteed freak outs on this one.