Las Orejas y la Lengua - avantprog from Argentina

LAS OREJAS Y LA LENGUA is one of the most accomplished art-rock bands to come out of Argentina in recent times. They have caught the attention of many prog e-zines, although they don’t usually feel comfortable with the “progressive” term (nor with the “RIO” label). Anyway, their challenging mixture of jazz-rock, psychedelic rock, RIO-like avant-garde, musique concrete, fusion and electronic experimentation has been translated into two impressive albums in the early 2000s, “La Eminencia Inobjetable” and “Error”.

LOYLL’s inception dates back in 1992, as a pop-rock outfit actually. In the following two years, keyboardist Diego KAZMIERSKI and flutist Rogelio CORTE augment the band’s sound, and gradually, the musical offer becomes more complex and weirder, with more room for improvisational-based ideas. Their first album was recorded as a stable quintet in 1996, but it could only be released in 2002, when the band had already undergone some serious line-up changes. Reviews were highly positive in the Internet (mostly), but back home, the band was going through a critical phase, with the flutist and guitarist Gastón “Gato” LEIRA leaving their spots. As a quartet, with new flutist Diego SUÁREZ in the fold and LEIRA being unreplaced, LOYLL recorded and released their sophomore album in 2003, receiving as much praise as the debut. In comparison, the band’s sound had become a bit harsher and with less fusion elements, still refreshing and well-crafted. In 2005, the band became a quintet again with the addition of violinist Juan BISSO. The featured presence of this instrument in the band’s renewed format is a clear sign of LOYLL’s intentions to keep on reinventing themselves along the way.

Highly recommended to genuine appreciators of RIO, Canterbury, avant-prog and jazz-rock with a strong experimental component.