Introduction
La Bella Violencia – Untitled de varios artistas
Artist: La Bella Violencia
Title / Release Page: Untitled de varios artistas
Release Date: 2014 Dec 29
Genre: Experimental / Collage
License: CC BY-NC-SA
Media: MP3 / OGG / FLAC
Pricing: Free / Donation
Label: Pueblo Nuevo
Rating: ★★★★★★
With the release of La Bella Violencia – Untitled de varios artistas we take a second look at Pueblo Nuevo’s output. The first release we looked at was June or July’s Volumen 3 a few weeks ago. La Bella Violencia, however, bears nothing in common with the work of June or July.
La Bella Violencia – Untitled de varios artistas
I have said before that there is something of a complicated concept involved in transforming a work into something new and different. And, at first, I thought that was the objective of La Bella Violencia, mostly based on the impression made by the first track, which centers on a vocal from an R&B singer. However, that was misleading as subsequent tracks proved.
Instead, La Bella Violencia is an experimental / collage project. In fact, it is the work of Iñaki Muñoz Zamora. On this work he has assembled layers and layers of sounds that occur naturally, supplementing them with sounds from electro acoustic instruments (synthesizers,drums, guitars, organs, etc.). In describing the intent of the work, Iñaki says:
This disc is a collage born from symbols and dialogues between multifarious tongues, all of them from different origins and sounds defined for the undefined investigation, who trough oral vehicles from a common universe, they weave a milky way of fibers oscillating between the interior and exterior of a universe.
Which does make sense to a degree. The idea of sounds (especially sampled sounds) as being symbolic is not a completely new idea, many artists that have produced works of musique concrete have been dabbling with similar concepts. However extending this idea of weaving fibers between an interior and exterior universe seems to be a stretch in my estimation; a verbal hyperbole to make the work sound more mysterious.
However, examining the relationships between these sounds through manipulation, sequencing, layering and other studio techniques has born a result that is interesting to listen to. One might imagine that aliens capturing the noises from our planet might, in fact, hear these sounds in this manner.
And, in fact, there is something to be said for these pieces on a conceptual level. There is a framework that these pieces do work within, For example “La evaporacion de las emociones” does present a feeling of being drained, as if all the world is gray. All the extremes of emotions have been demolished and replaced with a drudgery.
Conclusion
This is the kind of work that is difficult to put a value on. Some of the pieces really reach out and grab the listeners attention. While others serve more as background noise, and form of sonic wallpaper that isn’t very interesting, it’s just there to add a tone or texture to the space around you. While I feel the description of the work is on the verge of verbal masturbation, the underlying ideas aren’t completely off the scale of things. And, it’s not unusual for an artist to reach too far when trying to describe their work.
In the end I feel that each listener will walk away from this work with a completely different experience. For some it might be a revelatory experience, for others they might not be ready for it, and might not be able to hit the stop button quick enough. But, isn’t that the point of art? It isn’t always there to be entertaining, and it’s value is distinctly individual to each person. That being the case, this work has interesting points to it, and doesn’t fall short of being evocative in as many ways as it possibly can.
