HONDURAS LIBREGRUPO

I'm a big fan of this band and every new release by them is an automatic purchase for me. I would describe their music as being much more in the Avant style than Psychedelic but no matter, this Argentinian band always offer up challenging and interesting music.

"4:01" has these mechanical-like sounds that pulsate as gentle guitar joins in. Horns follow. A slight change in mood 2 minutes in then we get more mechanical sounds that follow. It's dissonant late as it blends into "Familias".Distant sounding vocals join in at 1 1/2 minutes. Cool stuff. Horns to the fore at 4 1/2 minutes to end it.

"No Hay Fiesta Despues Del Recital" has a beat with various sounds helping out. Vocals 3 minutes in then dissonant horns repace the vocals a minute later. "Revolting In Stealth" has almost spoken vocals with a beat and horns.

"Pvente Liacuno" is short with intricate sounds and vocals that come and go. "Tomando Concencia Del Baile IV" has vocals and more to start then the horns come to the forefront briefly before a minute. An experimental calm 2 minutes in. Drums kick in at 4 1/2 minutes. Cool.They stop before 6 1/2 minutes as experimental sounds continue.

"2:59" is experimental throughout. "Campos De Concentracion" has a melody with vocal expressions. I like it !

"7:18" is dark as well as melancholic and experimental. "Cancion Para Evo Morales" is short as we get these spoken vocals with background noise.

"Al Nino Mauricio Le Molestan Los Pobres" sounds great when the vocals arrive around 3 minutes, in fact it reminds me of BAUER. "Esto Es El Invierno" has these spoken words and a dark atmosphere.The words stop but the darkness continues.

Another adventerous effort from this band that will keep you entertained and coming back for more.

HONDURAS LIBREGRUPO are without a doubt one of my favourite bands from Argentina.This is their latest release, an EP filled with dark, spacey music. They've expanded their lineup from five to seven people, adding a percussionist and trombone player.This is all instrumental.

"Cancion Cruda" is fairly minimalistic with spacey sounds that echo in a dark atmosphere. A bit of a change 4 1/2 minutes in but it's the same vibe to the end. "Craneos Semillas Y Ovulous" is again dark as sounds slowly pulse, hum and echo. A beat kicks in after a minute as other sounds come and go in the background. It starts to wind down 5 1/2 minutes in until it simply fades to nothing.

"Tomando Conciencia Del Baile" opens with strange sounding synths then drums arrive before a minute. Spacey sounds blow in a minute later. It's heavier before 3 minutes as horns come in to the end. "No Juntes Hienas Con Orquideas" opens with cymbals with low end sounds. It's fairly eerie 2 minutes in with those freaky horn sounds.

Man these guys really amaze me.Their second album was a blend or Rio / Avant, Jazz / Canterbury and Psychedelic. Just an incredible release.This EP shows them delving into the Electronic genre in a unique way. Easily 4 stars and i'm excited about their next full length album.

With 'La Única Posición Es La Oposición' the band turns away from the psych/krautrock conglomerate documented on their first album 'Volumen 1'. A saxophone enlarges the list of instruments and besides other features this is marking the new orientation towards avant prog with significant canterbury and jazz rock elements. What stays though is the joy of playing and experimentation - a big precondition for producing a successful progressive rock album.

'The Only Position Is the Opposition' - an album title in the tradition of the people's fight against colonialism in Latin and South America? Or meant as a contra to mainstream artists/productions flooding the market? The latter is obvious - this album is not dedicated to everyone's ears. You won't detect catchy melodies or memorable riffs as usual. But diversity, complexity with breaks, turns, slightly dissonant and weird parts. Even though the album's total length correlates to a vinyl production we have a fireworks of impressions here, a piece of work which forces you to explore - not only to consume! Rock In Opposition so to say!

The band has a quite jolly start like playing on a child's birthday - funny! They are entering the canterbury realm with the first track and Matching Mole/Soft Machine are coming into my mind immediately. But soon the mood changes to a hallucinatory interplay followed by a free jazz similar part. This is detached by a Kraftwerk rhythm then backing spacey synths and a repetitve guitar. It goes on in this way for the next songs - the only constant is the change. The varied keyboard work is really impressing, you are confronted with jazz rock jamming backing a psychedelic guitar and other uncommon mixtures.

The closing long trackMonocromático para Flora is the most charming one as for my personal taste. Trippy improvisational - a great blend of jazzy and spacey elements more in the vein of their predecessor album. Although the music of HONDURAS LIBREGRUPO is quite experimental the band avoids to slip away into too much craziness. Well-conceived - this is listenable and enjoyable by all means - recommended.

4.5 stars.This will be a strong contender for being in my top 5 of 2008. I would highly recommend anyone interested in this band to read the excellent bio here at ProgArchives. After many listens of this album I would describe it as melancholic Avant / Jazz. Wayside Music describes it as a mixture of Rio, Canterbury and Krautrock. It's listed right now on this site as Psychedelic / Space Rock, so you can see there are many labels attached to this excellent release. The best thing is for you to buy it and hear for yourself how amazing this music is.

The only part of this album that I would describe as upbeat is the intro for the first track "Tomando Conciencia Del Baile" which is a fun, bouncey sax led start to the album. It settles with spoken words after 1 1/2 minutes. It kicks back in a minute later but with a different soundscape. Vocals 4 1/2 minutes in as it ends in a melancholic manner. "Botox" is restrained, dark and melancholic. The guitar starts to lead the way before 2 minutes as the bass, keys and drums support. It calms right down after 4 minutes. "Cancion Para Osvaldo Bayer" kicks in before a minute to an uptempo melody. It becomes very psychedelic sounding before 2 minutes. Nice bass lines. Guitar comes in making some noise. Nice. Sax after 3 1/2 minutes. Great sound after 5 minutes as sax comes back in again soloing. A jazzy calm before 6 minutes and then it kicks back in after 7 minutes. Amazing tune.

"Los Deportes" has this jazzy, Canterbury- like soundscape with sax playing over top. It calms right down before 4 minutes. Nice bass in this atmospheric section. Drums and sax come and go as well. Fantastic song. "Segunda Mitad Del Dia" is led by drums, keys and guitar for almost 1 1/2 minutes.Then it stops abruptly as a haunting mood falls on the proceedings. A change 3 minutes in as dissonant piano comes in with drums and bass then vocals. Sax arrives after 5 1/2 minutes as vocals stop. The tempo picks up a minute later. "Monocromatico Para Flora" is the longest song at over 12 minutes. Light drums, organ, bass and guitar are all restrained. Sax before 3 minutes. Guitar is prominant after 4 1/2 minutes as organ and drums continue. It's still restrained though. A total change 7 minutes in as an experimental soundscape takes over with no melody. Bass then a melody returns after 9 1/2 minutes. Incredible sound here as it continues to be experimental as the melody plays through it.

I really think fans of SOFT MACHINE should check this band out. Feeling adventerous? You won't regret it.

What a lovely composition by Robert Wyatt!... And what a lovely re-interpretation is the one that Honduras Libregrupo elaborated here in this downloadable CD single! Originally released as a free CD, it is currently (I don't know for how long) through the band's website. The band really did a fine job retaining the original composition's essence, not deconstructing it but reconstructing with an enhanced sonic power that helps the lead guitar soloing make sense in the overall instrumentation: the final synthesizer solo completes the song's mood in a very extroverted manner without killing its evocative core. This performance is very focused on old fashioned psychedelia, enriched with the inclusion of jazz-oriented cadences - this is what this song might have sounded like had it been recorded by a proper full band in the style of Matching Mole (first album) or Hatfield & the North (second album). The Spanish lyrics reflect the original melancholy, while the vocal delivery states a rougher spirit when compared to Wyatt's own singing. As you can see, this cover has been a very creative labor of preservation and innovation. Please, do yourself a favor and download this song... as soon as possible!

With a defiant title such as "La Única Posición es la Oposición" (Spanish for "The Only Position is Opposition"), the now quintet from Argentina Honduras Libregrupo takes a crucial step forward in their labor of reconstruction of old-fashioned psychedelia for the new millennium. Patently retro in their approach to sound and writing, Honduras Libregrupo still manages to create a sonic envelope that feels refreshing and powerful. There is a je ne sais quoi in their sonic amalgam that keeps them apart from a lot of other retro-oriented more renowned bands existing in today's prog rock scene. The Canterbury factor has been very relevant for this album's repertoire, a factor that had already been influential on them since their earlier days but that had been left in very marginal position in their first release "Volumen 1". Honduras Libregrupo is still a very jam-friendly band with a particular taste for trippy experimentation, but for this album the band has decided to create considerably more room for structured musical ideas. This is also noticeable in the rhythms section, which is working more confidently on jazzy nuances now and then. The Canterbury influence, on the other hand, is served from the more phased facet of the genre: 68-70 Soft Machine, Matching Mole and pre-"You" Gong (which was more decidedly space-rock with jazz-oriented sensibilities). 'Tomando Conciencia del Baile' fills the album's first 6 ½ minutes del disco, recreating the ancient Gong dynamics with added ounces of "Leg End"-era Henry Cow and 60s garage rock. In this way, this track reappears with a very different vivacity than that of its first version from "Volumen 1". 'Botox' is a more concise number, with an enhanced jazzy vibe: the lead guitar (no sax for this one) sounds like a thesis on Hillage. This piece is so appealing that I wouldn't have minded if it had been a bit longer, but at the end of the day it's OK. 'Canción para Osvaldo Bayer' wonderfully reflects the hybrid of space-rock and Canterbury that the band is so eager to experiment with. The retro ambience is patently related to Matching Mole's first album and Gong's "Camembert Electrique" simultaneously, while some syncopated adornments in the track's rhythmic structure pay homage to "Vol. 2"-Soft Machine. The sax solo delivered at minute 5 is simply amazing, which makes you wish it had been a bit longer. The keyboard and drum ornaments delivered right before the coda bring the listener back to Barrett-era Pink Floyd. With a joyful title such as 'Los Deportes' it is no wonder that we are faced with a very high-spirited track 4. It is actually a very complex piece that bears some room for sheer musical weirdness, but the gleeful mood is predominant. 'Los Deportes' reiterates the Gong thing even more deeply than on any of the preceding tracks, while the free-form portions inherit the mind travels reflected on 60s avant-garde jazz. Highlighted instruments for this one are the sax and the drums, but of course, the whole ensemble shines as a well-oiled unit. Most of the time, keyboardsman Nicolás Kodric delivers heavily krautrockish synth layers. 'Segunda Mitad del Día' gets started with a complex section that is managed in a very similar mood to that of the preceding track: then follows a sung section somewhat influenced by "Rock Bottom"-era Wyatt, before the coda briefly reprises the opening motif with enhanced energy. The album's last 12 ¼ minutes are occupied by 'Monocromático para Flora'. This is where the band seems more focused than ever on retaining the space-rock that had been so abundantly predominant in "Volumen 1". This is a very atmospheric number whose nuclear motif sounds like lost jam from the "Ummagumma"/"More" days, with a greater dynamics in the rhythm section. The psychedelic spasms delivered in the Dadaist section (related to early Amon Düül II) anticipate the coda in a most bizarre manner: a very convincing finale, indeed. "La Única Posición es la Oposición" shows us a more confident Honduras Libregrupo, not redifining its musical dirección but enriching it in order to let it grow as an artistic expression without any sort of compromise. This is masterpiece material to my ears.

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!

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.