Orquesta del Desierto - s/t
(Meteor City 2002, MCY-022)
Orquesta del Desierto - s/t
(Meteor City 2002, MCY-022)
From Aural Innovations #20 (July 2002)
This group, which features Alfredo Hernandez (Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age), Pete Stahl (Goatsnake, Earthlings?) and Mario Lalli (Fatso Jetson, Desert Sessions), is described as "acoustic, folk flavored desert-blues" in the press release. Well, not quite really. It's really stoner rock gone mostly unplugged, with a vague desert vibe. Most of the basic song progressions are the same mold as the big volume versions would probably be, although they do admittedly come off sounding a bit more folky on tracks like "Waiting for the Star to Fall" and "From this View". I have listened to this a few times now, and I can't fault it on any technical level - the songs are well constructed and played - yet it just doesn't really quite do it for me. It's not bad at all, it may actually be that it's just a little too straight ahead, while I kind of prefer my acoustic desert music to be a little more baked n' weird. I guess I'll just have to listen to Calexico or Black Sun Ensemble records. Oh well. Bring back the fuzz!
For more information you can visit the Meteor City web site at: http://www.meteorcity.com/.
Contact via snail mail c/o Meteor City; PO Box 40322; Albuquerque, NM 87196.
Reviewed by Brian Faulkner