Introduction
Obasquiat – Back To The Sender
Artist: Obasquiat
Title / Release Page: Back To The Sender
Release Date: 2014 Nov 3
Genre: Experimental
License: CC BY-NC-ND
Media: MP3 / OGG / FLAC
Pricing: Free / Donation
Label: Petroglyph Muisc
Rating: ★★★★★★★
Obasquiat goes back to the sender to explore the roots of atonality and free jazz while keeping some elements of Brazilian percusion in the mix. It’s an interesting blend of ideas that is an interesting exploration of musical concepts and ideas.
Obasquiat Goes Back To The Sender
With eighteen releases in just two years on their Bandcamp site, Obasquiat is a group that has established a prolific output in a short period of time. And, that output doesn’t include this release on Petroglyph Music.
According to the notes for this release:
“Back to the Sender” is not just an Ep of a common rock band, because the project lines and form new ways songs (as this is the initial concept of experimentalism) some of the tracks are instrumental only one was made with a vocal line .
Another idea that came up was the use of percussion and escaleta on some tracks thus giving a totally different sound, seeking more african-Brazilian sounds in this ep we try to present the other side of the “Obasquiat” I hope you enjoy.
This is music that is completely improvised, and has a very lo-fi garage feel. There is a raw energy to the opening track “UVB 76 (intro) – Vermes do Limbo”, it has a feeling of being in a club back in the 1960’s listening to a band jam for hours.
“Epitaphios” takes on a whole different, much mellower feeling. Percussion is much more laid back in the opening while guitar and bass weave lines around each other.As the piece builds, the drums act more as a counterpoint to the bass and guitar, reacting and building off each other. The whole piece escalates into a chaos with the drums leading the way before it dissolves back to nothingness at the end.
“Miolo de Valvula” allows the group to explore Brazilian style percussion in an improvisatory setting. Complimented with by harmonica and guitar. The accompaniment is sparse on this track, the focus is on the percussion.
I’ll leave it to the listen to explore the final two tracks on this EP.
Conclusion
Being unfamiliar with the prolific output of Obasquiat, I can only grasp this work in a some minimal terms. Basically Obasquiat goes back to the sender in order to explore the roots of Brazilian percussion, free jazz, and improvised music. It’s a good concept in it’s way to explore the roots that have informed a lot of music for decades. And, that’s where I have the feeling they were going with this release: it’s not about making a statement or some high level concept. It’s all about the exploration, and it’s a great ride to go on.
(Note: I’d love to explore more of Obasquiat’s music on The CerebralRift, but unfortunately, this appears to be the only release that is available under a Creative Commons license, although most of their releases appear to be either Name Your Price, or Free Downloads.)
