HUMUS

— First review of this album —

Humus is a band that has been around for quite a while, since 1987 in fact. It started out as a one-man project founded by Jorge Beltran from Mexico and has released several albums during that time. The music can be classified as Psychedelic/Space Rock, and, as far as I know, is completely instrumental.

The album "Kush" was released on the 1st day of 2019. It is comprised of 19 tracks ranging from 2 minutes to 6 minutes long and has a total running time of an hour and 13 minutes, so you definitely get your moneys worth in music. But it is a bit more difficult to classify all of this music into one subgenre. While it is true that maybe around half of the tracks are heavy stoner style rock with complexities that put it into the prog category, there is a lot more than that to it. There are a lot of synthesizer and keyboard led instrumentals here too, many of them easily fitting into experimental territory, others with a nice funkified sound with catchy hooks like "Trick or Freak", "Poached Coach" and others that don't sound like stoner or space rock at all. Maybe you could consider them neo-psychedelic, but they might be too melodic for that. Others, however might fit into that category like "Halloweed" and "Uomauoma" as they are more experimental.

The thing is, for a space rock album, this sure has a lot of variation in styles and everything, but I can't think of any better genre to put them under, at least when it comes to this album. The one problem it has is, there is a lot of music here, and there is plenty that stands out, but it's a lot of new interesting music to pack into one album. So, even after a few listens, its hard to remember what is what here, and it is also difficult to sit through if you are concentrating on the music. Things start to get muddled together, and I think it would have served the group better to separate the tracks into two separate albums. But, the music is great, heavy and even fun at times. It is also well-produced. I really can't imagine giving this less than 4 stars, even though it can be a lot to take in all at once.

For me, it is always a pleasure to talk about Mexican bands, and this time I am more than happy for writing a review of a new Humus album, a band that has been in the progressive and psychedelic scene from the late 80s / early 90s and though sadly they have not received the deserved love and recognition and share a low profile, their music has reached several places even outside Mexico, with people who have appreciated Humus since their first steps, or people who have been digging them in the last few years. I belong to the second group, but I am proud to know this country has talented musicians like Jorge Beltrán (who I dedicate this review) who don't stop and keep composing great music.

This new album entitled "Wheel of Malarkey" consists on Beltrán on guitars, his long-time musical partner Victor Basurto on bass, and three drummers playing in different songs (not the three at the same time), they are Charly López, Jeff Beltrán and John Westminster. The album is divided in four sides (like a double LP) and it features 18 tracks that make a total time of 71 minutes of great music with the inherent psychedelic and stoner sound they always bring, but with other Canterbury-esque and jazzy tunes. And though it is a long album, it is worth it, be lieve me.

It opens with "Blatant / Mouge", which has a soft electronic start, it does not have that explosive stoner guitar Humus use to share, but it flows and progresses little by little. After a minute drums enter and a kind of friendly sound prevails for one minute more, until it vanishes and now that stoner sound appears. Yeah, the explosion that make me shake the head; the endless guitar riffs are purely psychedelic, the sound has an obvious reminiscence of 70s psych rock, but I know this is Humus' spirit. The next track is "Ultimate Help Resurgence" which is the first out of 2 over 10-minutes track. The sound of the bass is easily perceived, it is strong and the perfect partner of that psych-stoner guitar. The song has several changes, as you may expect from a track of this length, changes in mood and tempo, great.

"We" is a short track but a curious one. I felt enchanted by its friendly rhythm which is like electronic rock whose intensity increases until producing an explosive guitar solo, though actually there are like endless mini solos haha. "Bait for the Free" is an even shorter piece which has an organ at the beginning, producing a somber atmosphere that will be complemented by bass, drums and guitars. "Flush Down the Mewk in June" is like the second part of Bait, I mean, the sound is alike and though the rhythm is slower, they fit good together. Now I would not dare saying it has clear blues hints, but one can feel them living there. It has again several inner changes, so in moments it is fast and stoner, in others slower and jazzy.

"The Mind has a Mind of its own" introduces an organ in the beginning; the dark and somber atmosphere is back here. Then bass and drums join and a scary tune starts, it could be used for a horror film or a videogame. After a minute the guitar appears and though the style remains the same, it brings a different taste, not that somber. But wait, it vanishes and again the scary music begins. Cool! "Pouy Trey Koll" offers again some jazzy hints, contrasting with the previous song (actually the album does not follow a clear path, but this time it does not harm it, on the other hand, it makes it more interesting). "Rat Bat Blue Variations" is the shortest track of the album, and it might work as a one minute interlude; it is an electronic-like piece with a friendly sound.

"Losless Faster" begins with a beautiful mellotron sound, creating a charming atmosphere where one can close the eyes, feel relaxed and comfortable, the guitar sound is also different here. It leads to the longest track which is entitled "Fulham". This one has a calmer melody; it creates a nice interaction between electronic sounds and drums, the result is a canterbury-like piece that brings me again back to the 70s. The song nicely flows, and though there are some moments where it sounds repetitive and maybe not that entertaining, it is worthwhile the wait, because after 7 minutes a new rhythm begins and again flows until the very end. Nice track, not the one that defines Humus, but a great one for those who love playing with electronics.

"Float" returns to the sound we are used to, that stoner guitar, that heavy bass and the energy of the drums put us again in the Humus realm. "Fluctuation" is a heavier piece whose drums might be closer to a rock metal sound, while guitars plays with that inherent 70s feeling that reminds me of Steve Hillage. "Bashes" starts all of a sudden, but this one has piano included which produces an elegant jazzy sound. "Junior Flake" has electronic noises in the beginning, like some space rorck that will be immediately morphed into psych stoner rock. You will shake your head with this one, definitely.

"Events" is a short piece that brings a totally different sound, here one can listen to a RIO-oriented track that reminds me of Henry Cow. "Cram" is a wonderful piece, with a rhythm that will lead you to joy and entertainment, and though the sound might be a bit heavy, it is friendly to the ears, I like it. "11 12 13" is a great rock piece that sounds like a jam, so imagine the fun one have while listening to it (and the fun I am sure they had while recording it). Finally, "Joy" which is another short piece that have the great stoner and creative sound of Humus, a nice track to finish this excellent return of Mexican rockers.

Well, what more can I say? You better get the album and listen to it soon, you will have a good time, I assure you.

Enjoy it!

the magnific Jorge Beltr'n show his debut album (like Humus) "Tus Oidos Mienten" making all the sounds, and playing all the instruments. the album was published in 1992 and had an amazing Psychedelic/Space Rock style very similar to the classic bands of the genre (Eloy, Pink Floyd, Nektar, Os Mutantes or Ozric Tentacles) but with a personal style very mexican (had to say). the classic prog rock bands made in Mexico like Decibel, Chac Mool and of course Humus, makes me feel so proud, because i'm a hugh fan of all the prog rock all over the world, and the feeling of know that bands like this were made here in my country, and maybe not in the same level of the eropean prog rock bands like Pink Floyd, Magma, King Crimson or Jethro Tull, but this guys really makes history in the story of the prog rock, in the story of the mexican and latin rock and that's because "Tus Oidos Mienten", is a fabulous example of the genious that the mexican composers may have. the track called "Plasma Coste'o" it's really my favourite, the guitar makes me remember "Tubular Bells" of Mike Oldfield (in a couple of ocassions of course), with the tiny bells on the bottom. other groovy tracks in the album are "Tus Oidos Mienten" and "Dragones Nocturnos" (i recomend that pieces). if you already know this band, you know what i'm talking about.

Having started as a solo project delivered by Mexican guitarist Jorge Beltrán in the late 80s whose first inputs in the music business were D.I.Y. cassette recordings, Humus eventually became a full band that included lifelong friend Víctor Basurto on bass. In this way, the band was equipped with enough resources as to increasingly reinforce its sonic structure in its first CD releases, "Tus Oídos Mienten" and the sophomore namesake album that is being reviewed right now. Humus' progressive offering is based on a robust dynamics that simultaneously inherits the neurotic force of Wetton-era King Crimson, the heavy ambiences of old school psychedelic rock and the vibrating energy of Black Sabbath/Led Zeppelin. That is mostly it, although it would also be fair to mention the presence of some guitar-oriented Kraut (Guru Guru, Ash Ra Tempel) elements creeping in for good effect. This album kicks off with the very 'Ultrarápido (Súper Humus)', whose raging riffs and powerful rhythmic developments comprised in the extended main body make it a direct manifesto of what Humus is all about. This is a hybrid of Gothic LZ and "Hendrixed" KC. The calmer interlude and the pastoral acoustic guitar-based coda generate an interesting source of variation. What a great beggining! 'Zelvalareina' bears an electrifying vigor much akin to the opener's main focus, and the same description can be applied to 'L'ente Trioculaire', although the latter comprises a wider arrangement of contrasting passages. 'Solar Abuse (In Memoriam F.Z.)' states a space-rock approach to the Crimsonian framework that the band handles so freely through jazzy undertones, in this way closing the album's first half ? oh!, and despite the kind tribute in the subtitle, it doesn't sound like Zappa at all. 'Gloomy Broom' has lots of power in its opening theme and the subsequent reprise for the coda; in the middle, the trio indulges in slow, spacey explorations in which the band exercises subtlety and constraint without letting go of its recurrent stamina. With less than a 1 ½ minute span, 'Cong' encapsulates a delicate motif with deep jazzy colors: such a pity that it should be so short! But before we shed a tear for this track's ephemeral duration, 'Nederweit' fills our ears and mind with agile moods (again, very Crimsonian and very Hendrixian) that somewhere in the middle get augmented with playful cosmic cadences a-la Gong (pre-Hillage era). Finally, 'Trastornorgonal' states a solid recapitulation of the most extroverted sonorities that have abounded in the preceding repertoire, which helps the album as a whole to portray the nature of Humus' musical vision. This band was an excellent find for me, and so I regard this album as an excellent item in any good progressive rock collection.

Join this Mexican trip!

While listening to this band, one of the first words that came to my mind was "trip", now you can imagine why. Humus is an instrumental band whose psychedelic guitars prevail above all, and I am not judging only for this record. So this album was released in 1996 and it is called "Malleus Crease" released once more by Smogless records. Its peculiar cover art may be a proof of Humus weirdness, so I warn you because once you say yes to this trip; you may not find the exit door.

This album features 8 compositions and a total time of 47 minutes, it kicks off with "Some Blue Cheese", an 8-minute song that starts with some keyboard futuristic sound and then changes due to the entrance of electric guitar, however, some seconds later it changes again creating a very odd atmosphere, some distorted guitar, nice synth and constant drumming. Since the very first minute you will realize the music and structure is kind of weird, but quite interesting in my opinion, making you an addicted because you will not know what is going to happen next, there are several changes, change within a change, but great. Pay attention to the guitar, is excellent, and the song overall, becomes better and better through the minutes.

Next is "Nomads", starts with a slow time but at the same time with a rough sound, the bass and guitars along with the keyboards provoke some strange noises and create a dark atmosphere within the song, it reminds me to another Humus song called Fatscope which can be listened in their 4th album. Continuing with this track, the rhythm changes a little bit but the essence of the piece is still the same, hope you get what I mean. The last minute is very interesting, the bass lines are addictive and the constant drumming is great, nice song.

"The Coming of Odin" begins slow, drums is the first thing you listen and then guitar and some synth effects here and there, the mood is very strange, but then all of a sudden it drastically changes into a faster and powerful song. Again, several changes into the same song, and again, pay attention to the awesome guitar riffs which stays as the dominating instrument. Later, there are some strange noises and effects that confirm what I said in my first paragraph, this is a trip.

"Periplo III" is the shortest song with only 2 minutes, intriguing guitar sound at first, complemented by a raw sound a minute later, accompanied by great drums and very nice synth effects as a background, short but nice melody.

The following is entitled "Obonibus Eclectrico", weird name for a weird song which happens to be the longest one reaching the 10-minute mark. As you can imagine within this 10 minutes you will find several changes that came all of a sudden and that in moments are unimaginable, it is like you listen to a guitar riff and out of nowhere appear some odd synth effects with different rhythm and time and tempo, changes that actually make the music more interesting, in my personal opinion this "unstructured" composition keeps my total attention and gives to the band an extra point, since it is original music that may sound common. This song is a clear example of Humus sound, son pay careful attention to it and decide if you are interested in exploring more of their music, or not.

Next song is "Kat Man Doo", starting with kind of a rockish guitar sound, but with the same raw sound, while the drums and bass sound, the guitar keeps doing its riffs and giving a proper style to the music. A couple of minutes later the song slows down a bit creating a moment of doubt, but later again the sound increases as it began, and the guitar solos reappear.

The last song is "El Aprendiz", and starts very different with some nice and slow piano notes accompanied by drums, little by little they fade out in order to give entrance to a new structure, constant drums, keyboards and guitars making the same rhythm during more than a minute and later changing (I know) again, making some short stops and later exploding once again, a very interesting last song.

This is a nice album, now I cannot decide which of the two Humus albums I know I like the most, both are different but with the same style, the guitar sound is very iconic and those crazy changes make the music really interesting, though in my opinion sometimes it may be boring.

My final grade is 3 stars.

Enjoy it!

A strange but nice record!

Once again, I find myself writing reviews in order to contribute with a grain of sand, and support the bands from my country (Mexico) no matter if the band does not exist anymore, their music will always live, so it is a pleasure to help them in some way.

Humus as you can imagine was another (I said was, because I am not really sure if they keep making music, at least, they have not released new albums for quite a long time) Mexican band which offered great progressive rock music, this time their compositions are more oriented to the psychedelic side of prog. This is their fourth album and to be terribly honest, the only one I own, so I cannot compare it to their previous releases, which is why I will focus only on the music here.

This album consists in only two songs, being the first one a complete trip to other galaxy, including several instruments, rhythm changes and different use of instruments, it is a very long composition reaching 35 minutes, so as you can imagine you will find here several changes. "Fatscope" starts with some delicate flute, and then little by little the song is progressing, a strong guitar enters along with drums and some synth effects, making a psychedelic and very fast tripping passage, which will slow down after 4 minutes when the song takes another road, a calmed one where only a soft guitar sound appears. Some minutes later there is a kind of spacey mood made by both guitars and synth, but it last only for some seconds, then It slows down again and create a different ambience. Then it changes again and uses some percussion instruments that give it something like a latin American touch to the music, but again using that guitar which evokes some psychedelic 60's American bands.

In 35 minutes, you will find several changes, so the composition does not have a single structure; you actually don't know what's next because they surprise you with different moments, though the psychedelic touch is what predominates here. Sometimes you will hear calm moments, sometimes faster ones, then middle- tempo ones, and even some moments of silence, every one of them lead to the following one, so it is really a musical trip, let me recall that the guitar is actually very important here, Jorge Beltrán is a great musician and uses his skills here, with this strange, odd but at the same times original composition.

The second song, called "Usa las Tijeras" which is shorter but anyway a relatively long 8- minute song. Let me warn you here, this is a repetitive song which needs to be listened with an appropriate mood, so you can appreciate it and enter to its addictive sound, otherwise you will change the album. A slow tempo song, with that repetitive guitar sound, constant and simple drumming, and some synth as a background. The song continues with the same structure all the time, it only varies in the synth effects and.

This is a nice album, not accessible for anyone, and as I mentioned above, difficult to digest, but anyway showing the talent existent in this side of the globe.

My final grade is 3 stars. Enjoy it!

HUMUS is Jorge Beltran above all. He seems to be born with a guitar in his arms but is also able to handle some other instruments in the meanwhile. Collaborating with former school friend Victor Basurto (bass) on most of the productions they are offering two songs here where the opener is nearly 36 minutes long. Because integrating five drummers in total for the recordings it looks like they are summing up several parts from different sessions.

Consequently Fatscope sounds structured - not like aimless jamming. The track shows Beltran's complete bandwith on mastering his main instrument. Based on the psychedelic intent you will also find metal like riffing impressions, bluesy parts, (free) jazz moments and ambient soundscapes generated by keyboards/synthesizer. HUMUS offers an epic song which is really successful because diversified, provided with different moods, styles and technics. Nice melancholic floating sections are alternating with heavy crashing parts - intended as a roller coaster of emotions I assume.

When I listen to music I normally can associate it with other bands respectively songs after a while. But this time I fail - the term 'unique' suits here for sure. Usa las tijeras is sounding more like a real jam based on a (simple) loop. Repetitive hypnotic with slight variations and floydy organ in the background. Guitar and bass are acting on their own - but only superficially. This is also interesting for krautrock fans I would say.

Produced for a vinyl release and therefore only made of 44 minutes this album is not for everyone's taste because far away from any mainstream. An ambitious work, recommended to fans of avant-garde prog compositions - 3.5 stars.