Krakatoa

Discography

Patagonia - 2012    iTunes - Click Here

Patagonia is the first album produced by Krakatoa, in early 2012. The concept behind its creation was to present a very musically diverse experience to our listeners, which is one of the main features of our live presentations. Part of the album was recorded almost two years ago (tracks "Bronx", "3AM" and "Up to You") and the others were recoded a few months ago.

The product, in spite of its high amount of made-at-home content (mixing, mastering, CD art, and about half of the sound recording itself) is a great start to get our music out. The title was inspired on one of our most successful creations, the song Patagonia. The following are some of the additional pieces of information that could be interesting to know. The album was entirely recorded with our own instruments, as it is described in our gear page. 

The album includes 11 tracks, which we have intercalated to give as much continuity as possible in spite the great contrast between the styles of our songs. Below are some additional comments you may find interesting behind each track:

1. Infinie: We often open our shows with this song, to start things slow. The track starts with a synthesized guitar and upright bass coming both from Gustavo's Warr Guitar. The big horn sound we hear early during the tune is Richard's massive Baritone Sax. After Rob starts with his drums, there is a synthesized "Zurna" solo (middle east small trumpet) by Gustavo, an amazing Tenor Sax solo by Richard, to end with a synthesized Cello solo by Gustavo.
2. Patagonia: Song that gives the name to our album, was inspired by the striking beauty and imposing landscape of the Patagonia region in South America. The song starts with a looping synth track and a very groovy bass and then turns into a big band brass riff, where Richard plays the Baritone Sax and Gustavo the trumpets section through the Warr Guitar. The song changes dramatically towards the middle, where we all switch to a calmer section, Rob goes to a"continuum" sound and Richard delivers his Tenor Sax solo. The song ends with a very dramatic violin arrangement by Gustavo and his Warr.
3. Bronx: Here is a very groovy/urban sound. The first riff (Richard - Tenor Sax) gets intercalated by Rob and Gustavo's percussive rhythm, to generate a sequence that works very well. The song changes radically in the middle, during the solo section, the first solo by Richard and then Gustavo with a synthesized violin sound. 
4. Appalache: This is an multi-section composition that really challenges the "AABA" music structure guidelines... the tune just changes abruptly through several sections building up towards a plateau where Richard delivers what we believe is one of his most powerful solos. When he plays this during our live performances we get one of these killer moments. The tune starts with a 7/4 loop and a voice (Gustavo's, through a massive amount of effects) singing some words in Punjabi. Then we go though an introduction to the main riff, which is followed by the incredible solo mentioned above. The song ends with a very groovy riff, still over the original 7/4 loop. Fun to play, and hopefully fun for you to listen to.
5. 3AM: It seems every jazzy group around has a tune named 3AM. Ours is a very contemporary jazzy piece, very easy to listen to. The song was recorded almost a couple of years ago, and we thought that would be great to remaster it and put it in the album. This is one of a few songs where we added an electric guitar to give some texture to the sound.
6. Mokushiroku: This one of the very ethnic sides of Krakatoa. The song, composed a few weeks before the horrible earthquake and Tsunami that devastated Japan, was named "Mokushiroku" which means Apocalypse in Japanese. The song starts with a very far-east style with a lot of synthesized cellos and percussions through Gustavo's Warr Guitar, combined with a very tribal rhythm by Rob. The song moves into a solo section, where Richard goes first and continues with Gustavo's synthesized violins, to end on a crazy-apocalyptic section that moves very quickly to the middle east, with some very Arabic textures.
7. Atlantique: This beauty is also quite unique, a sort-of collapse between an orchestral background with Rob's after-punk rhythm. The composition has a very powerful synthesized bass on the background that brings the festive sound of the melody down to an obscure/mystic low end to the tune. A lot of contrast, great melody. On this one Richard plays his soprano Sax, and all violins and synth bass come from Gustavo's rig.
8. Anniversaire 19: This tune is played only by Gustavo, where his right hand plays a synthesized piano and his left an upright bass, both coming from his Warr Guitar. This slow-tempo Latin rhythm was inspired by some of Chucho Valdes' music, and composed to celebrate his 19th anniversary of marriage with Beatriz.
9. Up to you: Very early work by Krakatoa, which we composed together on the fly during one of our practice sessions. The tune, also very upbeat, has some great soloing sounds, very tight sound from all band members. 
10. Eleven Bullets: very dramatic tune, based on Gustavo's brother Diego interpretation of piece by Emil Tabakov, which is in 11/8. The song's background has a synthesized piano and another super-solo by Richard. The tune ends on a very apocalyptic section towards the end, with trumpets, sax, very heavy drums and a distorted guitar.
11. Belvedere: Another multi-section composition, with lots of different styles and textures through the song. On this one we make Rob work a lot, changing the speed, style, rhythm multiple times, but at the end the tune gives an overall idea of what we are trying to deliver. Belvedere is a very old neighborhood in Montevideo (Gustavo's birth place), with very old houses, very mature trees, which inspired the name of this song.

If you choose to buy this album, you will be giving us the opportunity to continue our research for unique and enjoyable music. We thank you beforehand for doing so, and we certainly hope you enjoy our music.