Miguel Prado - Mascara de Sangre

Ozonokids Tapes
#12

Storming in from the rain-swept forests of Galicia is Miguel Prado, wielding a fuzz-drenched guitar with near reckless abandon. Think unhinged Caspar Brötzmann without the rock referents. Prado opens the assault from the get-go, “Ruinas de la No-Accion” incorporating walls of feedback that crumble into harsh granularity only to coalesce back into towering moans. There’s a kind of tidal sense, an entropic erosion to the back and forth, the squalls corroding any solid material left untouched by the prior wave. At its best, the music contains this kind of elemental feeling though later on in the 14-minute piece, there’s a certain amount of slippage back into more standard noise-guitar wailing. Still, he closes it effectively with a series of staccato scratches and blasts.

“Vacilacion y Traba” demonstrates that Prado can’t be pigeonholed as a pure noise-ster, however. It’s a strong combination of resonant plucks and controlled feedback that’s a bit reminiscent of early Frith (circa “Guitar Solos”) and shows a fine sense of dynamics, textural awareness and even drama. The third and final track from this short (28-minute) disc combines the harsh, grainy textures of the opening piece with spacier, even loopy, effects. There are moments when the juxtaposition works quite well, others when it feels a bit forced. Interesting, though, and intriguingly hard to get a grip on for much of its duration. I get the feeling Prado would be very enjoyable to experience live.

But you can check it out for yourself as it’s available for free download (or purchase) here.

I’ll be curious to hear what direction his future work takes.