Artist: ATU
Title: Transcultural
Label: Plan Z Media (www.planZnow.com)
It takes a lot of nerve to start out with such an ambitiously experimental 'I'm Afraid (of almost anything that kills)' when just the next song, 'Ellos Quisieran Ser Tu Madre', is much more in the popular form. Imagine a band scene in a club from a 70s Latin movie, and you'll have an ear open to the possibilities given by this 2nd track. The guitar (or synth?) spreads itself like wire mesh all around the perimeters, while the Spanish words spit out like a Japanese horror soundtrack. Of course the last 20 seconds of the song resort back to the weirdness that Afraid begins.
Likening it to a more forthright David Bowie, ATU's 50+ minutes and 14 tracks are trying to discover new lands from the marshes that come between already known territories. ATU (Andres Tapia-Urzua) does nearly everything here, helped on a few tracks by the odd bass, voice, electric guitar, but it's all ATU otherwise, which is why it has that singular quality of being able to be nearly all things to all people. Not all tracks are experimental; not all songs are Latin rock. Defies labeling really.
One of the best tracks is the longest, the 10 minute 'Strange Money Blisters' which is not-busy techno, lifting that Lennon line from the Let It Be album, 'I've got blistas on my fingas!' Amazingly, it's a fast 10 minutes, especially after the 'I feel strange line' comes in. Could that be from Wizard of Oz? Sounds so familiar. You'll have to watch the clock to slow it down.
After the weird short film 'I'm Eating My Lover' comes another chance at Latin rock, with notable guitar work, scratchy and bold.
ATU is one of the few artists I've heard who isn't afraid to show both Jekyl and Hyde. He'll alienate you at the start, and then ram some mock hard rock down your throat, maybe finishing up with a little pop in the matrix. Where to put this guy in the cd store, now there's a category problem.
top
