Search - Friends of Dean Martinez :: Atardecer

A Masterpiece.

J. Anderson | 11/12/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A hauntingly beautiful album from a fine instrumental band. Do I dare call it a masterpiece? Yes. The songs capture the feel of twilight with a languid and sometimes vaguely menacing sound. Minimalisitc electronic sounds slither through an opiatic landscape of acoustic guitars, plaintive pedal steel, and gentle, fascinating rhythms. Sometimes you even get a glimpse of teeth. I hold this one in VERY high regard and wish that there was some way for an instrumental band with such high artistic integrity and true vision to be better acknowledged. Grab hold of this hidden gem before it slips into the gloaming forever."

FRIEND OF A FRIEND

Guy De Federicis | east of here | 06/01/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Like an obscure '60's Mexican lounge album, crossed with '70's style synthesizers, and towered over by a 21st Century mixboard, this dark and easy-going odyssey into the cosmos via an Ennio Morricone good, bad and ugly guitar, invokes a mental state of a south-of-the-border saloon, with a nourishment-giving insect at the bottom of your drinking glass, a bowl of organic fungi on the bar, and maybe a bare red lightbulb casting strange shadows around the room. It is in this bar that you have the most profound thought of your life, like, "I never noticed before that my teeth are upside down." Deeper the music goes into the cosmic jungle, the guitar leading you into a starry lit desert, you're transported away, and what started off in the first few revolutions as a modest, maybe even bland, space-psych instrumental, leisurely passing dull meteors, vacant planets, and the Mexican Clint Eastwood on horseback, becomes in a few more spins around the galaxy, the understanding of the song, and the revelation that the fungi tastes much better soaked in wine. And you are not of this world. And you're on a quest to find the magic sombrero."

Musical answer to my prayers

Guy De Federicis | 11/16/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What a superb album. Everything is as it should be. Atardecer continually sounds fresh listen after listen. There is no fluff here, and the album is short and sweet...a very cohesive and concise offering. The mood of the album is perhaps summed up best as that of twilight longing. One of the best things is the lack of a singer...the music is gloriously free of any whining or personal introspection...rather it opens itself up to the listener as a personal soundtrack...or soundscape. It's a shame that fine intrumental music does not command the audience that it did in the days of jazz. I especially recommend this to those of you who drive long distances alone in the dark. This music is haunting and gorgeous. Get it!"