Mesoamerican-Zeuhl anyone? This seems to be what this unusual but invigorating band is serving up on Quetzalcoatl, their second album, which finds a perfect spiritual home on the highly eclectic Soleil Zeuhl label.
Although apparently American, the mixed ethnicity of the ancestors of the band, with two of Japanese descent, and the other three of Central American/Spanish heritage has resulted in a highly enjoyable mix of musical styles that goes well beyond Americana, all put through the Zeuhl filter. Big on the list of influences, perhaps obviously, is Magma, along with the lesser-known (outside of RIO/avant circles) Japanese Zeuhl band Koenjihyakkei, whose leader Yoshida Tatsuya is also one half of Japanese RIO duo Ruins. When you marry that to the band's original rock leanings, what comes out the other end is far removed from the ELP/Crimsoid flavoured retro-prog the band played at their beginning, back in 2005.
That first line up from 2005 went through a fair few changes, and after recording their first album in 2007, the surviving duo of Sergio Sanchez-Ravelo (drums, vocals) and Francisco Casanova (keyboards) moved from their El Paso, Texas home to L.A., where they eventually hooked up with Andrea Itzpapalotl (violin, vocals), who had already briefly been in an earlier line up of the band; and the two Japanese members, Patrick Shiroishi (saxophones, glockenspiel, vocals) and Ryan Kamiyamazaki (bass, vocals). Somewhere along the way, a road to Damascus conversion for the Hispanic contingent to the cosmic whorl of zeuhl took place, and the sound you hear on this album (all of it on Bandcamp streaming - see link above) was born.
Using a thematic borrowed from Magma, their undoubted biggest influence, they take us on a trip through a Mesoamerican legend concerning the Feathered Snake God of the album title and his disciples, all explained in the liner notes.
An album of four parts, split into 17 tracks, Quetzalcoatl is a mix of jazz-rock influences and zeuhl aspirations, combined with Japanese and Latin-American flavours resulting in a fine concoction that is definitely more than the sum of its constituents. The early frenzied pace of Part I where fast unison vocals in syncopation with the charging music is the dominant theme is broken by Divindondiwua, which features the dulcet tones of Andrea over a distinctly Japanese flavoured ambience. Very nice indeed. Then we get to the three consecutive longer songs that constitute the last section of Part I, and Parts II and III, and these are where the band really begin to shine. Starting with Khozmikh Kavhiledrios, which melds the more Latin end of Return To Forever with the zeuhl themes, progressing through Zhuntra, which initially is a brief calm interlude before a lurking militaristic beat slowly emerges, some nice sax work trading off with the violin as the pace increases. The arrangement is tight as tight can be, but within it all the musicians are capering about in a joyously rumbustious fashion.
Then we arrive at the epic-length Tezcatlipoca, a tale of an Aztec deity whose brief includes the night sky, the night winds, hurricanes, the north, the earth, obsidian, enmity, discord, rulership, divination, temptation, jaguars, sorcery, beauty, war and strife. A very busy god indeed, reflected in the restless nature of the piece. It starts off in what now seems "traditional" zeuhl territory, and who would have thought such an individualistic genre would ever develop traditions? About 4 minutes in Corima take a left turn onto their own particular branch road and things stretch out nicely, some free-jazz saxophone squawking calming to a sort of jazz-rock symphony led by Philip Glass on amphetamines.
A slower bass pounding mid-section features overdriven keyboards recalling Mike Ratledge, occasionally joined by the sax and violin in syncopated aggression, which builds over a sax theme until coming to a suitably abrupt end. Sax and violence...ouch! Amazingly, being a bit of a guitar nut, I've not missed the absence on this album of my favoured instrument in the slightest; in fact it's only just occurred to me that there is no guitar on this record, which shows how much is going on to keep the listener's attention.
The final Part IV gets increasingly interesting, starting with the title track, another fast syncopated piece full of Latin flavour that melds seamlessly into the following three tracks with not a single let up in the furious pace until we get to the beautiful Teiknottalistli. Andrea's mournful voice and violin over a simple, and for once, slow cyclical piano motif gives everyone, band and listeners alike, time to rest and reflect on what has gone before. This must be something else live! The pace picks up again on the final two tracks, introduced by some nice jazzy electric piano overlaid by Andrea's multi-tracked violin that for some reason briefly puts me in mind of Caravan's Memory Lain, Hugh.
Taking another leaf from Magma, this story of Quetzalcoatl is a saga that according to the liner notes is "To be continued" and I look forward to more with anticipation.
Conclusion: 8 out of 10
ROGER TRENWITH
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Originally Posted by NogbadTheBad
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