ASTRID PRÖLL Astrid Pröll takes its name from one of the survivors of the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof group, a German student protest movement of the 1970's that declared war on a fascist government with ex-Nazi Party members in Parliament. This movement took radical action against social conformity and state-sponsored oppression. Astrid Pröll, the band, shares that revolutionary ideal regarding individual action, but channeled through music and multimedia art. Astrid Pröll is a group founded during the summer of 2004 in Puerto Rico by veteran musicians of the underground scene, inspired musically and thematically by revolution and counterculture. The band seemlessly integrates a wide array of influences including krautrock, rock, noise, space rock and stoner rock among others, and while their self-titled debut album -released independently by Noisex Records and Carbono Musica has its dreamier moments, when these guys are rockin' out they play like dervishes in warp drive. Words | Agustin& James R. Yeowell from Prog Archives.com. Astrid Pröll S/T debut CD was entirely recorded at Mitchell Morales's home studio in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mitchell is an experienced drummer with over 15 years of experience in the local scene and a good friend of ours who gave his best to make this budget recording as best as possible. The process was quite interesting since we went to the studio with only 6 completed tracks out of the 10 cuts included on the release. We had plenty of room to experiment with the arrangements and to invite several friends to play and be featured on the record. One of them being Raul Gaud who is currently full time with us. We recorded drums [Fernando], bass [Agustin] and main guitar [Georgie in one take using ADAT tape. Then we transferred all of it to Pro Tools software , addeed the overdubs there and proceed to mix. Most of the engineering credits must be given to our guitar player Georgie Castro who's vast experience with studio recording help this album a lot. Some tracks have minimum overdubs [like "Catastrofe", "Resistencia", "Laboratorio Grotowsky", "Origenes del Movimiento" and "Torso"]. For the remaining tracks we chose to use more intricate recording techniques and a wide arrange of crafted sound effects to enhance the experience. We didn't want to create a concept album in its whole but we intended to make the record a listening experience. Some sort of 'ear candy' for those who enjoy much more than just plain musicianship. Our live experience is always enhanced by improvs, different arrangements and film images created by several local artists. We are firm believers that there is much more to music than just sounds and we prefer our audience to concentrate on the 'happening' rather than the individual musicians. Being a recording, the album wouldn't sport the visual experience of our live-shows, so we wanted it to be an experience in its own right. Luckily the beautifull cover art was created by Alonso Urbanos, an artist from Spain who will be also working with us for our next effort. We are currently working on that follow up CD that is going to be titled "La Guerra del Fin del Mundo" [The War of The End of The World], it's an apocalyptic view of things happening, and things to come. By this time our tendency towards chaotic themes and pessimistic views about life itself is very conspicuous in our work and we intend it to be our very personal profile in music. We think recording is another chance to experiment in sounds in a different way than of live performances. We will try to push the envelope a little further and try things in a different way this time. For us music is a constant learning experience and a trial and error process that will only succeed if the team keeps focused on the same goals. Here’s a breakdown of the album, track-by-track [by James R. Yeowell]: Sounding slightly Egyptian in nature, the opening track "Pröll 1" starts off slowly, yet it rumbles and rumbles, until the relentlessness of it breaks free and the aural soundscape starts to explode, as the bass flickers in the background, followed by the erratic drumming... Then the explosion occurs... whoosh! A superb guitar attack, intense drumming, yet still with a relentless air to it. It slows down once more and then we hear Allen Ginsberg reading excerpts from his poem "The Howl", in the background. There's still a slight middle-eastern feel to the soundscape, when suddenly, once more, there is a sound explosion and the heaviness begins again... followed by a wonderfully distorted guitar solo. You can feel the desperation in this track and it feels somewhat politically surged. What a wonderful way to begin this wonderful album! Next up is "Catástrofe", which is a much more straight up rocker, but still wonderful. The track is dominated by two guitars, one playing simple two-chord changes [to begin with], whilst the other one does a similar thing, but much heavier. Of course, this track is far from being simple and has a wonderful solo in the middle, played by Georgie and what a great solo it is! The drumming is relentless and the sound is mixed perfectly. I also really like the incidental sounds that are played occasionally between guitar parts and they really add to the track. Next up is "Perro Negro." It's still not what I'd class as a typical single, as it incorporates some great guitar playing once more. Agustin sings on this track and to my ears, he sounds like David Grohl, which isn't a bad thing! Of course, he sings in Spanish, but that isn't too much of a distraction. There is a very special duel guitar solo in the middle, which counter off each other rather nicely. "Perro Negro" is rather catchy. Next up is "Disidente", which continues on with similar rhythm guitar as the previous two tracks, yet is a different sounding track to the previous two, still heavy, but more progressive sounding with some funky sounds taking over in the background in the middle section. "Disidente" kind of reminds me of Robert Fripp's earlier days in King Crimson in places. Once more the two guitars have a distinctive sound and the bass is more prominent than it has been previously. Yet again the drumming is spot on, it's not over-the-top and does not get in the way of the rest of the music and keeps the rhythm of the track going. "Disidente" ends with a fade-out and leads into the gentler part of the album... "Orígenes del Movimiento" really slows down the pace of the album and is another wonderful soundscape, but this time more electronic sounding. The ambient soundscape is still however somewhat desperate sounding and I still feel somewhat uneasy, especially as the track gets louder and more domineering as it goes. Orígenes del Movimiento flows nicely into an even more relaxed "Resistencia", which is a post-rock sounding track, with lovely ethereal guitar playing over some peaceful electronic sounds, that remind me of being at the beach. I feel waves crashing and they're getting stronger and once again, the peacefulness of"Resistencia" is somewhat shattered, but I personally like darker music, so this is pleasant to my ears. A marching drum sound takes over, yet the guitar playing continues, whilst the bass meanders in the background, until a heavier guitar sound comes in, yet it's still in a somewhat peaceful vein, but with increased energy and vigour. "Resistencia" ends as it began, with the peaceful air to it and flows into the darkest song on the album..., called "88MHz" "88MHz" -this is a 14 minute epic of very dark proportions and that dark sound never holds up once. This is an avant-garde track in the vein of Univers Zero, or Present and it works perfectly. However, due to the nature of "88MHz", I find it difficult to comment about, but I can say that it's somewhat in 3 parts, with the middle section being amazingly dark. The sax playing reminds me of Gary Windo on Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom" and I am not disappointed one bit. I love this style of sax playing and Georgie does an amazing job at capturing the finer nuances of despair that this track portrays. In fact, I would describe Georgie's Sax playing as sounding like an Exocet missile has been let off in Puerto Rico and everyone is running away from it, that's how scary it sounds! "88MHz" has everything; it's the most perfect track on the album in my opinion. As like the other tracks, you will hear, that rather than the bass dominating, a simple guitar riff does instead, it's something that Astrid Pröll makes their own. The bass does however take over later on in the track, to cut yet more atmospheric genius into the mix. Another part of "88MHz" that makes it feel like I am in agony is the very low mixed voice in the background. The person [Ariel Hernandez] is not saying anything in particular, but it's used as a device to add atmosphere. Very good stuff! This is Astrid Proll's "Starless", a wonderfully compelling and exciting track from start to finish. You really need to hear "88MHz" for yourself, as my words simply do not do it justice. "Pröll 2" is another track with vocals [only one of two on the album] and is a let-off of steam after 88MHz's incendiary outrageousness. However, "Pröll 2" is still heavy and still packs a punch. The electronic moments in this track remind me slightly of Muse and again, they work perfectly with the overall sound of the track. The guitar solo in the middle is so great, it's a highlight of the track and the bass coming back in... great stuff! The synth is also used to masterly affect, they certainly know how to compose great music! "Torso"... oh what a track! This is one of my personal favourites on the album. This is heavily King Crimsonified and sounds like a long-lost outtake from "Red" or "Starless and Bible Black"! I swear that's Robert Fripp playing, but I've been informed it's Georgie! The drumming is worth a mention here, as it's the fastest playing on the album and Fernando does a great job in keeping the pace, an outstanding drummer indeed. And here comes Ian McDonald! Oh, well, it's not Ian McDonald, it's Georgie again! His sax playing is phenomenal! As for the lovely squonky bass, I happen to personally love this sound and it reminds me of... surprise surprise, John Wetton! The moment that bass kicks in after the sax finishes, is pure ecstasy to my ears. The album ends on an exceptional high: "Laboratorio Grotowsky". A track modelled on the Poor Theatre philosophy, whereby no gimmicks are used, so it's pretty much a "live" track with few - if any - overdubs. To my ears, this is Robert Fripp playing in Soft Machine! Hard to imagine isn't it? Well this is what this is! The Frippian guitar lines, the Ian McDonald / Elton Dean style sax playing [actually not Georgie this time, but Milton Barreto] with a hint of that man Windo again, makes for a wonderful track. The band sample the words of Bobby Seale, read by a member of the Black Panthers Party, which is used to represent the oppression that takes place in the United States. They do not overuse this sample either, they know exactly when to cut it off and again, when to re-use it and it's not overkill to me, it works perfectly. Overall, Astrid Pröll S/T debut is exciting from start to finish and incorporates many different influences, from post rock and punk, to chamber rock and avant-prog. They manage to fit it all in! The album all together is an emotionally charged one, from the politically fuelled opener, to the anti-oppression closing track and this is one of the many reasons why I personally love this album. The music tells me the musicians' anger at the world, mainly without words and that is a hard feat to pull off, in my opinion. I don't think a British artist or band could have made this album, due to the aforesaid reason. The one final point I would like to make, is that the track order has been chosen perfectly and I cannot see it working any other way. The band seem to have grouped the similar tracks together, which helps me experience the mood changes I encounter at the same time, rather than making me go on an unpleasant and sickly journey. It's a kind of semi-concept album of sorts, due to this track order. So in conclusion I thoroughly recommend this album to anyone who loves music, especially those that are familiar with some of the genres!