Hijo de la Tormenta Announce New LP El Manto de la Especie
If the name isn’t familiar or you didn’t get to hear Hijo de la Tormenta‘s 2014 self-titled debut (review here), do yourself a favor and press play on the Bandcamp stream below of their digital 2015 two-songer, En Vivo en Buenos Aires, because the rich-toned psychedelic appeal is damned near immediate and it won’t take you too long before you decide to dip back to the record — also on Bandcamp — from there. The good news is they’re making a second one. It’s called El Manto de la Especie.
The bad news? They haven’t quite made it yet. According to their new bio — presented in its entirety below — they’re currently in pre-production for the sophomore outing, with a release planed for sometime in the first half of 2016. Golly. If I was the putting-together-a-list-of-anticipated-2016-releases type, I might want to make use of that information.
In case you do as well, here you go:
There’s a significant difference between stepping into a music scene and breaking through into one. Belonging in one or other category is mainly determined by the strength that defines that first encounter. That being said, it is easy to acknowledge Hijo de la Tormenta as a member of the second group. The three-piece band from Córdoba, Argentina, broke into the vast reservoir of music expressions with a unique and outstanding proposal, challenging with revelry traditional and somewhat obsolete ways to think and experiment music.
In a justified refusal to accept any limiting label to what they construct musically, the band found its own way to define and interpret its creations. Having been greatly inspired by the mountains of Córdoba’s Sierras- a place where they found a creative shelter and a certain conceptual and ideological meaning for their expressions- Hijo de la Tormenta thoughtfully perceived its musical creations as “psicodelia del monte” (mountain psychedelia).
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Hijo de la Tormenta is how wisely they build their music: a unique mixture between seventies rock’s purity and the unavoidable appropriation of its own time. One can accurately picture this odd combination when taking into consideration how the band is equipped: an exquisite selection of tube amps and vintage instruments that get reinforced through the power and definition of contemporary’s studio production. The music experience that Hijo de la Tormenta builds is an unusual dimension of time itself.
The wisdom and maturity behind the band’s music choices, aesthetics and management is a rare feature among independent bands of the country. It is hard to believe that the band has achieved such acumen with only two singles and an LP (Venado Records, 2014), in its catalog. Hijo de la Tormenta knows what it’s got to offer and wants to deliver it in the best possible way; its urgency is merely expressive. The result is the polished, meticulous and well-conceived work that effectively reflects the essential virtues of the band-roughness, forcefulness and conviction- in its self-titled debut album.
Hijo de la Tormenta’s first record was highly praised for its cohesion, its complexity and wit, the insightful way in which different genres and sounds come together in it, its unusual quality and its impeccable production labor — due to a long recording and mixing process and the experienced criteria of Gonzalo Villagra, bass player of legendary free-rock band Los Natas, in the final stage of the process. With vehemence, Hijo de la Tormenta´s revelry was accolade along its sensitivity and the moving dedication they have put into each one of its compositions. One must not forget that these are exceptional qualities on any debut album.
The enthusiasm gathered around Hijo de la Tormenta’s self- titled record, along with the band’s assertive self-management, was embodied in the impressive gigs they have organized since; their drive to push the limits of their proposal is restless. Hijo de la Tormenta shared gigs with great representatives of heavy and psychedelic rock, among them: Radio Moscow (USA), Yawning Man (USA), Jeremy Irons & The Ratgang Malibus (SE) and Hielo Negro (CHL). Naturally, the band also had solid presentations with some of the most important bands of Argentina’s underground music scene: Poseidótica, Humo del Cairo, Las Diferencias, among many others. Hijo de la Tormenta’s live presentations are undoubtedly one of its finest attributes, it is definitely the best way of channelizing the inner strength of the band’s compositions; a clear example of that visceral connection of sounds can be appreciated in the band’s latest production: two songs recorded in last year’s Club V presentation with Yawning Man. With forceful determination in federalizing and globalizing their ambitious proposal (and with the collaboration of collectives: Venado Records and Fauna Records), Hijo de la Tormenta was able to conduct several tours within the country, with aims to an upcoming summer tour in Europe.
Today, the band’s sophomore album is on a pre-production stage. “El Manto de la Especie” is a music platform aimed to place a critical standpoint from where to analyze societies’ future through a necessary review of the past and the present. The band’s devotion towards nature, and the healing powers it holds against the vicious capitalist system, has always been one of its most distinctive features; in El Manto de la Especie it pushes the band’s ambition in a search for a collective goal, an awakening of solidarity and communal action.
Challenging the high standards they have established for themselves, the band’s second production (awaited for the first half of 2016), will continue the task to propagate that seductive, immersive loudness, enhanced by the band’s appropriation of the essential elements of classic rock. Fostering new ways of constructing, producing, managing and sustain an exceptional mixture of sounds that stay true to its ideological and social aims, Hijo de la Tormenta keeps exploring the margins of its proposal with the same strength that has guided each of its productions. The band hopes to get results that will be as sincere as the premises that encouraged them.
https://www.facebook.com/hijodelatormenta/
http://hijodelatormenta.bandcamp.com/
