Migala
La Increible Aventura
Acuarela
Having gotten into popular music about five years after the advent of MTV, I never really bought into the notion that videos, by fashioning a crude visual plotline for a song, ruined all chances of open interpretation for any given song. Gradually I weaned myself off MTV, while the network was cutting back on their music programming, and I haven’t really felt worse off for doing so. Since then I’ve had time to rethink my stance, believing now that videos exist as another form of advertising, as artifice that only serves to perpetuate music “scenes” rather than music itself. Of course this doesn’t mean that I’m not receptive to a well made music video or that I haven’t wondered about the theoretical visuals of my favorite bands that have no budgets for such productions. I’ve been especially curious about cinematic post-rock, and on Migala’s La Increible Aventura I’ve found an answer.
On their new album, Spain’s best indie rock band enlisted the help of filmmaker Nacho R. Peidra to create a film concurrent with their recording process, so that the film could inspire the music and vice versa. Migala’s sound is a mish mash of achy alt. country (“Your Star, Strangled”), humid atmospherics (“El gran miercoles”), swirling guitar noise (“Dear Fear:”), serial movie scores (“WWW”) and snippets of pop culture (the lawsuit-in-waiting bit of copped Darth Vader dialogue on “El Imperio del Mal”). The band stays away from the overdrawn epic tendencies of some of their contemporaries, opting instead for focused four or five minute bursts before moving on to a new distinct sound and emotional landscape.
This constantly changing palette frees up Piedra for some interesting experimentation on his end for the companion DVD. This includes: a tiger-masked, all leather martial arts battle (not as hot as it sounds) on “El Tigre que hay en ti,” iris manipulations and dark hued filters on extended shots of the sun on “Your Star, Strangled” and a parallax view of overwhelming neon at an all night carnival on “WWW.”
I’m still up in the air as to whether or not I’d like to see this concept extended to other post-rock bands, because I foresee future disappointment with this concept in the hands of lesser artists. This release, however, is impressive from start to finish. Buy, listen, watch. Please.
Acuarela: http://www.acuareladiscos.com
