Though it follows an intro with the closest thing to the guitar sound on Clutch’s now-classic Elephant Riders I’ve ever heard without actually listening to that album, that turns out to be just one of the many sonic avenues explored on the Spanish trio Cuzo’s second album for Alone Records, Otros Mundos. Taking ‘70s prog jam excursions and roughing them up tonally to achieve a kind of garage jazz, the three-piece has undergone several changes in the time since their debut, Amor y Muerte en la Tercera Fase, most notably exchanging bassist Iván Román for Alvaro Gallego, bringing the number of shared members between Cuzo and doomers Warchetype down a third to just drummer Pep Cervantes. Cervantes and guitarist Jaume Pantaleon explored a variety of instrumental personalities on the first album, and joined here by Gallego, is as though they’re even freer to pursue whatever the moment offers.

On the already-alluded “Astroratas,” that means Clutch groove. On every other track, it means something completely different. “Coche Imaginario” has a strict jam build, but even that’s offset by synth quirk so that in listening you never quite know which way the song will turn. “Del Más Allá” is driven more laterally by Pantaleon’s guitar, but as Cuzo begins to develop an underlying persona beneath these explorations, it’s by no means just about one player. Gallego and Cervantes both play an essential role in making Otros Mundos sound as vitalized and fresh as it does. “Ni Vivos Ni Muertos” feels like a companion piece for “Del Más Allá” because of their relative closeness time-wise, but the two actually don’t share any more in common than either track does with the rest of Otros Mundos.

The closing duo of “Robots en Movimiento” and “Mutante Continuo” make up the final 15 of the album’s total 34 minutes, and it’s apparent in listening through Cuzo put Otros Mundos together with vinyl in mind. That being the case, I’ll say even though I’m hearing the album on CD it’s on Side B that the band really begins to show what they can do. The interplay between high and low end from Pantaleon and Gallego on “Mutante Continuo” makes that song one of the album’s brightest moments, and perhaps it’s because the band is more comfortable working in longer-form material, but the musical ideas feel all the more complete for the extra time they’re allowed to be fleshed out. It’s here that the aforementioned underlying persona comes out most, and all sides of Cuzo are allowed to shine through, not just any individual member’s playing or soloing.

When I reviewed Amor y Muerte en la Tercera Fase, I said it wouldn’t have been a surprise to find Cuzo’s next album completely different sonically, and listening to Otros Mundos, I still feel that way. The band seems so bent on following whims and trying new tactics that to definitively point one direction or the other and say “this is where they’re headed” would just be silly. Of course, Gallego’s addition and Román’s departure has made a difference in their sound, but I’m talking about creatively, in terms of what they’re trying and how the three of them play off each other. The first album was a sleeper and I think Otros Mundos will be as well, but I have the feeling a few people out there are really going to be able to feed on the Cuzo’s spontaneity through hearing the record, and for them, it’s going to be definitely worth the investment of time and conscious listening.

Cuzo on MySpace

Alone Records/The Stone Circle

Tags: Alone Records, Cuzo, Instrumetal, Spain

This entry was posted on Monday, October 11th, 2010 at 12:32 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.