Listen or download at their website
or Jamendo
By request from Zudak.
They're from Asturias, Spain. Wikipedia tells me this region was historically influenced by the Celts, which explains why these guys' traditional Asturian folk influences sound so much like English Celtic music.
But I don't know what tribe Xera got all those synths from.
Are you listening to the first track yet? Are you wondering to yourself, "Am I seriously hearing a duel between bagpipes and synthesizers?" Because the answer is "A gaita, to be specific. But wait for the fiddle solo—that's the part that knocked my socks off."
The next few songs are not so frantic, and sound like folk songs that just happen to have an electronic rhythm section. These are then followed by some songs that showcase individual instruments: the violin on "Elexía", the gaita on "1934", and the guitar and/or bouzouki on "Ñubes".
"Inda" sounds to me like a soundtrack for Zimmy's Dark World from Gunnerkrigg Court: mounting unease exploding into panic, yet never losing sight of the fact that
Inda, inda tú tarásThe last two tracks lean more toward the electronica side—I could see myself dancing to "Lloza" at a party. And "Transmerana" is just epic: singing, gaita and violin solos, a key change in the pentultimate verse, and I think I'm in love with the woman speaking over the breakdown.
This is admittedly shrill music—they don't even have a bass player—but there is a time and a place for everything, and this is the time for shrill.
Question for the ages: If I were to make a TV Tropes page about this band, which category on the Musicians index would they go under?
Check it out, they were featured on some TV show:
If you only listen to one track, listen to: "Lliendes". "Transmerana" is actually my favorite on the album, but I think it works much better as the final track of the album than when it's divorced from its context.
