(Muso's Guide, December 22, 2008)
Single review
As die-hard music fans are vaguely obsessed with genre, it is really worth pointing out here that there is an ever-decreasing number of classification options open to the average recording artist.
Think about it - there are so many genres! How can we possibly keep on adding to them? We’re going to have to start filing one album at a time under ‘Saturnial pirate folk’ or ‘Antipodean melodious crunk’.
Anyway, in the meantime, if there’s a niche in modern music, which can truly be termed ‘untapped’, surely it’s Spanish ambient? Fernando García Tamajón, also known as Malaventura, is a musician and filmmaker from Málaga who has heard the sound of the Red Planet and committed it, rather helpfully, to MP3.
First off, ‘Cydonia’ would not sound out of place on the Bladerunner soundtrack. All electronic beeps and blips, it is Tamajón’s approximation of a visit to Mars, and man, is it spooky. The repetitive track which underpins ‘Cydonia’ is mesmerising, and Tamajón’s vision is curiously spooky.After that, the 11-minute odyssey that is ‘Uchronia’. Referring to a hypothetical time period of our world (thanks, Wikipedia), the track is, strangely, timeless. If that’s a bit much, ‘Laestrygon’ is the aural equivalent of
Tomorrow’s World, like a horror movie soundtrack as re-interpreted by Look Around You’s Synthesiser Patel.If you’re finding that your musical world is lacking in unusual electronic peeps and dropped beats a la Casio, check out Malaventura. In truth,
Tamajón’s Martian imagining is bravely and enthusiastically attempted, but the execution is less dazzling. File under uneasy listening.
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