DANZA URBANA

Salvador Govea is the mastermind behind this Mexican band.Govea had played with prog bands Similares y Conexos and Metaconciencia during mid- to late-90's and also had a short career as a member of veterans Iconoclasta at the dawn of the millenium.After leaving Iconoclasta he studied composition and in 2007 he formed this project with Iconoclasta/Muros De Agua drummer Victor Baldovinos and bassist Ernesto Mendoza.Mendoza left after the first gig to be replaced by Luis Arturo Guerrero and this new trio recorded and released indepedently Govea's debut ''Danza urbana'' in 2009.

Quite reasonably the compositions are led by Salvador Govea's keyboard ideas, drawing influences from Classical Music, Jazz and Rock.So the listener will be captured in the storm of these influences, which have a strong E.L.P. vibe and often they remind of Brazilian band DIAPASAO.The compositions of Govea are interesting and very versatile, far from boring keyboard/bass/drums trios.Plenty of piano passages, either having a jazzy approach or Classical inspiration, bearing down the rhythm section of Baldovinos and Guerrero, strong symphonic tracks with lots of sudden breaks, intricate melodies and bombastic moments, even some hypnotic Avant Garde soundscapes can be found in this release.Salvador Govea's performance is more than satisfying, this is a man with talent, delivering strong piano improvisations, grandiose organ solos and atmospheric synthesizer lines.A couple of tracks though do not work very well among the better ones, ''Claroscuro'' is too long and monotonous with atmospheric synths which fail to impress and both ''Falsa dicotomía'' and ''Intersecciones'' are heavily depended on Govea's piano with little else going on.

Interesting debut with a couple of flaws, but the majority of this album is nicely inspired keyboard-based Progressive Rock with a diverse sound and well-accepted virtuosic solos.Recommended.