PILOTOCOPILOTO

— First review of this album —

This Peruvian duo has really nailed: putting themselves on the edge of rock as an experiment, guitarist Juan Pablo Aragón and drummer Carlos Freyre, that is, Pilotocopiloto, offer a very interesting debut album where the restricted instrumentation expands on a strong mixture of free-form psychedelia, Neu!-centered krautrock, noise-rock, contemporary Crimsonian prog and post-rock. Energetic and vivacious, yet controlled enough as to never become crude or aggressive, the sound of Pilotocopiloto brings a sense of abundant freshness to the area of instrumental rock that has been developing recently in Lima's underground scene. The absence of bass playing (or a second guitar or keyboards or something else) has been an artistic motivation for the duo to explore original cadences and moods, alternating moments of minimalistic textures and full-fledged vibrations. 'Aerolito' kicks off the album on a dreamy note, on the basis of a polished handling of the simplistic main motif. 'Inducción' preserves this lysergic environment, but it takes it to a more extroverted level, ultimately sounding to some sort of jazz-rock-inflicted Neu! So, now that we meet the band working on an enhanced dynamics, 'Infante' capitalizes on the current energy by encapsulating a genuine rocking frenzy that is somewhat related to the noise-rock pattern with some shades of post-rock. Lasting almost 6 minutes, 'Ectoplasma' delivers the ethereal side of standard psychedelic rock: the emergence of occasional heavy passages enables the intervention of tension and contrasts at some crucial moments. Unlike this particular piece, 'Troglodita' does provide ample room for the construction of heavy cadences and explicit colorfulness: the guitar's dominantly rhythmic role remains fresh throughout its riffing and calculated chord progressions; meanwhile, Freyre delievers some of his most fabulous playing in the album. 'Sonámbulo' and 'Pinball' successively occupy the album's next 8 minutes: the former is subtle and mysterious, while the latter is muscular and "robotic" in a kraut-ish sort of way? very kraut, indeed! This couple of tracks might as well serve as the perfect sample of Pilotocopiloto's musical vision. 'Móvil' kind of recapitulates the dominant ambiences of both the opener and 'Ectoplasma', which conveniently brings a special closure for the band's mission. But again, 'Móvil' is not the actual closer but the untitled track no. 9, which is a brief epilogue of sparse guitar chords recycled through special effects: spacey and minimal, it is the perfect post data for such an amazing album. The rock context is not as developed in Peru as in other Latin American countries, but there is always room for the creation of inventive music in its realms. Pilotocopiloto is living proof of that.