Rogello Corte - flute
Fernando De La-Vega - drums
Nicolas Diab - bass guitars, mandolin;
vocals; drum-programming;
(+ acoustic guitar - on 11)
Diego Kazmierski - piano & synthesizer; sampling
Gato Leiras - electric guitar, various mandolins;
taping (+ vocals on 2)

Guest musicians

Pablo Petito - trumpet (on 4 & 10)
Moxi Beidenegi - vocals (on 2)
Renata Frigerio - vocals (on 2)
Lena Tempich - mouth-harp (on 9)
David Langer - percussion (on 10)
Horacio Straijer - marimba (on 13)
Diego Suarez - recorder (on 13)

It rarely happens that a band sends a photograph of themselves other than the picture already available on the sleeve of their album. I’m not certain whether it has something to do with narcissism but to be honest the quality of the photograph is in harmony with their musical offering. Recorded between march and april 1996 the band offers a rather free form of jazzrock which on occasion has it’s moments yet which also illustrates the light-footed way this band approaches the medium. Take the vocal escapades next to the songtitle of ‘Las mil y una formas de acabar con la tragedia de Occidente’ and this should say enough. On the musical side however this particular track does illustrate the band’s possibilities but I don’t feel confident that they really know each other’s capacities enough. It is all well executed and well recorded yet you can hear they are possible of delivering a much higher quality should they all strive in the same direction. At times it’s as if the drummer is afraid to really give himself 100 % although the structures are complex enough to illustrate his skills. And they all have tremendous skills and all are eager enough to explore as many diversities as possible which could result in something quite unique. However I feel they haven’t discussed certain arrangements enough, were easily pleased and very happy to have recorded an album. Why it was only released six years after it’s recording is something I can’t answer to.
A song like ‘Fugaz en la Ciudad Antigua’ contains nice ideas and again holds superb playing from everyone involved. During ‘$5000 de F. Kropfl’ the band really ‘plays’ with sounds, cutting and pasting them and finally putting them in a for the band logical order. The result is surprising and original but what do you call this kind of avant-garde ? The flute certainly brings along a royal dose of melancholy whereas the splendid bass guitar figures like the powerful glue which holds it all together. ‘Gastando las vacaciones limpiando casas’ is based on repetitive patterns which certainly don’t look that easy. The same can be said for ‘Tratado’ before the rhythm changes towards funky bossa nova which tends to sound like an improvisation for acoustic guitar backed by a rhythm composer.
Well played, well arranged, well recorded, but what label should we stick onto this young, promising Las Orejas y la Lengua ? It becomes difficult to compare them to an existing band whilst it looks like they enjoy themselves tremendously playing together. Maybe they should be given the chance to perform a lot live and then get their respective heads together in order to write new material. Not everyone’s cup of tea but interesting enough for more than one brew !