Any new release from Rodrigo Y Gabriela is cause for celebration, no matter how you slice it. But their latest adventure, a sonic mind-trip of epic proportions through what seems like the whole of South America, Area 52, is perhaps their most ambitious to date. That’s a big call from the two acoustic guitarists that count Metallica and Slayer as fans. So in case you haven’t seen us rave about them before, Rodrigo and Gabriela are a Mexican duo who redefine ‘badass’. Armed with only twelve strings and four hands, they managed to make an extraordinary rhythmic racket across two stunning LPs, renowned for Gabriela’s out-of-the-world knuckle-knocking polyrhythms and Rodrigo’s lightning fast flamenco strumming. In case that whole shebang wasn’t enough to make you geek out like a high school kid, they’ve now enlisted a crack squad of Cuban session musicians to turn the spice level up to searing hot and infuse a whole lot of other instruments into the mix. Essentially, it’s the most amazing thing ever and you need to hear it right now.
What makes Area 52 such an insane proposition is that Rodrigo Y Gabriela carved out a new niche by making enough noise to sound like eight players by themselves. Now that they’ve actually got those people in the room (and bear in mind, this is Buena Vista Social Club-level shit), it’s a bit like the best nightclub on earth that you stumbled across while backpacking. When you take the pulse that they’ve already fused into their work and add Latin horns, heavy metal drums and Cuban stride piano, there is no limit to what can happen. Always intent on pushing the boundaries of what fans expected from traditional music, these two have their fingers in almost every genre pie imaginable, and by breaking rank with themselves, they’ve managed to synthesise them all into a record as sizzling and ambitious as this one. Repeat spins reveal jazz flute, electric violin and Christ knows what else. It’s utterly bananas and I can’t believe anybody in this age let them make it because as nice as it is to listen to it’s simultaneously a plugged in rock riot and there won’t be many people over the age of forty who will be happy about what they’ve done to the genre. Seriously, this song opens with some bombastic double kicks from John Tempesta, who is a demigod of heavy metal. When I was fifteen I bought John Tempesta drumsticks, not because I knew who he was, but because they were big, black and had skulls all over them. That should give you some idea of the volume you’re dealing with here.
That being said, it’s still highly listenable and one of the most exciting parts of the whole thing is that you get to hear the two guitarists actually playing plugged in. The may not sound like much, but to hear white-hot Cry Baby and Wah-Wah licks from two axeman I’d resigned myself to never hearing hooked up to an amp is something pretty amazing. It’s old music but it sounds like an entirely new act. I’ve chosen ‘Hanuman’ after much deliberation because it’s a kitchen-sink song; there’s absolutely everything in it. It encompasses grooves from all portions of North, Central and South America simultaneously and should probably be used to for diplomatic purposes. Every player seems to have some staggering solo, from the guitarist through to the pianists, flautists and of course, Tempesta himself. I can almost imagine how giddy with excitement these two must have been during the recording session for this track, because it sounds like a dream come true for them and they actually have almost as much fun executing it as I do listening to it. Because their initial music has so much variation, it’s a breeze to add on jazz chords, funk grooves and whatever else strikes their fancy. If any music is made to be augmented, it’s Rodrigo Y Gabriela’s. We’re just lucky enough to be able to hear it.
Rodrigo Y Gabriela & C.U.B.A – ‘Hanuman’
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