4º

HUMUS is Jorge Beltran above all. He seems to be born with a guitar in his arms but is also able to handle some other instruments in the meanwhile. Collaborating with former school friend Victor Basurto (bass) on most of the productions they are offering two songs here where the opener is nearly 36 minutes long. Because integrating five drummers in total for the recordings it looks like they are summing up several parts from different sessions.

Consequently Fatscope sounds structured - not like aimless jamming. The track shows Beltran's complete bandwith on mastering his main instrument. Based on the psychedelic intent you will also find metal like riffing impressions, bluesy parts, (free) jazz moments and ambient soundscapes generated by keyboards/synthesizer. HUMUS offers an epic song which is really successful because diversified, provided with different moods, styles and technics. Nice melancholic floating sections are alternating with heavy crashing parts - intended as a roller coaster of emotions I assume.

When I listen to music I normally can associate it with other bands respectively songs after a while. But this time I fail - the term 'unique' suits here for sure. Usa las tijeras is sounding more like a real jam based on a (simple) loop. Repetitive hypnotic with slight variations and floydy organ in the background. Guitar and bass are acting on their own - but only superficially. This is also interesting for krautrock fans I would say.

Produced for a vinyl release and therefore only made of 44 minutes this album is not for everyone's taste because far away from any mainstream. An ambitious work, recommended to fans of avant-garde prog compositions - 3.5 stars.

A strange but nice record!

Once again, I find myself writing reviews in order to contribute with a grain of sand, and support the bands from my country (Mexico) no matter if the band does not exist anymore, their music will always live, so it is a pleasure to help them in some way.

Humus as you can imagine was another (I said was, because I am not really sure if they keep making music, at least, they have not released new albums for quite a long time) Mexican band which offered great progressive rock music, this time their compositions are more oriented to the psychedelic side of prog. This is their fourth album and to be terribly honest, the only one I own, so I cannot compare it to their previous releases, which is why I will focus only on the music here.

This album consists in only two songs, being the first one a complete trip to other galaxy, including several instruments, rhythm changes and different use of instruments, it is a very long composition reaching 35 minutes, so as you can imagine you will find here several changes. "Fatscope" starts with some delicate flute, and then little by little the song is progressing, a strong guitar enters along with drums and some synth effects, making a psychedelic and very fast tripping passage, which will slow down after 4 minutes when the song takes another road, a calmed one where only a soft guitar sound appears. Some minutes later there is a kind of spacey mood made by both guitars and synth, but it last only for some seconds, then It slows down again and create a different ambience. Then it changes again and uses some percussion instruments that give it something like a latin American touch to the music, but again using that guitar which evokes some psychedelic 60's American bands.

In 35 minutes, you will find several changes, so the composition does not have a single structure; you actually don't know what's next because they surprise you with different moments, though the psychedelic touch is what predominates here. Sometimes you will hear calm moments, sometimes faster ones, then middle- tempo ones, and even some moments of silence, every one of them lead to the following one, so it is really a musical trip, let me recall that the guitar is actually very important here, Jorge Beltrán is a great musician and uses his skills here, with this strange, odd but at the same times original composition.

The second song, called "Usa las Tijeras" which is shorter but anyway a relatively long 8- minute song. Let me warn you here, this is a repetitive song which needs to be listened with an appropriate mood, so you can appreciate it and enter to its addictive sound, otherwise you will change the album. A slow tempo song, with that repetitive guitar sound, constant and simple drumming, and some synth as a background. The song continues with the same structure all the time, it only varies in the synth effects and.

This is a nice album, not accessible for anyone, and as I mentioned above, difficult to digest, but anyway showing the talent existent in this side of the globe.

My final grade is 3 stars. Enjoy it!