VOLUMEN I

A libregrupo with much potential ...

Here we have a completely spaced out album by the Argentinian HONDURAS LIBREGRUPO with reminiscences to 70s psych and krautrock artists. Deliberate or not? I don't know and don't want to speculate. Anyhow - the band had collected some improvised material from recording sessions and produced an essential cut in 2006 - six songs with 47 minutes playing time presented with the working title 'Volumen 1'. This album remembers me at the russian band VESPERO first of all. Interesting stuff in the whole and it grows the more I listen.

Tu mujer te da una mariposa as a suspense-packed space rock opener with a droning repetitive bass line gets you in the right mood for the album. The impressing Tarot starts in a heavier vibe with bubbling synths but then fades into a spacey cosmic part meandering along beautifully. Cordillera, Ovnindigena and Cosmos Psicologico are more weird krautrocked pieces in the vein of the 'Kosmische Musik' - showing a special dreamy mood as well as a crazy rollout whereas you are sometimes forced to fear that they are not able to find the way back to the line. But finally the songs are worked out in a somnambulistic way and are making up the highlights for me. The long track Tomando consciencia del baile is another good psych jam with experimentally used synths. And I especially want to appreciate Gabriel Falciola's excellent accentuated drum playing similar to the Vespero album 'Rito'.

This recordings are provided for a free download on their website. It looks like the used recording equipment was not always the best and therefore the sound quality is not top-notch continuously and overdriven here and there. Anyway - excellent stuff - this album is worth it if you like way out spacy and ambient sounds.

Nowadays, Honduras Libregrupo is one of the most critically praised new underground bands in Argentina: "Volumen 1" is their first recorded effort, released in a handmade format and given awy for free to concert attendants. Now that the physical item is out of order, it is only available by downloading at the band's website. So, what'¡s in the album? An excellent exercise on psychedelic progressive rock with a large heritage from old fashioned krautrock, space-rock and deconstructive resources typical of RIO. The album's first 6 ½ minutes are occupied by 'Tu Mujer Te Da una Mariposa', an ethereal track with a predominant minimalistic vibe, which is provided by the monotonous guitar arpeggios and teh concise synth layers. The rough sound mix helps to build an air of mystery. Next is 'Tarot', one of the album's undisputed highlights. The hard rocking prologue reminds me of early Guru Guru, but it doesn't take long before things make a shift toward an eerrie direction (to keep on with the German references, now we are in Ash Ra Tempel territory): the dreamy atmopsheres that now take hold of the track's development are very Ummagumma-style. 'Cordillera' brings the first signs of sonic unrest, with a sense of tension that displays its dangerous vibes through a deep darkness. This piece is a real tribute to musique concrete, not unlike the abstract musical journeys that Henry Cow deliverd on their In Praise of Learning album. 'Ovnindígena' starts with a mysterious cadence that may remind us of a post-rock-filtered Wyatt, before some menacing soundscapes create a cosmic climax, as if it were emulating the arrival of a UFO. The remaining part of the track is based on a free-form development of pure psychedelic rock on a slow rhythmic basis. With its 11 ½ minute span, 'Tomando Conciencia del Baile' is the longest track in the album. Its first section displays a heavily lisergic set of jazzy moods with a psychedelic essence, something like a hybrid of tracks 2 and 4: but this first section is mainly a preparation for the foggy deconstructive that makes the very surreal second section. You can also touch the sense of mystery that these sounds articulate in a postmodernistic amalgam: this band uses the lack of sturcture as a source of musical power, just like the best krautrock bands did for their most cosmic compositions. The last track is segued to the preceding one, giving way to the most explosive set of sounds that we find in the album. It's not that 'Cosmos Psicológico' is particularly loud (and it really could have been had the sound production been more professionally managed), but it definitely bears a very muscular first section. The second section, once again, brings a spacey trip through the avant-garde side of experimental rock; in comparison, the cosmic layers of treated guitar and synth in 'Cosmos Psicológico' are somewhat more robust than those in the second part of 'Tomando Conciencia del Baile'. All in all, these two pieces convey the most brilliant facet of this initial phase of Honduras Libregrupo's artistic development. "Volumen 1" is a faithful testimony of thisyoung band's artistic value: these interesting new efforts in the world of prog just keep on emerging on and on from latin American countries - let's pay due attention to them!