{"id":14057,"date":"2023-06-19T00:00:40","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T04:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/?p=14057"},"modified":"2023-06-19T10:43:37","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T14:43:37","slug":"libelula-land-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/libelula-land-whales\/","title":{"rendered":"Dragonfly \/ Land Whales"},"content":{"rendered":"

The international <\/span>shoegaze<\/span><\/i> is a musical genre that emerged in the UK in the late 1980s and is defined by a powerful and abrasive sonority. It is characterized by ethereal layers of sound, usually achieved through the processing of electric guitars and effects pedals (distortion, distortion, etc.), <\/span>reverb <\/span><\/i>or <\/span>delayed<\/span><\/i>). In search of the creation of dreamy atmospheres, usually with unintelligible or simple vocal interpretations, their aim is rather to express an emotion, rather than to give a lyrical message directly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This genre is, from my point of view as an outside observer, a sort of <\/span>punk<\/span><\/i> shy. It owes its name to the musicians who play it, since, by using a large number of pedals of different types, they usually remain looking at the floor (<\/span>shoe-gazing<\/span><\/i>), although others say it alludes to the shyness of the interpreters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The very way in which this style is conceived takes into account the attitude of the performers, who largely seek to create layers of sound that hide what the voice really wants to say in its rawest and most visceral form.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, the <\/span>shoegaze<\/span><\/i> takes on the energy and rawness of the <\/span>punk<\/span><\/i>and carries them through space wrapped in thousands of layers of sweetness and ethereal softness. If the <\/span>shoegaze<\/span><\/i> cotton candy, the <\/span>punk<\/span><\/i> would be the stick that holds everything and that, as much sweetness that surrounds it, has at its core that rawness and need to express the innermost in a visceral way.<\/span><\/p>\n

What's this all about?<\/span><\/p>\n

It can be said that in Cuba there is a <\/span>indie-rock. <\/span><\/i>There always was in spirit, but not in name. Many bands of all the rock edges, which is not the same as metal, already have their works available in the platforms of <\/span>streaming<\/span><\/i>but one of the last subgenres to enter this list has been the <\/span>shoegaze<\/span><\/i>which arrives thanks to Land Whales and their debut EP <\/span>Dragon-fly <\/span><\/i>(Hiss Records, 2023), recorded between 2021 and 2022 and released on January 12 of this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dragon-fly<\/span><\/i> is, at least declaredly, the first allusion to a work of <\/span>shoegaze<\/span><\/i> in Cuba, although it can be considered a <\/span>National Electronics<\/span><\/a> as a precursor of this genre in our country with themes such as <\/span>We have reached the future!<\/span><\/i><\/a>with more tinges of electronic music, specifically IDM (<\/span>Intelligent Dance Music<\/span><\/i>), than rock. Both IDM and <\/span>shoegaze<\/span><\/i> converge in their quest to create enveloping atmospheres from the repetition of motifs and melodies through the use of superimposed sound processing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Without being exactly the same thing, there are precursors of the <\/span>noise rock<\/span><\/i>as the Trio Mataflores, which played it in <\/span>a banana grove<\/span><\/a>or Cristian Alejandro who, following his father's spirit, ingenuously experimented with distortion at high levels complemented by a suffering voice, similar to the way it is used in the <\/span>shoegaze<\/span><\/i>in songs such as <\/span>Lost<\/span><\/i><\/a>the main theme of the telenovela <\/span>Dust in the wind<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Land Whales?<\/span><\/p>\n

Land Whales is a band from Havana, four are its members (now) and their style varies, but in this work it is the <\/span>shoegaze <\/span><\/i>their main letter of introduction. Its head is Yaismar Schellekens, better known as Martin or Rogelio in the local scene. <\/span>geeks<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>punkers<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>undergrounds<\/span><\/i> of <\/span>indie<\/span><\/i> Havana, electronic music and the <\/span>hyper-reparto<\/span><\/i>. When I say <\/span>indie<\/span><\/i>I mean this in the strict and original sense of the word, do not read Arctic Monkeys, nor Tame Impala. Land Whales is music made and recorded from a room, distributed by the Chilean independent label <\/span>Hiss Records<\/span><\/i> founded by Claudio Manriquez (<\/span>Sonic horse mackerel<\/span><\/i>), leader of the Chilean group of <\/span>shoegaze<\/span><\/i> Adelaide, one of the Land Whales reference bands. The release of <\/span>Dragon-fly<\/span><\/i> through this label is due to the tireless persistence of Martin, who even before he came of age had achieved the dream of any emerging musician: that a band he admires and respects appreciates his work enough to release it under their label.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They say that, just a few days before the scheduled release date of the EP on <\/span>streaming<\/span><\/i>Martin sent his work first to Jurel S\u00f3nico and then to Anke Steinhofel (Adelaide's bassist) and received positive words about the work. Within a month, Jurel contacted him directly and offered to release his debut through Hiss Records. Without hesitation, Martin, who had already received refusals or no response from more than 50 labels, cancelled the planned release under a generic distributor in order to do it through the label of one of his favorite bands.<\/span><\/p>\n