Abraxas - Monte Carlo '2022

Tracks list

       Carolina Faruolo (ex-Los Bitchos) and Danny Lee Blackwell (Night Beats)
had been friends and mutual admirers of each other's musical projects for years,
though with Faruolo residing in the UK and Blackwell residing in Texas, their
interactions were limited. Yet as was so often the case for many of us during
the shelter-in-place stretches of 2020, geographic proximity wound up being a
non-issue as our socializations became almost exclusively online endeavors. In
this era of isolation and uncertainty, Faruolo and Blackwell invented their own
private escape to Latin rhythms, colorful vistas, and smoky revelries under the
project name of Abraxas. Combining their shared love of Wendy Renee, Los
Destellos, doo-wop and R&B, they crafted their debut album Monte Carlo by
bouncing ideas across the Atlantic. "Planet Abraxas is a world filled with
jungles, mist-covered rivers, panthers lurking in the night, desolate shopping
malls, Neolithic citadels and sand-worn walls," Blackwell says of the muse
behind Monte Carlo. "The nights are usually dense with fog and the air is filled
with the sounds of cicadas and faraway drumming." This visual manifestation of
their sound stands in stark contrast to the environment in which the songs were
written. "I remember the feeling I got the first time Danny added vocals to one
of my tracks," Faruolo recalls. "I was sitting on my sofa in rainy Manchester in
the middle of winter. I pressed play and the song just made my heart jump. It
instantly felt special and, more importantly, it felt like a perfect portrait of
both of us." Uruguayan-born Faruolo grew up with the tropical beats of cumbia
and the psychedelic flavor of classic chicha artists, and it became her mission
to infuse those sunny influences in her work as a UK musician. Blackwell's work
under the Night Beats handle involves the fusion of outlaw soul and R&B with a
resourceful DIY spirit. Despite the apparent contrast in their styles, the two
musicians bonded over their reverence for Selena and Sade, exemplars of the
humid pulse and sultry spirit of their respective approaches. As Abraxas, their
distinctive musical perspectives created a sound that encompassed the tropicalia
of Os Mutantes, the scrappy songwriting of Cleaners From Venus, and the trippy
production of Lee "Scratch" Perry, though the duo is quick to assert that they
were finding their own distinctive voices rather than adhering to pre-existing
stylistic codes and constraints. And indeed, Monte Carlo feels rooted in
tradition but blossoms into its own unique timbres and vibrations. Monte Carlo
opens with "Sunrise State (of Mind)," where a hypnotic cumbia beat serves as the
bedrock for cosmic guitar leads, hazy choral melodies, and Blackwell's seductive
vocals. From there, the album continues its steady Latin pulse on "Mañana," a
perfect soundtrack to feverish nights in dancehalls, sipping on caipirinhas and
sharing cigarettes with strangers on the dancefloor. Across its twelve tracks,
Monte Carlo unfurls a myriad of exotic influences, from the Eastern melodies and
guitar trills on "Sultan," through the dub-infected stomp and scorching fuzz of
"La Estampida," and on to the Anatolian psych-funk of album closer "Göbekli
Tepe."



Tracklist:
1 01. Abraxas - Sunrise State (Of Mind) (04:27)
1 02. Abraxas - Mañana (03:38)
1 03. Abraxas - Sultan (03:25)
1 04. Abraxas - Monte Carlo (03:44)
1 05. Abraxas - La Estampida (02:33)
1 06. Abraxas - Hourglass (02:20)
1 07. Abraxas - Prismatic (04:05)
1 08. Abraxas - Yes (03:59)
1 09. Abraxas - Golden (03:10)
1 10. Abraxas - Fuji (03:11)
1 11. Abraxas - Shapeshifter (03:34)
1 12. Abraxas - Göbekli Tepe (04:15) 

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