ETER-K

Review originally written for www.therocktologist.com

Fortunately, here in Mexico we have a new label called Azafran Media, that is editing and distributing albums from very talented musicians from the whole world, some of them are Anekdoten's Nicklas Barker or Senogul, and there is a cool Peruvian band named Eter-K whose music was unknown to me until last year when I got their latest CD. Eter-K are a band who have been together for several years, actually, their roots come from the late 80s, however, they had a long hiatus and then returned. So in 2011 a new album saw the light, entitled "Watching the Universe", this might be their best work so far (based on reviews, because I have not listened to their previous works), so if you have the chance, give it a spin.

What will you find here? Five compositions and a total time of 55 minutes, only the first one is below the 10-minute mark, the other are long tracks. The music is progressive rock in the space and psychedelic vein. Since the first song "Nebula Rasa" we can appreciate that a band like Ozric Tentacles had to be an influence, the sound is similar without a doubt, but not a copycat; also, Eter-K are a three-band member, so the atmospheres, textures and nuances they create are an example of their quality as composers.

With "Flying with Mihalis" the long trips begin, with songs that have a repetitive structure, but an enormous quantity of variations, figures and elements. The song flows and it has some little changes in tempo, though its goal is keeping you hypnotized, perplexed by its spacey sound and believe me, they do a good job. "Watching the Universe" is the longest track here with almost 15 minutes of a journey. The special feature of this song is the introduction of a flute, played by a guest musician; that flute adds a peculiar flavor, like mid-east meets the space, because it is greatly accompanied by percussion, guitar and bass as background, while the flute appears as the main instrument. Here I can listen to some Third Ear Band hints at least in the first four minutes. Because later it changes, it becomes rockier with drums and a new structure is being built. Great song, I don't really know if this is a jam, an improvised track or was actually written, anyway, the result is awesome.

"Like a Fish in Water" is another very cool track that belong to the space realm, in the same vein of Ozric Tentacles, Oresund Space Collective or Quantum Fantay. This song has a great moment after five minutes, when the drummer starts a new rhythm, faster than the previous one, implementing more power and dynamism. The guitar is great, always doing different figures, like an endless riff, while the bass plays numerous lines-notes-scales that support the building. The last song of the album is "Collapse in the Sylvian Aqueduct", whose first two minutes are an explosion of psych-spacey-kraut, which all of a sudden is stopped for a second, in order to open the gates to a brief solo bass lines that leads to a new explosion. Then the jam continues, but the trip has to finish somehow.

Very good album by this instrumental Peruvian trio, worth buying! If you like space prog, then this is for you, not a perfect album, but a very solid one. My final grade, 4 stars.

Enjoy it!

Peruvian band ETER-K was initially formed back in the late 80's, releasing a sole album back then prior to going into hiatus in the early 90's. They returned towards the end of the decade, and released two more full length albums, in 2000 and 2002 respectively, and then entered another spell of inactivity. 2009 saw the band reunite again, and their fourth album "Watching the Universe" was released two years later.

Steady drums and nifty wandering bass lines are the core foundations for the band's improvisations, with a guitarist that appears to thrive in exploring different manners in which his instrument can produce sounds that bring forth reflections of an inner or outer space. Varied in expression, sparse in arrangements and fairly effective in performance, this is a CD that should appeal to quite a few space cadets, with fans of acts like My Brother The Wind a likely key audience.

— First review of this album —

"III" is, as the Latin number straightforwardly indicates, Eter-K's third effort, and ultimately, the album that officially confirmed its status as one of the most significant psychedelic rock bands in Lima's underground scene. The whole new repertoire is not too long in itself, slightly over the average duration of an EP (or equal to an old 70s vinyl, as you wish), but there is interesting bonus material in the shape of three videos: a video-clip for 'Volando Con Mihalis' and two live videos, one of them corresponding to a non-album track. So, what do we find here? Powerful art-rock shaped in a solid psychedelic progressive framework in which the band alternates passages focused on nuances with moments of electrifying glory, a mixture of rawness and finesse. In short, the very definition of what Eter-K is all about in its own particular environment. Lima's underground scene is dominated by post- punk, hardcore and Goth rock bands all over the place, growing under the radar of the mainstream: Eter-K is an island in the underground sea, an island of experimental progressive rock. 'Asesino De Brújulas' kicks off the album with a powerful 5/4 intro that shouts out its 80s-era Crimson influence, with the main body soon arriving and stating an effective dynamics where the subsequent tempo shifts come to their solid fruition. Regarding its mixture of power and artsy sophistication, it is hardly any wonder that a piece like this became a live favorite among Eter-K fans, but it is fair to say that after this opener's end there is still lots of room for great psychedelic prog rock in this album. 'Oscura Tensión' shows the band convincingly entering the heavy prog territory: Santos' solos stand somewhere between Fripp and Iommi as the rhythm duo stages a muscular foundation full of precision. Perhaps this track should have been a bit longer? mmm? Track 3 is entitled 'Días Verdes', and it is based on a further pursuit of the heavy prog scheme, to the point that it leans closer to the hardcore standard in many passages. The blues-rock coda is simply captivating, with its obvious Black Sabbath drive. 'Volando Con Mihalis' is the most defining Eter-K classic, an undeniable live staple in their concerts. With agile vibrations and sinister atmospheres equally manifested throughout its main body's expansions, the whole track delivers a robust mixture of keyboard-less Ozric Tentacles and Hawkwind-influenced jamming with Hillage-inspired nuances and shades of Sonic Youth properly added to the framework. Santos' guitar goes on flying in a psychedelic crescendo as the central jam wanders steadily until the fade-out. This studio rendition is a tad slower than the habitual live renditions: however, its space-rock idiosyncrasy is genuinely stated. The musical material's closure is incarnated in 'Luciérnagas Egocéntricas En La Oscuridad', another live staple. Bearing a similar mood to that of the previous track, its compositional structure is more related to the sophisticated drive we found earlier in the opener 'Asesino De Brújulas'. In this way, 'Luciérnagas' happens to work as a proper résumé of the band's artistic ideology. Among the visual bonus tracks, the new one is 'El Boulevarde De Toby y Balín', which is essentially a revision of good old hard rock (Zeppelin, Sabbath) augmented with psychedelic rock Eter-K style. As usual, Santos shines enormously whenever he plays his solos. Eter-K is some sort of "uncrowned institution" in the Peruvian underground rock scene: hopefully, a broader dissemination of their music will make them earn further appreciation from prog rock and art-rock lovers all over the world. As for "III", it is an excellent exhibition of psychedelic prog from Peru.