PIECES FROM A BROKEN STAR

CIELO DRIVE is the Krautrock meets post-industrial project of Óscar Sanfiz of Lugo, Spain and the project name refers to the street of the house address where actress and model Sharon Tate was brutally murdered in 1969 by members of the Charles Manson cult. PIECES FROM A BROKEN STAR is Sanfiz's debut album and likewise the title refers to the shocking incident that shocked the entire United States in 1969 when this took place. CIELO DRIVE has crafted a mesmerizing and terrifying series of soundscapes to evoke the horror of its namesake in this collection of ten tracks that are each named "Piece" such as "First Piece," "Second Piece" etc up to "Ninth Piece" with the grand finale the nearly 12-minute closer titled "STAR."

Óscar Sanfiz is the star of the show here and on this release plays guitars, bass, kalimba and samples as well as engineering sound manipulations and implementing other noise altering devices. He also includes vocals but these tracks are instrumental and any human vocalizations are purely used for sound effects after being processed to render them unrecognizable. Sanfiz is joined by Dirk Ittenbach on keyboards, swarmatron (wtf is that?) as well as adding his own samples. Drums, both normal and electronic are performed by Alberto Guillén. The album is a harsh one as the recording process makes use of saturated frequencies, glitches, extreme distortions and dark industrial sounds.

The soundscapes proceed somewhat like a post-rock album with a detached Krautrock style of spaciness as well as featuring a droning backdrop and dark ambient atmospheres. The album progresses very slow and methodically with incremental changes and musical elements buried beneath the layers of industrial monotony. As far as the Kraut influences go, the early Kraftwerk albums before the robot synth-pop days are what most strikingly comes to mind. The post-industrial may remind of not only Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV but the later works from SPK have been referenced and that would not be inaccurate however other modern acts like Natural Snow Buildings and Xiu Xiu also sound like their in the same camp on some of their albums.

PIECES FROM A BROKEN STAR was created with a cut-up technique that basically stitches together disparate sounds and places them into a free flowing stream of continuity which keeps the album very well paced with monotonous percussive beats and an incessant bleakness that take you deep into the world of melancholy and dejection. The album is extremely well produced and engineered and often sounds like a swarm of hornets from hell invading. Other than the closing sprawler, the tracks are fairly uniform in length therefore the album feels extremely balanced with each track ceding into the next in a logical if sadistic fashion as if delving into the psyche of the cult members' motives and how they derived satisfaction from snuffing out others.

Overall this is a highly satisfying soundtrack of doom that offers both slow plodding contemplative dread as well as more upbeat electro-industrial moments in the vein of classic Skinny Puppy although no vocals are really detectable as such on this wild ride. The soundscapes also feature grating guitar sustain and feedback which offers a nice touch to the already nerve racking irritability of it all. Industrial and post-industrial enthusiasts will absolutely love this one. While the Kraut elements are clearly in play they are implanted for the plodding nature of the rhythmic drive as well as some of the quieter spaced out motifs that serve as a breather from the otherwise grating doom-fest that constitutes PIECES FROM A BROKEN STAR. While such albums can prove to be boring for their simplicity, CIELO DRIVE offers a nice mix of styles and a stellar diverse roster of tracks that sit well next to each other. A true modern industrial gem for sure.

Krautrock?! From España? You got me curious!

1. "First Piece" (2:07) a gentle birth-of-the-universe-like ambient intro. (4.375/5)

2. "Second Piece "(3:23) one continuously droning piece that digs deep and never lets go. A piece that MASERATI would be quite proud of! Awesome! (10/10)

3. "Third Piece" (4:21) the use of the piano buried deep within the Trip Hop electronica is pretty ingenious. This piece reminds me very much of the Massive Attack song, "Everywhen." (9/10)

4. "Fourth Piece" (5:31) very much something rooted in the world of the 1990s Trip Hop scene: like a MASSIVE ATTACK song that's been sent through an engineer's effects box as a whole, complete song, and added to, here and there. The synth sword-spark swipes and strikes along with the drum and bass additions in the second minute also feel old school despite their heavily-processed sounds. I'm glad that the song's composers have adhered to some kind of ABABCAB form so that we, the listeners, get a break from some of the Star Wars/2001/Alien creepy sounds. Otherwise, I consider this song very entertaining. (9/10)

5. "Fifth Piece" (2:08) this one seems to owe its rhythm track to Graham Sutton and Mark Simnett and their BARK PSYCHOSIS project. The field of swarming and travelling bees, however, is all their own. (4.5/5)

6. "Sixth Piece" (2:36) a highly-processed 1980s techno drum-and-bass beat is given astral creepiness by the droning guitar strumming and vocal "oo-aah-oos" floating around within the mix (somewhere in the background but still in the center of the brain). (8.875/10)

7. "Seventh Piece" (2:17) the floaty vocals carry over from the previous piece but the rest of the music turns more future Industrial tech--as if we're inside an engine room or huge power plant. Then an intense radio signal enters at the end, clearing the soundscape of its chaos (maybe ending lives in the process). (4.5/5)

8. "Eighth Piece" (2:57) for the first 1:20 this is pleasant and gentle--a welcomed interlude--but then all hell breaks loose over a disco bass drum line. A little too grating and irritating, despite the calming "center" provided by the gentle piano notes. (8.6667/10)

9. "Ninth Piece" (2:50) a droning hallway white light in which we have to check to see (hear) what's behind every door we pass. (8.75/10)

10. "STAR" (11:45) steady clouded cymbal hits backed with scratchy, droning synth as an even more grated ride cymbal rises slowly into the mix, to the foreground, with a severely-mangled Hohner organ-like bass line also slowly joining the party in the third minute. Electro-cymbal crashes pick up in the fourth minute as more active heavily-distorted electric guitar strummed chords also rise and join the mélange. The drums/drummer becomes more active around the 5:00 mark as his drums very gradually emerge from out of the din of distortion. A second electric guitar, also heavily distorted, arises out of a different channel, playing a different melody in short rotation. In the eighth minute a very deep, full, and heavy distorted bass begins to rise and join the field, playing a three-note melody that mirrors that of the most recent electric guitar. At the nine minute mark the instruments begin to leave, just as they came: one at a time, only much more quickly in their fade out/removal than the way they came in. Very much what I think of when I think "Krautrock": music for which the engineering is every bit as important as the instrumental performances (maybe more). A cool listening experience but I'm not sure I need to hear this song again. (22.5/25)

Total Time 40:00

The music certainly drones on: it's all instrumental--without lyrics or vocals--created by a three-man ensemble, but somehow it never gets boring, managing to always maintains its tension and engagement. It feels as if the authors intend the album as a one-listen, one "suite" listening experience; thank goodness the album tends to alternate heavy, cacophonous "pieces" with gentler, almost-ambient ones.

I get why this is welcome/included in the datatbase of a progressive rock music sharing site; I get that this is a direction that Krautrock could have, might have taken (may still be on!) Like many of the original musics and albums that became labeled as "Krautrock" there are often elements or sounds or technologies more developed by the Berlin School of Progressive Electronic Music. The same can be said for this album.

A-/4.5 stars; if you're into the history, current state, and future of Progressive Electronic Kosmische Dance Musik, this is an album you will not want to miss. If you're looking for cinematic space electronica, this may also be for you. If you're looking for musicianship over production and engineering, this may not be for you. I would, however, recommend that you check it out!