BANDA ELASTICA 2

BANDA ELASTICA are a challenging 7 piece band out of Mexico and this is their highly regarded second album released in 1986. I'd rate this as my fifth favourite from that year although maybe that's not saying a lot considering the year. Very much an Avant album with Chamber-like music at times and quite a few guests helping out as well. Many rate this as the best from this year for the compositions and performance but for my tastes a very solid 4 star album that is difficult to digest at times. Besides the usual rock instruments we get flute, sax, bass clarinet, synths, marimbas along with guest violin, viola, cello, oboe, congas and more.

"Cine Negro" is the 10 minute opener and it's quite faint and distant to start out with bass, some drum outbursts and other sounds that come and go. It finally kicks in some before 3 minutes to a fuller sound and this sounds really good as we get a rhythm and strange vocal expressions. A beat and flute too. A calm before 6 minutes as the drums and flute stop and horns and more start to come and go. Very sparse again, almost Chamber-like here. I like how it builds to the end with those intricate sounds.

"Como Esquizoides" opens with marimba and oboe before horns and drums kick in along with other sounds. Spanish sounding guitar follows. A change 2 minutes in as flute, drums, bass more take over. Marimbas too as it sort of starts and stops. "Recomenzando" opens with drums, horns and more creating a fuller sound here. Catchy as well as flute joins in. I like this one. This is the first of three great tracks in row.

"Infantos Terribles" opens with guitar and some depth. Sounds like rain sticks that come and go. Flute to the fore with lots of intricate sounds. The guitar and flute will trade off before the keyboards lead then back to the flute and guitar trade offs. Horns come and go. Lots of marimba here too. "Perverses Polmerfos" is mellow with picked guitar as flute, bass, drums and more join in. The guitar turns aggressive, a rare thing but it's brief. Marimba joins in then it settles back as contrasts continue. Dissonant horns 1 1/2 minutes in, bass clarinet too. It settles again then drums only before the bass joins in. Intricate sounds follow as it stays sparse. Love the electric piano starting around 5 minutes. So good, my favourite part. It ends after 6 1/2 minutes. Spanish sounding guitar follows then flute as it plays out.

"Espejismo" has these dissonant sounding pulses with atmosphere and more until around 3 minutes in, but it's still sparse with guitar over top. Horns before 4 minutes with rain sticks, percussion ad a beat. Exotic sounds follow as this plays out. Bass clarinet as well. "Alto A La Caceria" has the guitar and drums trading off at first before a steady sound follows. An avant sounding piece with prominent bass. Themes are repeated. Synths before 2 1/2 minutes.

"Pavor Real" has some nice aggressive guitar to start before marimba, bass, a beat and more take over. Horns too along with synths then the tempo picks up briefly. It will continue to shift though. Blasting horns after 1/2 minutes then another calm with bass only this time. Then it builds with synths, drums and more, guitar too. I like this. "Pesadila" has spacey synths to begin with before drums, bass and guitar join in. There's more then the horns trade off with the guitar. Marimba helps out then bass clarinet takes the lead after 1 1/2 minutes for a while. Spacey synths after 3 minutes along with marimba and drums.

"Derrumbes En Almibar" starts with guitar and drums. Pleasant is the word as flute and much more join in just before a minute. Horns come and go. A calm after 1 1/2 minutes with guitar and drums. Nice. Horns are back around 2 1/2 minutes. Some rare piano before 3 minutes. "Mambop" is traditional sounding with guest trumpet and percussion as horns honk. Vocals follow and this is so Spanish sounding as horns blast. A lot of start and stopping here. Piano leads for a while, lots of percussion too. Prominent bass too which is jazzy. Big finish.

Avant fans will love this especially if you like that Spanish flavour.