CABEZAS DE CERA

Only when the new millennium had already arrived, could the amazing Mexican ensemble Cabezas de Cera release their eponymous debut album after a few years being around. This was the album that helped them to establish themselves as one of the most interesting avant-prog current champions inside and outside of Latin America. The guys in CDC show that they are capable of creating astonishing sonic experiments in a trio format (plus very occasional guests): A guy on guitars and stick, another one on sax-clarinet-flute and another one on acoustic and electronic percussion, all three committed to concretize a modern approach on a multicolored rock music that includes non-conventional frames (inspired by KC and the RIO movement), electronic sources, jazzy leanings, ethnic-based textures. 'Veintiuno' kicks off the album from the jazzy side of things, incorporating exotic ambiences on sax and cosmic ambiences on synthesizer in the background. Then comes 'Gocxilla' one of the album's apexes. This one is really aggressive, while keeping a constrained rhythmic structure: it sounds as some sort of sinister mixture between 73-75 KC and 80s Present, with an explosive climax at the closing section. As a deep contrast, next comes 'Encantador de Serpientes', an ethereal acoustic-based piece in which the diverse flavors from the Middle East and Latin America mingle in one cohesive joyful amalgam. Special attention to the well-crafted acoustic guitar soloing and the floating, mesmerizing lines on flute and sax, alternately. 'Un Pueblo Escondido' also bears an unhidden folkloric flair to it, although this time the electronic thing builds the theme's basis - the stick and electronic drums lay the foundations for the display of sax and violin solos (great performance by guest violinist Jorge Gaitán). 'Caravana' alternates eerie Arabic motifs (starting and ending sections) and RIO rocking extravaganzas (middle section). 'Pretexto a un Texto Fragmentado' is more focused on contemporary electronica with a Crimsonian vibe: the recited lyrics set an anti-bourgeoisie satire, half- pessimistic, half-dadaistic. 'Gitana' brings a solid return to the ethnic-jazz stuff, with many touches of Flamenco and Arabic folk. And once again, the Crimsonian thing remerges in 'Frontiera', which sounds like some sort of Gordian Knot lost track with Fripp and Belew as guests: this is perhaps the most obviously "ordained" track in the album, which doesn't stop the stamina of rock be highlighted beneath the delicate architecture of the piece. The closure is a light exercise on sophisticated jazz-pop played on acoustic guitar, drum kit and sax: the recitation is a parody of radio DJ salutation and farewell to an anonymous audience. Beneath the whole display of musical intelligence that Cabezas de Cera put into their music, there's always room for humor and sarcasm as a vehicle of critical social statements. The band's rebellious cosmovision is nothing but an extension of their lucid experimentalism in the realms of music and sound. "Cabezas de Cera" is both a feast and a must for all avant-rock and avant-prog lovers.