Projeto Trator Premiere New Single “Agonia”; Out Tomorrow
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on October 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Tomorrow marks the release of ‘Agonia,’ the new single from Brazilian grime-sludge two-piece Projeto Trator, who are using the track to say goodbye to founding drummer Thiago Padilha, making a reportedly final appearance here as Igor Oliveira joins guitarist/vocalist Paulo Ueno in the project moving forward. They begin, then, by living up to the title. “Agonia” runs five minutes and while one might recognize some Godflesh churn in Ueno‘s riffing, that could just as easily be the omnidirectional discontent the two outfits share. Sound-wise, Projeto Trator have a roll and lurch of their own, with Padilha seeming to revel in his last march as Ueno snarls and shouts the song’s Portuguese lyrics.
And while of course the band — who’ve been around since 2006 and put out their first EP, the stonerlier-fuzzed A Bombástica Barafunda do Batizado; time would seem to have made them angrier, which is relatable — have tonal density to spare even in a guitar/drum configuration, that rawness becomes part of the persona of “Agonia” as its five minutes unfold, feedback and inhumane rumble plodding into motion at the outset and Projeto Trator holding it there until about three minutes in when they ever-so-slightly up the tempo and introduce the next section. The roll remains flattening, and is steady in its procession but leant a chaotic aspect by the rippling low distortion of its chug as Ueno and Padilha uphill-shove toward the eventual deconstruction and noisy ending.
“Agonia” makes no secret of its harsh purposes and I won’t delay your engagement with it much further — you could always start the song; it’s right down there — except to point out the curiosity that is Projeto Trator outsourcing lyrics, in this case to Luciano Penelu of Erasy. That’s not a letting-go that every artist who has contributed lyrics to a band can handle, and in addition to the awkwardness of putting someone else’s phrasing over your own material when you’ve never done that before, it’s a pointed change in methodology, and I suspect part of the idea’s appeal is the challenge it presents. I don’t know if Projeto Trator will keep up the ethic as they move on from “Agonia,” but at very least they offer a brutal proof of concept in the single ahead of whatever may come next.
Also, I ran those lyrics through a major internet company’s translation matrix and while I won’t print them here for fear of misrepresenting the art — if they wanted it to be in English, they’d make it that way — and, yup, that’s depression.
The PR wire has narrative — blessings and peace upon it — and the song has punishment below.
Please enjoy:
Projeto Trator, “Agonia” track premiere
Formed at the end of 2006 in São Paulo/SP by Paulo Ueno (guitar and vocals) and Thiago Padilha (drums), Projeto Trator has thirteen releases, including two on vinyl: “CORIFEU” (2020), released by 1954 Records from Argentina, and the split with the trans artist UMBILICHAOS, entitled “Projeto Trator & Umbilichaos” (2019) (Crocodilo/Zoom Discos). They toured almost all of Brazil, South America and Europe totaling more than 600 shows in 14 countries to date.
Anchored in the do-it-yourself punk playbook the duo created their own label Crocodilo Discos, focused on physical and digital releases, in addition to organizing their own events and festivals such as Crocodilo Fest, with bands from other states. They are also responsible for audiovisual production, producing music videos, graphic arts, capturing and mixing most of their releases. The band bases its sound on elements of sludge, stoner and doom, being one of the pioneers and main representatives of these aspects in Brazil.
Psychedelic melodies, trances, repetitions, noises, echoes, choruses, apocalyptic choirs, low tunings, dissonances, muddy fuzzes, slowness, chaos and lo-fi aesthetics are natural elements of the duo, which is not concerned with patterns, trends and places- common on shelves. Acidic lyrics and corrosive humor, based on human behavior and its paradoxes, combined with decolonial criticism in Portuguese, are part of the duo’s atmosphere.
Recently, the drummer and founder, Thiago Padilha, left the band, but the idea continued with the effective entry of friend, enthusiast and former drummer of Os Brutus, Harpago and Vingança Suprema, Igor Oliveira (drums and vocals).
The band’s newest release, the track “Agonia”, was recorded at the Plug’n Play studio in the city of Curitiba, and is the band’s last record with drummer Thiago Padilha in the band, and will be the first released with new lineup, produced by frontman Paulo Ueno himself and Ivan Terrorscreen. The track marks, at the same time, a new phase in the band and a continuity in their already traditional work, maintaining the elements inherent to the band. The single precedes a new album and a series of episodic releases, presenting yet another theme that is already traditional to the band: “Agonia” portrays nonconformity, suffering, pessimism, even while searching for a meaning to existence.
The song presents a new concept, in which the band Projeto Trator (represented by its frontman) invites vocalists from other bands to write song lyrics. In this one, the guest is Luciano Penelu, lead singer of the Brazilian sludge/doom band Erasy.
