Friday 20 February 2015

Naif - Atlas -1982- (LP, Filobus), Spain


Naif was a project created in the early eighties by three important musicians from the Spanish  underground music scene. Their only album Atlas is regarded as one of the holy grail records coming from the experimental music scene of Spain and Cataluña. The amount of copies that were put out is unspecified.

The members of the band were: Albert Giménez, founder of Spanish cosmic electronic band Neuronium and later creator of many free-improvised avant-garde flamenco albums in the eighties. Enric Cervera, known for his role in Spanish contemporary jazz and other improvisational releases and Victor Nubla, one of the founding members of one of Spain's most brilliant experimental acts Macromassa who also participated in numerous other experimental projects of the Spanish home-taping and DIY culture, like El Secreto Metro. Also he played with French-Catalan artist Pascal Comelade, French Mecano-musician Pierre Bastien and others. You can find all his work for free on his personal bandcamp over here.

The music moves in between Spanish flamenco guitar, Rock in Opposition like sounds, progressive rock, free improvisation and electronic manipulations. At times it reminds me of another Catalan underground outfit called Súck Electronic, at other moments it sounds like jazzy soundtracks with freakish improvisation. Every side of this double album has got a different profile which is indicated on the labels. The last side is an 18 minutes long track.

Highly recommended!

Get it HERE


Message:

Archaic Inventions exists for two years now. I'm proud I've been able to extend the lifespan for such a long time. Thank you all for visiting the blog and I hope the uncovering of these recordings finds a nice place in your daily life. Thank you all for the support and spreading this great music globally. Let's continue this journey for another year to come.

Bence - Archaic Inventions

Friday 6 February 2015

Batu Kármen - Max Mara & Lili Luna -1994- (Tape, Bahia), Hungary


Batu Kármen is the moniker and band from the early nineties of Hungarian painter, writer, musician and director feLugossy László. He is a notable underground figure in Hungary and was the leadsinger of one of Hungary's best avant-garde groups called A.E. Bizottság (Albert Einstein Committee). They made two albums and toured Europe in the eighties. Make sure you find those recordings somewhere. Here you can see them in an old clip of the underground-movie Jégkrémbalett (Ice Cream Ballet) from 1984 in which they took part and did the soundtrack.

feLugossy is known for being part of a vibrant artist scene of Budapest and the nearby artist-town of Szentendre of the eighties. This recording of Batu Kármen is a nice insight into Hungary in the early nineties when many things became possible to do in the alternative scene due to the change of the political system. New bars and underground places were opened and festivals were being created which helped artists and musicians develop themselves in the new times.

The lyrics are quite absurd while keeping a very intelligent essence. The music is quite a bit Captain Beefheart-like in a post-punk context with maybe some strange eastern european "indie"-influences. Actually a great album. Some songs were uploaded to youtube before, but here's the whole thing.

Recommended!

Get it HERE