material imprimible.
printable material.
format word
dossier. catalŕ.soma.planet presentació (format word). fotografies, biografia, actuacions més destacades (130kb)
dossier. english. presenting soma.planet pdf. photo, bio, style, most important performances list. (151 Kb)
dossier. english. presenting soma.planet (word). photo, bio, style, most important performances list.
(critica a proggressive rock & metal Brasil. by Carlos Vaz)
(...) Fantastic new group bringing all the best influences from the different lines around all the great 70's pomp bands. Soma.Planet is a band that prove easily that they are adepts of Experimental Music, Fusion Rock and Avant-Garde scene (Kraut Rock), a musical style developed in Germany, including a little bit of Progressive Rock passages. The song writing and the musical performance are diverse, the compositions have complex arrangements, many parts have heavy Sax, power bass and frenetic Guitars sounds, alternating quickly and playing different elements simultaneously, where each composition takes us on a different orchestral journey, elegant and amazing instrumental precision creating an incredible musical improvisation, exploring all the instruments sounds. This band follows the traditions of pure musical style very influenced by bands such as " Embryo ", " Can ", " Guru Guru ", " Gong ", " Pink Floyd " and also " King Crimson ", but rapidly showing a personal style where they can express their strong musical feelings. Soma.Planet the first and very impressive album, featuring eleven tracks, almost 74 minute long album, that illustrate the best Experimental Music. A special and particular attention to and my favourite songs are: " Secret Triangle ", " Action ", " Moments Before Tea ", " Kaleidoscope Visions ", " Reaction " and " Cerebrum ". The main musicians on Soma.Planet are: Andreu Tete Pérez - Electric Guitar, Vocal and Theremin, Francesco Furmi Gómez - Alto Sax, Slide Guitar and Flute, Marc Prat - Bass and Vocals and Àngel Abat - Drums. Brilliant and indispensable work, highly recommendable... ( Comments by Carlos Vaz )
* Crítica publicada el 31 de maig del 2003 a yahoo Coses Nostres sobre el concert del 30 de maig al EVER de diagonal 353 de Barcelona:
"Ahir vaig anar al concert de Planeta Imaginario a Caja Madrid i quan estava entrant al concert hem van passar un paper anunciant un altre concert al mateix dia, total, que vaig veure dos concerts progressius en un dia.
(...)
Soma Planet: vaig anar al concert sense saber el que m'esperava. Quan vaig entar al local, era un petit bar de la diagonal i vaig pensar que hi haurien problemes de qualitat de so, i una merda!, aquestra gent amb dos petits amplis i una bateria van donar un espectacle que a molta gent ja li agradaria fer.
El grup constava de guitarra, baix, bateria i llavors un noi tocava el saxo i tres slide guitar. Total, ens van donar un gran espectacle amb un gran compromís amb l'experimentació i la vanguardia. Tenien un so molt King
Crimson de la época del 73-74 però amb un gran toc personal. Lo millor de tot era la capacitat d'improvització, es tiravem minuts i minuts improvitzant en plan "Starless an de Bible Black", realment guapíssim.En resum, crec que hem de pensar més en les bandes del país, gent amb gran nivell i sobretot compromís amb l'experimentació. A qui li moli el rock progressiu auténtic i no les mitges tintes que corren ultimament que vagi a veure Planeta Imaginario o Soma Planet, val la pena!!!!"
* link a l'entrevista "soma.planet, la intucion infinita", de la plana nucleus d'argentina.
critica a soma.planet a La Caja de Musica
Antes de escuchar su disco, tuve la ocasion de verlos y escucharlos durante un concierto que celebraron en un pequeño bar de la Diagonal llamado EVER, la verdad en medio de precarias condiciones acusticas e incluos de movimiento, los miembros de Soma.Planet me cautivaron por su desparpajo, profesionalidad y saber contrarrestar todos esos inconvenientes, que de verdad no eran pocos.
Su musica en directo es pegadiza y electrizante por la ritimica energica y constante que imprimen en cada nota, a veces daba la impresion de no acabarse... de una musica que podria catalogar de Fusion experimental, Jazz Rock, Psicodelia, Avant-Garde, etc...
Los que alli estavamos no dabamos credito a lo que oiamos y es que aquel ritmo y la forma de ejecutarlo te envolvia y te hacia moverte a cada nota. Sus mayores influencias serian Embryo, Gong y cualquier grupo aleman del movimiento Kautrock enganchado en la psicodelia tardia que propuso los primeros Pink Floyd en los 70's.
Al poco de aquel concierto consegui su disco, previamente ya me habian comentado que nada que ver con lo visto en el concierto y es asi, el album no refleja esa potencia en directo pero en cambio demuestra otras magnificas y enriquecedoras facetas del grupo, difiles de imaginar.
Soma.Planet es un grupo de Mataro (Barcelona) que lo primero que sorprende es el dominio y versatilidad instrumental de sus miembros, yo destacaria a Francesc Furmi. un joven que toca de maravilla el saxo, el stick guitar y la flauta. Tampoco le va lejos su bateria Angel Abad, que manera de tocar y como no su bajista Marc Prat y el guitarrista Tete Perez que a su vez canta y compone los temas.
El album homonimo debut de la banda cuenta en su comienzo con dos temas sorprendentes por su apaciguado tratamiento instrumentacion, claro resultado de la piscodelia tardia de los primeros Pink Floyd, Kautrock le llamaron en Alemania, el tema contiene una excelente ejecucion de la stick guitar a cargo de Frumi, que nos transporta con su delirio a un mundo de pasajes oniricos. Pero nada es duradero y ambos temas se parten en dos con la llegada de pasajes caoticos, experimentales y jazzerros donde el saxo de nuevo intepretado por Frumi nos acerca claramente al llamado Avant-Garde.
Con (3) "Action" oimos los momentos jazzeros experimentales mas alocados e improvisados (Jazz Free ?), sello indudable de Soma.Planet, igual sucede con (4) "Granada" aunque aqui aparece algun toque oriental o arabico por el nombre.
El album continua para adentarnos en terremas mas jazzys que piscodelicos, la exploracion sonora cosmica del comienzo de (7) "Reaction" confluyen con un rock mas experimental de forma improvisada sufriendo una rotura acustica brutal al entrar (8) "Sunset" donde quizas se da cita lo mas sinfonico y sentimental de Soma.Planet, yo diria que la guitarra de Tete Perez se semejan a las de Guilmor, dandole incluos el mismo con el tratamiento vocal un toque de lamento al tema, es increible que alguien que te pueda hacer volar la cabeza con su energia tambien pueda sacarte una lagrima.
Llega (9) "Cosmic Sector" el jazz fusion se entremezcla con la psicodelia, los riffs de guitarras suenan mas Hards y el saxo entabla un duelo sonando delirante todo acompanyado de unos vocales descontrolados de Tete.
Con (10) "Songs Os The Soul" vuelve la experimentacion y la improvisacion, sonidos etnicos, orientales, surrealismo, flautas oniricas y coros budistas confieren al tema un tqoeue tarnquilo y cosmico.
Acaba el album con el tema mas representativo del Soma.Planet que vi en el EVER, jazz rock fusion contundente, sin ataduras alrededor de un saxo descontrolado y una bateria desbordante que va en crescendo dando la sensacion de no acabar, experimentacion, caoticismo King Crimsoniano, improvisacion, duelos constantes entre los instrumentistas, en fin un magnifico FIN DE FIESTA.
Puntuacion: 7/10
Salu2 jazzpsicosinfonicosprogresivos
© Juan
* critica disc soma.planet a axiom of choice. jurriaan hage (holanda)
(About soma.planet) Summary
This band started around 1996, hails from Barcelona, they played at numerous festivals with different types of music, their main line being improvised psychedelic rock, but also jazz, chill-out and meditative music when the need arises, inviting other artists for the event. This is their debut album.
The music
Be yourself is the long opener, introspective and sounding improvised. In addition to many sound effects the music revolves around soundscaping guitars in the line of Fripp, but a bit less restrained and sometimes a bit sharp to the ears. The playing is emotive enough, nothing missing there. Some Koto in here as well, and percussion lining the music by occasion. The didgeridoo like sounds are probably vocals. Here the music becomes more melodic, especially with the guitar playing some introverted subtle melodies underneath the growl of the singers. The sax sets in during the vocal parts which are in fact sung. Here the music tends more to the improv side of Cuneiform bands, with Canterbury and psyche vying for a leading role. Strong stuff this, although a liking for improvisation work seems a requisite. But the end result is potent with a good tension building throughout its twelve minutes.
Secret Triangle opens with thrilly flute, bringing us to the quiet waters of Paul Horn. The acoustic murmles friendly in the back, the music now has a more Latin American flavour. The vocals lack a certain production that make them come over quite amateurish. The phrasing is not too careful either. Musically the song is quite mellow, with flowing echoe acoustic guitars and plenty of percussion. The sound spectrum is rather full. The vocals have quite an eerie character at times, maybe they are simply meant this way. But still a more careful production could let them come out better. The vocalist has a bit of an 'acting' way of singing, involving plenty of dramatic turns of voice. The final part is quite funky.
The pacey Action opens like a typical jazz-rock track with plenty of meandering guitar, piano, sax and keys. A piece of work which is rather hard on the ears. Granada opens very quietly and flowing again. Do I hear a violin there? Dreamy material, something that could in fact come up on a jazz-rock record as well. I have heard quite a few tracks in this style, and there is little to distinguish them from each other. The melody is often so ehm undistinctive. The guitar work does remind me of Fripp at times, although the overall feel is more relaxed and jazzy than you would hear on any KC release.
Moments Before Tea brings in seventies vibes, the accented vocals only help to impress this opinion on the listener. The spacey production makes it all come out rather vague, but this is part of the experience. The middle part is nicely percussive (with a bit of swirling sax), with plenty of signature variation. Kaleidoscope Visions is an introspective piece opening with intimate vocals (again, quite difficult to understand, both because of the accent, but also because they are simply unsteady). There is something quirky about the chorus, the sax vaguely meanders throughout. The atmosphere which is evoked alternates between dreamy and frolic. Halfway, the music becomes quite a bit louder.
It is likely that Reaction is a counterpart for Action, and in fact this track is also quite jazzy in outset with dancing, meandering piano, a strong bass undercurrent and some ethereal guitar playing.
Time for some melodic mellowness in Sunset. The music is now really relaxed and warm which is nice for a change. Most of the stuff this outfit makes is not of that kind, so it is always nice to have some kind of breather in the middle.
Three longish tracks to go, the first of which is Cosmic Sector. This is a waltzy piece with striking vocals and a striking vocal melody. In fact, this is one of the most likable songs on the album with some nice rhythm guitar playing and rowdy guitar solo's to boot. The vocal improvisations are maybe a bit over the edge.
Songs Of The Soul is a nice title to begin with. Does it live up to its name? Well, it is certainly an introspective piece, in the line of the Ozrics. A bit too unstructured and free form for my tastes.
The final track is Cerebrum. The leanings are more towards King Crimson here, especially when they still had a saxophone playing along. On the other hand, many of the improv Cuneiform bands might do as well. Then we come to a more off-beat passage where the drums starts to interact with the guitar and the sax. What distinguishes it from jazz-rock of any kind are the more up-tempo rock dominated parts which border on the bombastic.
Conclusion
This band combines elements of jazz, prog and psychedelic into an improvisational whole. This means, quite a few meandering instrumental sections, although there are at times a few melodies to latch onto as well. From soothing to harsh and harrowing, you can hear the entire spectrum. The production is more on a demo level (or exhibiting a live feel if yoyu like), while the singing is not the strong point (from a technical point of view). In that sense, my impression is that this is an album for fans of Gong and its followers, also because a sort of humour seems to be involved and the free form style of playing. Not an easy album to get into and a long sit too
