Guilherme da Luz – “Translucent Darkness” (self-released 2005, CDR)

From Aural Innovations #34 (August 2006)

Mahamudra is a guitar/bass/drums/keyboards instrumental quintet from Portugal who play progressive rock with jazz fusion, space rock, psychedelic and krautrock influences. Yes, I know that’s quite a stylistic variety!!

“A Energia” opens the set and is a jazz fusion infused progressive rock tune with bubbly alien synths added for some extra cosmic space rock color. It’s got a great jamming groove, driven by Guilherme da Luz’s keyboards. “No Labirinto Cosmico” is next and begins with a dark and heavy prog feel, like an old Goblin tune, but also has jazz fusion influences and a spaced out psychedelic vibe. At 16 minutes the band really stretch out and explore and get into some nicely freaky spaced out fun, with chants and electronics, but never straying too far from the prog and fusion core. It’s a great combination of stylings that you wouldn’t normally hear together, though Mahamudra make it sound so seamless and cohesive and it helps to shape the band’s sound. I also hear some vocals later in the track but they’re completely buried in the mix. “Buscando” and “Para Todo o Sempre” feature cool jamming prog/fusion with spacey atmospherics, with “Buscando” having some of the most frenzied playing on the album. And “O Encontro Com” starts off as a pure deep space exploration, building after a couple minutes into an intense free-for-all space-fusion-prog jam.

But my hands down favorite of the set is the 19 minute “Mahamudra”. The piece is fast and furious right out of the starting gate, injecting a Space Rock & Krautrock vibe into the band’s trademark fusion-prog sound. Mahamudra shift thematic gears numerous times, exploring and morphing, and at all times retaining a sense of high energy, totally cosmic intensity. Amon Düül II and Ash Ra Tempel came to mind at times, though Mahamudra are in no way retro or derivative of these bands. Hot stuff, yet some of the best moments are during the spaced out fusion jams. An outasight improvisational excursion, and one that showcases the various styles and influences heard throughout the album.

Translucent Darkness is a solo album by Mahamudra keyboardist Guilherme da Luz. I struggled a bit to understand the discography on the Mahamudra web site, and though I didn’t see this title listed it looks like Guilherme may have several other albums under his belt. And while I couldn’t quite make out the track titles, it really doesn’t matter because the CD really plays like a continuous 70 minute journey through space. It’s chock full of deep space freaky UFO electronica with a dark church organ melody over the top. Wild stuff indeed. And like the Mahamudra album, Guilherme keeps things interesting by working with and manipulating contrasts. Much of the album reminded me of a blend of Tangerine Dream and American underground experimental space explorers of the 80′s & 90′s like Alien Planetscapes, Mental Anguish, Nomuzic and Hal McGee. There’s also lots of more subtle and quiet space ambience, colored by all manner of fun freaky sounds and a gorgeous meditative, image inducing vibe. But though the music is cosmic, freaky and exploratory, Guilherme’s progressive rock side shows through in the feeling of thematic development that’s apparent throughout the album, often like a cross between Eloy and a symphonic progressive phantom of the opera. Overall an impressive and enjoyable set of electronic space-prog.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue34/mamudra1.html

From DPRP – Dutch Progressive Rock Page (October 2003)

A band put together by two Lisbon musicians, Manuel Cardoso and Armando Gama, Tantra released its debut album Mistérios e Maravilhas way back in 1978. It was followed two years later by Holocausto which established the band as the only Portuguese Symphonic Prog Rock group able to put out records and back them up with live concerts.

Having built up a strong following across the country, the band next decided to move in a slightly different direction with an album sung in English with a more New Wave feeling. Humanoid Flesh however brought a backlash against the band for singing in English – they had until then strongly defended the use of the Portuguese language – and for moving away from their original sound. As a result the band called it a day in 1981.

More than two decades later it appears that Tantra has climbed out of the history books to begin a new chapter that appears to be very much a return to their roots.

The idea for the new beginning came several years ago, when Manuel Cardoso decided to re-master the band’s first ever concert from 1977, that he had taped on an old two-track recorder. Through this re-mastering process, the passion for Tantra’s music returned and he decided to continue the project that had been suspended in such a sudden way. Finding that none of his previous colleagues shared his desire to do it all over again, Manuel decided to look for new musicians that would fit the spiritual and technical needs of Tantra.

The first new member came forward through a chance meeting in the street. Guilherme da Luz was a Tantra fan who introduced himself to Manuel and told him how much he liked the music. Gui, was an analog synthesist who normally played his deep, spiritual and cosmic music in small venues and fitted the bill perfectly. With the addition of a second guitarist, Bruno Silva, and a drummer, bassist and keyboardist – the line-up was re-made and the second generation of Tantra was ready to record album number four.

Terra is very much a return to the band’s original beginnings – an ever-changing wall of sound formed by an endless array of musical tiles, bricks, colours and textures. Besides the numerous melodies that come and go throughout the album, you will find very complex, sometimes even chaotic musical themes mixed with some oddly dissonant guitar soloing.

The title song, an opus clocking in at just under 10 minutes, is a good place to demonstrate the wideness of Tantra’s music. Divided into four parts, The Vision starts with a church organ and spacey vocals but soon evolves into a typical 70′s sound with keyboards and a leftfield guitar solo. The Cavern is all peace and quiet with an angelic chorus that ends with the outbreak of War. Here the band pierces the listener with chaotic aggression that soon evolves into a celebration of Victory and Celebration that has some striking female vocals.

Manuel’s vocals are the weakest link on the album – although, to be fair, being sung entirely in Portuguese, I’m almost certainly missing something in being able to interpret its place in the overall concept. There is an English translation on the album sleeve which helps. However, those listeners who understand Portuguese will probably be able to appreciate the dark, crushing lyrical themes in a totally different context. The fact that whole album was self-produced and recorded in Manuel’s personal studio, will probably explain the technical restrictions that restrict the overall sound quality too.

I’m sure this album has a natural target audience amongst Portuguese/Brazilian progsters in that a better understanding of the lyrical concept would help paint the full picture. For the rest of us, Terra is certainly an album that needs lot of patience and understanding.

Reviewed by Andy Read | http://www.dprp.net/reviews/200310.html#tantra