Factor Burzaco

http://cabezademoog.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/factor-burzaco-factor-burzaco-ii-2011.html

Just like previously, the band’s lineup appears as an orchestra, embracing 16 musicians, none of whom are now presented as guests. However, some of the album’s ten tracks only feature a couple of players (I’ll touch on those first of all), and even the most sonically saturated ones come across as being performed by an octet at most. What is more, apart from Carolina Restuccia and Abel Gilbert (who, though, is this time only credited as the album’s composer, whereas previously he was involved as a musician as well), all of the other participants are new. Of the disc’s three shortest tracks, Guantanabu-2, Before the End and Beginning (none of which exceed 2 minutes in length), the first two are synthesizer drones of a kind, serving as bridges between their neighboring pieces, while the latter comes across as more or less a full-fledged keyboard piece, additionally containing female vocalizations and a male narration. What and Guantanabu-1 are both pretty similar to the disc opener, albeit the keyboards on each of these are supplemented by brasses and mallet percussion respectively. Otherwise the album doesn’t sound way different from its predecessor, but, anyhow, I believe most of the songs were originally written specifically for Carolina’s vocals, and only later, after being arranged by Albert (along with the ensemble, I’m sure), those got what is now seen as their final, I’d even say proper, appearance. One of the vocal tracks, Progressions, is rhythmically quite a straight forward affair, and yet overall, it is a fairly mesmerizing workout, driven by a refined guitar solo over the rhythm section, ornamented by vibes. What particularly matters, however, is that Carolina’s singing is – traditionally – very passionate and unpredictable, making the whole thing sound just great. The remaining four compositions, Inmemorian, Straviko, Mereditika and Guantanabu-3, are all excellent, the latter one of the band’s very best creations in general. Wonderfully, Carolina uses a different approach on each of these (in fact, on every track that she is allowed to properly use her vocals on, the aforementioned Guantanabu-1 included). The same sort of things is at work instrumentally: save Guantanabu-3, which has a full-band sound throughout, the music strongly varies in structural density, to put it succinctly. Most of it brings to mind Chamber Rock, due to the specific deployment of woodwind instruments in particular. Brasses, in their turn, often provide unison and the like solos (those in third, etc) with an obvious jazzy groove, creating a sound which does contrast Carolina’s vocal acrobatics very effectively. The prima donna manages to perfectly balance a melodic (often operatic) approach with avant-tinged singing, utilizing plenty of unique vocal devices – too many even to fit into the above-mentioned categories, let alone to define and list. Her singing has nothing to do with the concept of histrionics, but is a true vocal art, with a capital “A”. Vocally, Carolina is in all senses on a par with Kate Bush, of whom she reminds me in overall delivery, as well as Dagmar Krause (Henry Cow et al.), of whom, though, she is reminiscent comparatively rarely and only in intonations. Conclusion. While inferior to Factor Burzaco’s self-titled debut release, in terms of complexity in particular, this is still a good album overall. For neophytes it would be a better starting point to explore the band’s music than its predecessor. Recommended.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/3-mw0002652423 Donde Nos Habíamos Quedado," the leadoff track on Factor Burzaco's third album -- and second release on AltrOck -- starts with singer Carolina Restuccia's rather childlike voice, accompanied by Pedro Chalkho's acoustic guitar, in a 180-degree turnaround from 2011's II, whose opener, "Beginnin," leapt out in startlingly abrupt fashion with a low chord bash and Restuccia's drawn-out guttural shout. But just as composer and Factor Burzaco founder Abel Gilbert kept listeners guessing from the "Beginnin" to end of II, he is a quick-change artist on 2014's 3 as well. The two-minute "Beginnin" included intimate whispers, abrupt harmonized vocal bursts, and extended reed techniques, and 3's "Donde Nos Habíamos Quedado," nearly identical in length, soon reveals similarities, as Restuccia asks (in Spanish) if you intend to "fill the silence with your fears" and a single chord is repeated in an insistent martial beat, followed by low reed multiphonics and the singer's abstract wordless vocalizing. Nevertheless, the track's initial intimate, singsongy feel does signal a measure of warmth throughout 3, as, for example, a wash of sound on "Las" is created organically by Sergio Catalán's overblown flute instead of the type of electronic processing Mauro Zannoli employed on II. Meanwhile, Marcelo Delgado, orchestra director on both II and 2007's Factor Burzaco, has departed, as have instruments like bassoon, oboe, violin, and cello, leaving guest musicians on flute, saxes, clarinets, and keyboards to complement the project's core trio this time around. Here, the full integration of the band's "rock" and "classical" sides during the stops and starts of second track "La Vera Storia di Tristan O." might remind AltrOck listeners of Oakland, California-based avant-prog pranksters miRthkon (or Western Culture-era Henry Cow). Factor Burzaco remains a project with an episodic quality informed by sung/spoken texts. 3's texts are not derived from a single author as on the first two albums; rather, Gilbert takes lyrical inspiration from iconic Argentine rock figure Luis Alberto Spinetta, essayist Alejandro Kaufman, and even a controversial quotation from Arnold Schoenberg, repeated mantra-like in echoing deterioration -- the most overt example of II-style sound processing -- by three children, including Gilbert's son Andres, on the 14-minute album-closing opus "Silicio." The aforementioned "Las," featuring Restuccia initially accompanied by avant chamber reeds and flute and later by members of the a cappella El Nonsense Ensamble Vocal de Solistas, is a heartfelt, then somewhat eerie, and ultimately reverent setting for Spinetta's words. But for those drawn to Factor Burzaco's lively side, punched-up tracks like "Evasión Imposible," "Inter Dicción," and the grooving and, yes, funky "Soga Func" reveal that guitarist Chalkho, drummer, percussionist, and vibraphonist Facundo Negri, and bassist Carlos Quebrada Vazquez can kick up some dust in the artiest of surroundings. And even on an album as instrumentally oriented as 3, the alternately sweet and sharply cutting Restuccia -- a 21st century Argentine Dagmar Krause -- is a force that ties together the disparate elements of Abel Gilbert's sound world with her extraordinary vocal presence and singular personality.

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FACTOR BURZACO is a project by ABEL GILBERT, Argentinean composer born in Buenos Aires in 1960, who got his first influence from a BEATLES album he received very young and later the same kid who discovered KING CRIMSON, GENTLE GIANT, EGBERTO GISMONTI, GAETANO VELOSO and HENRY COW.

ABEL GILBERT also grew listening (and studying) DEBUSSY, BERIO, LIGETI and MORTON FELDMAN, and who decided to employ this musical experience to make something new.

Also participate in this project Carolina Restuccia (Voice), Marco Bailo (Guitars), Federico Arbia (Bass), Esteban Saldaño (Piano), Nicolas Dalmonte (Drums) and a Camera Orquesta directed by composer Carlos Delgado.