Pablo A. Gimenez - The Work In Progress -1988- (Tape, STI: Sindicato de Trabajos Imaginarios), Spain

I'm very happy and enthusiastic that I can announce the first guest contribution to Archaic Inventions by a fellow traveller in music and music selector Juan Vacas, who is also one of the representatives of the Madrid based music collective Real No Real. Some rarities from the Spanish tape culture (and perhaps beyond) will be occasionally presented by him to the blog. Starting with this incredible one! -

Pablo A. Giménez is still one of the great unknown Spanish composers of the 1980’s. He was predominantly based in Zaragoza, with an occasional stay in Paris. During the early 70’s he was involved in a group dedicated to the study of electronic music (Estudio de Música Electrónica) along with Luis Fatás, M. Medalón and Luis Colomer. While in Paris, where he studied philosophy and sociology, he refrained from making music for a few years. Short time after his return, his reconciliation with music began after he was offered to compose for amateur film works. Far from having studied at a conservatory, Pablo A. Giménez belonged to the band Casablanca during the late 70’s. Casablanca was described to be something like the band of a hippie commune that established itself for several years in Logroño. The band was composed by more than seven members and generally leaned closer to progressive rock but with numerous influences which ranged from salsa to jazz, being heavily influenced by bands like Gong, Frank Zappa or Hawkwind. 

Casablanca live in the 70's, Gimenez on sax

Several years after the dissolution of the band, Pablo A. Giménez started working with magnetic tapes, he became interested in the use of computers and eventually worked with simple low budget machines (not that he seeked for this cheapness in any way, but for a lack of better mediums) mixed with professional saxophones. Among his influences, it is easy to highlight great figures of the contemporary music world like Edgar Varèse or musique concrete pioneers Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry.

His works have been, for the most part, published by the Zaragoza based label STI (Sindicato de Trabajos Imaginarios, translated: Syndicate of Imaginary Works) that during the 80's mainly focused on avant-garde and homemade music, ranging from noise, to sound poetry or industrial music as well as being involved in mail art projects and run by Javier Cinca. His three first albums vary from more electroacoustic compositions, to more pop and dreamy sounds as well as darker sides mixed with spoken word.

The Work In Progress is his first album published on cassette by STI where he reveals bright saxophone melodies intermingled with subtle drum machines and electronic sequences on the first side, and more abstract compositions during the second half. - Juan Vacas

Pablo A. Gimenez

"Perseguidos por las sombras
caminamos apresuradamente
hacia el olvido..."

Get it HERE