Friday, August 19, 2011

El Efecto - Ciranda

Hear The Track Here


Regular readers will groan in frustration when they realise that I am about to go off on one again, and this time about Prog rock - but not as we know it Jim lad. I would have imagined that the whole world would have realised by now that prog-rock and I are not the most comfortable companions. However, as we have also discovered over the past few years the term prog rock is getting incredibly elastic and - by gum and golly - I've even started to like some of it. So although my heart sunk to see that El Efecto, a Brazilian band from Rio de Janeiro who play their own brand of it. My spirits were saved insofar that it may (just) count as world music to my weary ears...

Shhhh, don't tell them.

El Efecto are a five piece band who make an exceedingly good case for themselves and certainly if the genre appeals to you, you will find much to like with Ciranda. On the prog-rock front, the is undeniably the bare bones of the genre but with a very palatable Latin overlay that - for me anyway - stops it from being consigned to the seventh circle of Hell. Ultimately, it's the instrumentation, and the fact that the song is sung in Portuguese that kept me listening to it, despite it being almost nine minutes. Well, if that ain't prog-rock I don't know what is.

OK, being bluntly honest, I am not going to run off and marry this track (as it were) but I certainly have nothing against it. As I say, if you like then genre then you'll probably like this too. My problem is that I don't like the genre but I do like this, despite it's obvious prog-rock overtones and it often sounding - how can I put this? - a bit bland, middle of the road. Nonetheless it shows that El Efecto know exactly what they are doing and surprisingly enough sound like they are having a great time doing it. The instrumentation, for example, is an absolute joy, more great sounds than you can shake a stick at...

Highly Recommended Brazilian prog-rock (again, I kid ye not)

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