Once overlooked as a source of great music, producing everything from psychedelia to punk, and ethereal bliss to powerful riffs, Peru is rapidly advancing to the forefront and a well-deserved spot the history of musical evolution. Being that experimentation has always been a common denominator in everything Peru has delivered to the world, Unexplained Sounds Group is proud to release this compilation detailing how these experimental and risk-taking tendencies have been developing.
Keeping its focus on contemporary artists rather than on those coming from the "50s Generation" (as the first composers are referred to), the aim of this anthology is to highlight the genre's evolution from Valcárcel’s fusion of European avant-garde influences with Peruvian folklore, to the current day, in which artists like Paola Torres Núñez del Prado or Vanessa Valencia Ramos keep pushing the envelope, creating a new identity for future artists to follow.
Jorge Castro Ortega
released March 5, 2021
REVIEWS
John Pereira
Perhaps by knowing the Peruvian scene firsthand-obviously, the menu anyway looks more familiar-I find more diversity of approaches illustrated in Anthology Of Experimental Music From Peru, diversity that does not exhaust the wide range of possibilities handled by our credits. Some of them are fully identified with national avant circuits, such as CAO, José A. Rodríguez, Brageiki, or Wilder Gonzales Agreda. I've only heard so many others in passing, like Tree, Qsn10- 97, Ivanka Cotrina, Ian Duclos or Paola Torres N úñez Del Prado. With the other names it's the first time I've crossed, although already heard they fit wonderfully in the profile that posits the panorama.
Given its avant-garde nature, it captures nexuses that link not only to its Mexican peers, but by extension to those of the rest of the world. Minimalist-maximalist austerity, devotion to pichicated technology, randomness in hiding the concert of indoor worlds, the oscillating metaphysics of improvisation. The alteration of Perception through endless waves of sleepwalking distortion... Yes. The detail is that my compatriots gathered here pursue less dark ambient than what in #DMTh5's ′′ XXX XXX XXX ′′ is defined as ′′ ethereal noisy ". The solid corpus of noise produced, therefore, is an expressive means before an aesthetic goal to meet.
This is how the binary coding bliss of ′′ Perpleja Region ′′ (Tree), the cosmic and buzzing orlado vernacular motive closure curtain of ′′ XXXX XXX XXX ′′ (#DMTh5), the same as they also prod at the ambiguous ′′ Yachag ′′ (Ivanka Cotrina) and in the lustful ′′ Les Jungles Occultes ′′ (CAO), the sweet post rock and harsh noise crossing in ′′ Rio De Sangre Boiling ′′ (Rodolfo Ontaneda) and in ′′ Wind In Circles ′′ (Marcelo Mellado), the oversaturated output of a trimmed ′′ Zuckerzeit ′′ (Wilder Gonzales Agreda) or phyloacusmatic improvisation with glitcheos to the bulk of ′′ Dressing A Dead Man ′′ (Jose A. Rodriguez). In this sense, the most finished track is ′′ Venucia (Floating City) ", by Juan Pablo Eg ússquiza and Kevin Skeld-the typical sound of the avant garde perucho played by Dionysos, hammered over the historic chronic shortage of tools who coined independent moves: full of outgoing, fluctuating acoustic alibis, cyclical-steel echoes...
Time to weight the most perfect composition sounds, as well as signal the leftover one. I start with this last one. Vanessa Valencia Ramos's resource of recreating the verité audio that abounds in the neighborhood markets seems very valid, but her flower in ′′ Medicinal Plants Against Patriarchy ′′ tastes like a stereotypical slogan. On the contrary, the outstanding morphing that occurs during the five minutes and peak of ′′ To Wear Quipus Or Cables ′′ by Paola Torres N úñez Del Prado accompanied by The People Of Tupicocha; rounds up a magnificent cumulative noise intervention that randomly erupts and sonorities of indigenous roots. 10/10. For a reason, the digital version of Anthology Of Experimental Music From Peru also includes video mode.
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AVANT MUSIC NEWS
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SIDE-LINE
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Edited by ©Unexplained Sounds Group
Curated and mastered by Raffaele Pezzella
Special thanks to Jorge Castro Ortega and Diego Faucheux for their precious help
Cover image: Fragment of a cloth with a flying figure. Paracas culture, Peru
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