INJURIAS

Bringing Puerto Rico to Prog fans all around the world.

Así Somos is a Puertorican group that mixes Progressive Rock with various styles like salsa, rumba, Puertorican folk music, reggae, afro-caribbean jazz and others. If you guys already know something about Caribbean music you'll know how vivid, colorful and full of pride the music is and Así Somo reflects that perfectly. The interesting thing about all of this is that they play all of those different music styles in a Progressive Rock context so the music is more dynamic and demanding while still being accessible enough to even dance to it! (who said prog wasn't danceable?)

Like I previously said, Así Somos' music is very diverse and accessible. All of the songs have a different combination of styles in it. You'll be listening to Salsa at the beginning, then to a reggae beat and end up with a violin / sax solo by the end of the song. The music is also very organic and all the instruments played (except the 6-string bass) are acoustic which gives the music a Spring feeling. The songs all have a great sense of melody, complexity and feel that can be normally seen in traditional Prog bands. The lyrics tell us about different ideas and feelings like patriotism, nature, Puertorican culture and even a funny story about "uncultured beings" (aliens) going to Puerto Rico and then end up getting hooked on drugs, all of this is sang in a tongue-in-cheek fashion and with a Puertorican slang. The music is fairly bombastic in many places even though they mostly use acoustic instruments. The song that impressed me the most when talking about their bombastic sound is the end of "Injurias" which sounds as if the part of the song was taken out of a Van Der Graaf Generator song with David Jackson on the sax and everything!

Así Somos is a great cultural (and musical, of course) experience that fans of folk music and Prog from across the world might be interested in. The album may have needed a little bit of trimming and it would be even better, but still this is a great album to listen to. Prog fans with an eclectic taste will find great enjoyment on this album.

Almost 4 stars (3.8 , 3.9?)

Progressive folk from Puerto Rico. You won’t hear that phrase much, but Así Somos are the real deal that seem to have the right credentials in terms of influences. They also have the creativity to blend folk compositions with salsa and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, plus both native and modern instruments and come up with a pretty unique sound. This is not only good prog-folk, it is dance music that will get your foot tapping and put a smile on your face. No dirge-like chamber strings here, so have some loose clothes and comfortable shoes on when you play this album.

The other thing worth pointing out is that violin prog-fans will find plenty to love here. Violinist Duamed Colón Carrión dominates on most of the more progressive (i.e., less dance-oriented) tracks, including the quite beautiful “Palabras Locas”. I’ve always had a soft spot for Latin string players because of the innate sense of passion they bring to that instrument, and Carrión is no exception. On the more salsafied and jazz numbers he fades into the mix a bit and does a bit more plucking than seems necessary (“Incultos” and “Cometas del Tiempo” in particular), but for the most part songs like “Palabras Locas” , “Dos Minutos” and the title track wouldn’t have the same emotive feel to them without his strings.

The lyrics are all in Spanish so they’re a bit hard to follow without the English translations, but it doesn’t take much Spanish language knowledge to know that they tend toward earthy and cultural themes and are not all that serious and sometimes even outwardly humorous. Something about living on an island seems to make people a little less uptight I think. Probably for the best.

Based on what I can see from the band’s web site and various Puerto Rican cultural sites I think these guys probably make their living playing live shows, so the locally-popular nuances in their music (and particularly the tendency to introduce dance rhythms into almost every song) is pretty understandable. Nonetheless this is clearly progressive music, just probably best classified as of the ‘world’ variety. Think Osibisa but more Latin and you’ll get a pretty good sense of what these guys are all about.

This isn’t a masterpiece or essential classic or anything like that, but it certainly is a very good album infused with lots of energy, passion and goodwill. If you are strictly a metal-head or someone who only listens to records that were released prior to the advent of the personal computer and push-button phones then these guys probably won’t appeal to you much – you might want to invest in another Doors compilation and call it a day. Otherwise I think you’ll find this to be an entertaining and refreshing hour of your time. Well recommended with three stars.

peace

Hey, i want some caribbean prog!

We, as members or collaborators or even just lurkers of PA, have the incredible advantage of spreading our knowledge everytime we click on this site, because there are a lot of things, bands and music to discover. Besides, if we know some of the members here is another advantage because all of us have some recommendations and hidden treasures ready to be discovered, this band called Así Somos was a recommendation of my fellow progfriend Rubén (chamberry) who has to be proud of this band, and another superb one which is Astrid Pröll, both of them are prog bands from Puerto Rico so you can see that fortunately the world of progressive rock is everywhere, even in America Central, where one may think it's impossible to find music linked to our tastes. Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce you to Asi Somos.

So, Así Somos is a band from Puerto Rico which is composed by several members, by the surnames i believe they are familiars or relatives, and i am fully convinced that every of the members have different musical tastes, and we can notice that in this album.

Injurias released in 2002 and (i don't really know the band's history, so forgive me if i'm wrong) debut album consists on 8 songs and a total time of almost 50 minutes, it is a trip to the Caribbean sea where you will enjoy an amazing blend of musical styles such as salsa, reggae or affrican music gathered together with a true prog folk spirit, so like it or not, you hardly will listen an album like this.

The album opens with Pangea which is a really short piece and a strong introduction to the album, instrumental and full of energy.

Padonde starts with some bass sound and then we can listen to the first of the exotic rythms, which is the reggae, also in this song is the first time we will listen to the vocals, all of this is accompanied by some sax which make a jazzy sound, then the song has some changes and the prog rock part of the song is evident, nice violin also is featured at the middle of the song, the second part is full of salsa and a true latin-american feeling, i actually am not fan of Salsa or some others rythms, so this part of the song is not particularly my favourite one, though what i like is that they dared to create this mix of sounds and rythms.

Palabras Locas start with some wind instruments and an acoustic guitars along with a soft drumming, the music is really enjoyable very soft and warm, there are vocals and maybe i would say the first minutes of the song are catchy or a bit poppy, but at the same time the folk elements used make it better and more prog folk oriented, there is a good sax solo in the middle, inviting you to enjoy the music you are listening to the moment and in the last part, the violin takes the leadership of the song, pretty cool.

Incultos along with the previous song, are the longest tracks of the album with a duration of 9 minutes each one, this song starts with some soft guitars and then suddenly it makes a bombastic crescendo ala RIO, but almost immediately the musicians manage to create the always noticeable latin american feeling, without losing the proggy element, so their creativity really deserves applause and attention, this song i like because also makes me sing (uno al frente y uno atras)

Dos Minutos comfortable guitar chords along with some violin are played before the vocals enters, then the song has some kind of sax vs violin duel, a very good instrumental moment and totally folk, the song is actually a bit slow, so you may get bored in some moment, good song but there are better moments on the album.

Arboles is probably my less favourite song here, i think despite the nice music created, it becomes pretty plain in some moments even when the reggae style comebacks to it, which is not new since the reggae rythm is plain itself, the best of the song are the lyrics probably.

Cometas del tiempo is a song with a happy feeling, it shows some traditional elements and a nice predominant acoustic guitar, the vocals are very good actually i hadn´t talked about it previously, but it´s a voice with a tasty colour, some violins and flute over the song, there is a great instrumental moment which reminds me to some Japanese RIO bands, and the best of the song is the capacity of making a dramatic change, because it suddenly becomes a Puerto Rico song, very traditional with that Latin American/salsa feeling, also the lyrics show they are proud of being Boricuas.

Injurias the title track and the last song of the album, the intro is again ala RIO and then the soft vocals and acoustic instruments make the song even softer and more beautiful in moments, this is an excellent closer!

I want to thank Rubén for this great recommendation, what i like the most about this album is that after all i think is unique, i haven´t listened anything alike, this mix of salsa, latin, reggae, prog folk music, makes this album a really worth listening, though it does have it's pros and cons, some plain moments and if you dont like any of the above mentioned rythms then you will find it quite annoying, anyway you should give a try to this original album.

Personal grade, 3.75, for PA a final 3 star.