ANIMAL CERÁMICO

A Buenos Aires-based chamber rock unit NICOTINA ES PRIMAVERA have done such a promising debut "Animal Cerámico". It's said this project would have been founded by a young flutist of ability Camilo ÁNGELES, and just as mentioned, his flute (basically a wind instrument good at creating a gentle, modest atmosphere) plays a funkadelic role as a "forefront", that has a neat outcome amazingly. And more surprisingly, they does such a complicated improvisation in a cool, smart, and natural manner. This awesome exploration reminds me of a Japanese jazz rock pride Djamra ... who play systematically and minutely both on stage and in a studio. They are suitable to be called as a cooperatedly improvisation combo.

These musical phenomena should be summerized into their eponymous masterpiece suite "Nicotina Es Primavera", On the masterpiece turf, the members each of whom differs personally from others play strictly together as if various toys or treasures could be put together into a large box. And every artist struggles others' sound up to the perfection. Cannot imagine such a fantastic session was done as a Chamber Rock in a small studio. Wonderful they could complete this over-thirty-minute long suite without any interval nor moment, quite in natural. An addiction.

A great album made by skillfull musicians with a lot of jazz and a touch of Canterbury. Well, probably the band would disagree, but the moment when bass and drums set that strange signature on the first track "Humor Humano" reminds me the GonG of "Flute Salad". Surely having a flutist as frontman has its influence. In any case, when an unusual signature is transformed in an even more unusual one by doubling the speed of its second half it's symptom of musical genius.

Then it comes a 37 minutes suite in 3 parts. Of course it's jazzy with many improvised parts tied together by segments which at least to me appear to be carefully planned, some chaos here and there but never noisy (I'm not a fan of noise), and the third part of the suite is stupendous.

The closer, too, is very well constructed. I have the impression that even if improvised, there's a sort of strong agreement about how the track has to progress, like water in a river: there are splashes and random movements, but in the end all the water flows in the same direction.

I have liked SALES DE BANO, but this new project of the flutist Camilo ANGELES has something more. It's hard calling this "a debut album" because of the big skill and experience of the band members. This is a mature album from a bunch of excellent instrumentist lead by a great jazz composer. Not yet an absolute masterpiece but very close.