a r t o . a r t i a n

musika txikien katalogoa / catálogo de musicas mínimas

1. .

   BRUTUS ZINE

   Proyecto musical del inquieto (a la par que inquietante) “Mattín”, junto con el batería Íñigo Eguillor, que al igual que su otro proyecto musical, Billy Bao, cristalizaba, a finales del año pasado, en todo un primer “larga duración” que arranca en este caso con 3 piezas (”Tragando”, “Haz” y “Hay Que Matar”) que no pasan del minuto de duración, siguiendo con la sinuosa “Porvenir Desierto” (mi favorita, junto con la siguiente, “Craso Error”, y el “insulto final” que da título a este disco) y una retahila de temas de dispar duración (1 o 2 minutos, o ¡más de un cuarto de hora!) y elaboración (”Enroskado” o “Totalmente Inepto”…). Un viaje alucinante (y alucinado) no apto para desconocedores del universo particular de este artista ni, por supuesto, para todos los oídos. Faltaría más…
2. .

   BAGATELLEN  by Brian Olewnick

   I noticed there have been several films (most of them apparently pretty bad) titled “La Grieta”, generally translated to English as “The Rift”, name that would seem to be reasonably appropriate for this punkish-sounding group. However, the direct translation is “grin” which, given the cover image and its placement thereon, is more likely. “Hermana Hostia”, however—Sister Wafer? Perhaps I’m missing something—communion-related, maybe? In any case, such mysteries are probably best left unsolved, including exactly who’s in this band. Mattin, presumably, but I’m not at all certain who else or what is the relationship, if any, to Josetxo Grieta wherein personnel are given (Josetxo Anitua, vocals; Inigo Eguillor, percussion and Mattin).
   The first three tracks from La Grieta are each about a minute long, ultra-grungy, resolutely lo-fi and quite crunchy, with a surprisingly strong and melodic bass and guitar lines carrying the weight of the muttering, snarled vocals. Kind of like DNA advanced a quarter century. Just as you’ve settled in for more of the same, “Porvenir Desierto” (Future Desert?) appears, all jazzy brushstrokes and enchantingly plucked and strummed bass and icicle guitar, languidly wallowing in place for some eight minutes accompanied by some babbling that comes across as a sarcastic take on beat singing and wears out its welcome after about 15 seconds, though when it coalesces into a quasi-melody at the end of the track it’s momentarily cool. “Craso Error” is an insinuating number that sounds like Nirvana on a good day. The next five cuts are shortish and in more or less the same zone as the first trio—catchy, sometimes dub-by bass, erratically pounding drums, lotsa fuzz and generally good ‘n’ chewy. The title track is something else again, some 16 minutes of electronics, feedback, semi-regularly tapped cymbal that begins fairly quietly, gradually building in volume and harshness until it’s become a smoking, hellish industrial landscape, all sprung guitar and metallic pounding; nicely done.
3. .

   VITAL WEEKLY by Frans de Waard

   Whatever La Grieta is I don’t know. The work is recorded using a GNU/Linux computer but it’s not computer music. It’s rather punk related, lo-fi affair, with songs in the basque language. Drums, guitars, vocals. Only the title track is a strange affair of speaker hum, feedback and ghosts moving about. It’s the odd ball in this collection, but for the more experimental minds, like me, also the best track.
4. .

   AUDIOLAB blog Xabier Erkizia

   Aunque hace ya unas cuantas semanas desde que se publicó este trabajo, toca ahora comentarlo. El sello W.M.O/R nos sorprende (otra vez) con otro singular disco, esta vez de la mano del grupo LA GRIETA. Como ya nos tiene acostumbrados el sello de Mattin, este primer disco del dúo bilbaino (guitarra, bateria) titulado HERMANA HOSTIA no es un trabajo fácil. Haciendo honor al título del mismo, los 11 cortes que forman este disco atraviesan algunos dificiles caminos pseudo-rockeros, que van desde el rock’n’roll repetitivo a la psicodelia, pasando por algo parecido al blues pasado de rosca y algunos toques de electrónica firma de la casa. Personalmente tengo que reconocer que las aportaciones hechas hasta la fecha por La Grieta para el netlabel (hermano de w.m.o/r) Desetxea y que se incluyen tambien en el disco, me han llegado algo más. Quizás por su abstracción, ya que en el disco predomina el formato canción, o quizas porque escuchados individualmente son otras las sensaciones que he percibido. Aún así, no puedo evitar recomendar este disco, especialmente a seguidores de Billy Bao (discografía descargable, junto a TODA la discografía de Mattin, en su web), si es que existe alguno.
5. .

   TOUCHING EXTREMES

   So you wanna be a rock’n'roll star? First of all you should learn some sincerity, use your best irony and deliver yourself from any useless post-production gimmick. After this, you’re only halfway through the brutal in-your-face honesty of “Hermana hostia”, a project by Mattin and Josetxo Anitua that sounds punkier than punk itself, a raw collection of totally lo-fi songs, most of which sound like intelligent variations on Velvet Underground’s “Sister Ray”; the only instrumental (the 15-minute title track) is a no-nonsense calvary of aesthetical conventions moved by disjointed drumming and feedback-driven hypnosis which will have your nerves reeling at the end. Apropos of irony, lyrics like “Tu cerebro se desnuda en busca de viagra” and titles such as “Vivo en un frigorifico” are enough to love this release; but my overall favourite remains “Porvenir desierto”, a post-atomic radiation slow swing with demented modified vocals going from a drunkard’s rant to alien chipmunks which makes me laugh heartily every time I play it. Mattin confirms once and for all his unpredictable attitude, an example of absolute “I-do-what-I-want” purity that should be followed.
6. .

   PARIS TRANSATLANTIC by Dan Warburton

   I’ve been listening to /Hermana Hostia/, a joint venture by the duo of Mattin and Josetxo Anitua, in different conditions and settings, each time finding a way to better appreciate the sneering rants and dyslexic distortions of this bunch of “songs”, recorded by the protagonists on a computer using free GNU/Linux software but sounding to all intents and purposes like the cheapest cassette left in a car in a Las Vegas parking lot at 1:00pm in mid-August. On the train to Rome, gazing out at the sad landscapes of the urban peripheries I travel across every morning, La Grieta’s mumbling vocal impasse represents a sort of desperate, anti-social commentary by zombie-like presences that not even a brutal, pluri-overdriven guitar electroshock can revive. And it’s a shame that many people won’t be able decipher the lyrics: despite my own limited knowledge of Spanish/Basque idioms, there are some nice lines in there, my favourite one being “40 horas a la semana durante toda una vida pueden ser muy destructivas” (”40 hours a week a lifetime can be very destructive” – indeed it can, my friends, and it doesn’t even take a lifetime to realise it). Impregnated with bitter Velvet Underground-ness, abraded by gnarled swing (“Porvenir Desierto” remains fabulously repugnant) and ending with macabre exhalations of feedback poison, /Hermana Hostia/ (”Sister Host”, for those who really need to know) is the goodbye letter of a clown who’s just lost his job and is about to self-destruct by drinking himself to death.

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