Posts Tagged ‘Juan Manuel Diaz’

Album of the day: Humo del Cairo – Vol.II

Posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: While it rested its strength in laid back desert atmospherics, the 2010 self-titled debut album from Buenos Aires rockers Humo del Cairo was more a show of potential than a distinguishing statement. It made the trio a band to watch.

The quick-arriving follow-up, Vol. II (Estamos Felices), validates that anticipation. Humo del Cairo – guitarist / vocalist Juan Manuel Diaz, bassist Gustavo Bianchi and new drummer Federico Castrogiovanni – have stripped down their approach to the most necessary parts and presented a well-structured collection of songs that work as well individually as they do grouped together.

It’s a rare balance, but Vol. II hits it, and where the self-titled had material that (purposefully) meandered into heavy jamming like the 11-minute ‘A Tiempo’, the longest song on Vol. II doesn’t quite hit seven minutes and is among the more direct and explicitly memorable riffs on the record.

That the trio should be able to so quickly shift their approach between releases may or may not be a surprise – one never knows how long it’s been since the songs for the first record were written unless one asks, and I haven’t (yet) – but the confidence Humo del Cairo bring to their performance here and the sonic breadth they manage to cover while still maintaining relatively straightforward verse / chorus structures speaks to a distinct progression that’s admirable no matter the time span it happened over. Some bands don’t grow this much over the course of three albums, let alone one.

They operate in a variety of moods and still have wind up inevitably comparable to hometown stalwarts Los Natas at times, but by and large, Humo del Cairo’s riffing has gotten thicker and tighter. Diaz and Bianchi’s tones are rich on opening duo ‘Fe’ and ‘Los Ojos‘, and even later on the instrumental layering interlude ‘Monte’, they seem to retain a character of increasing individuality.

If every album has a narrative to it – and most do – then that of Vol. II is one of Humo del Cairo beginning to come into their own stylistically. Heavy rock is at the core of every move they make, and they weave in and out of stonerly atmospheres, but Vol. II is striking in terms of the variety of mood it presents and how well the songs work together.

There are 11 tracks, and each justifies its inclusion by standing out in one way or another, be it a particularly engaging riff, a memorable vocal melody (all the lyrics are in Spanish), or in the case of ‘Fe’, an overall largess of tone that sets the course for the album as a whole.

Continue reading: The Obelisk: REVIEW: Humo del Cairo, Vol. II.
(Courtesy of JJ Koczan/The Obelisk)

Tags: Album of the day, Estamos Felices, Humo del Cairo, JJ Koczan, Juan Manuel Diaz, Stonerrock, The Obelisk
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