Saturday 22 September 2012 - PuraPharm * The Dry Season * Disfrutalo!

by rudyards | September 22nd, 2012

PuraPharm (Houston, TX)
https://www.reverbnation.com/purapharm

Purapharm is the vision of, and was formed by, long-time singer/songwriter/guitarist, Tessa. She is now joined by bassist, and husband, Paul Adams, Niki Sims on saxophone and clarinet, and Anthony “Buffalo” Rodriguez on the beat machine, vocals, keyboards and guitar. Paul and Tessa are also the founding members of their former band, 61-Cygni (www.myspace.com/61cygni ), and they released two cd’s, “Binaural Beatings” and “Playing In The Halocline”. They played numerous shows in 61-Cygni, making a solid and original impression on the Houston music scene.

With Purapharm, they have maintained the wall of spaciousness provided by Tessa’s guitars & vocals and Paul’s thunderin’ bass groove foundations, but also added the soothing melodies of Niki’s horns and Buffalo’s hypnotic rhythms & melodies. The sound is toned down an iota from the 61-Cygni sound and is slightly more meditative, yet still maintaining the influences of bands like Curve, The Church, My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins & Sonic Youth to name a few, that were ever-so present in 61-Cygni.

Purapharm is currently in the studio and in the pre-production stages of work on their debut release.

 

The Dry Season (Austin, TX)
https://thedryseason.com/

The Dry Season is an Austin, Texas based band that began in March of 2008 as a neo-psychedelic, post rock group combining beautiful haunting vocals, atmospheric soundscapes, swirling effects-drenched guitar, and tight dynamic arrangements. There is a highly expansive cinematic quality to their music which is well reflected in their extraordinary videos for the songs “Follow Me Down”, “Larry” and “The Car.”
In January 2009 they released, Larry, a 5-song EP and quickly piqued interests among audiences and critics alike by staging overwhelming, emotionally splendid, atmospheric performances. Their full length self titled album “The Dry Season” was released on May 15 2011 and received exceptional reviews among local and national critics and radio deejays. They then embarked on a summer tour throughout the west and central US. Several songs from the new album will be used in the upcoming climate change documentary “At Any Cost” by the award wining independent film company Joe Public Films.
The Dry Season delicately glide from hypnotic ambient textures to sonically destructive chaos with overwhelming emotion. Within the ethereal soundscapes and the rage of distortion and bombardment of feedback, you are just as likely to experience extreme emotions like sadness and beauty, lightness and darkness, chaos and peace, happiness and melancholy. It is The Dry Season’s ability to combine, intertwine and swing back and forth from such opposite extremes to create an emotional phantasmagoria that makes this band worth experiencing.

 

Disfrutalo! (Pasadena, TX)
https://www.reverbnation.com/disfrutalo

Disfrutalo! (enjoy it) was formed late 2009 in Pasadena/Houston Tx with three of the four remaining members of “Special Lady Friend” a Houston band now in hiatus created by Rolando Fontalvo and the late Aaron Herrera.

Disfrutalo! is a new direction in playing music for the band consisting of Elijah Kelley (bass,guitar,keyboard,didgeridoo, vocals), Rolando Fontalvo (bass,guitar,keyboard, clarinet, vocals), and Sammy Reyna (drums and percussion) and other various guest musicians. The latest addition to our live show our Joel Sinister (of InZurgo, guitar) and Gerardo Gonzales (of Rowe & Yoko Mono, percussion & vocals).

Disfrutalo! has released one 43min self released demo entitled “La ciencia del sonido furioso!” meaning “the science of furious sound” available at live shows and FREE to download . It was all recorded at Elijah’s house recorded with a Rock Band video game usb mic and a Blue Snowball usb mic and was mixed and produced by Rolando and Elijah. All of the tracks are sections of various long jam sessions from late ’09 to early ’10.

In the words of Rolando describing the band, “Our music is real; it has it’s good moments and it’s bad. It’s not always the same thing, and it’s not always nice. On stage, I even make mistakes and get angry, just like in real life. This band is our attempt at emulating the universe with a spontaneous moment of creation..as in a BigBang.”

And in the words of a young lady who had just seen Disfrutalo! for the fist time live, she said “they sound like an extraterrestrial, bio-mechanical pterodactyl”

Throughout 2010-11 Disfrutalo! have performed shows all around the Houston area at well known venues such as Dean’s, Notsuoh’s, Mango’s, Bohemeo’s, Fitzgerald’s, even Starbucks, Super Happy Fun Land, Houston Beerfest, Summerfest, a redneck bar?, Avant Garden, Numbers, a couple house parties and were nominated as “Best Instrumental/Experimental Band” in the 2010 Houston Press Music Awards, they’ve opened for the Memorials 2011 Freedom Tour, and opened for Zech’s Marquise Nov. 2011.

The bands live show started out as primarily improv and the rest is music that came from jam sessions that was kept and refined, still leaving room for new music, incense, dancing, guest musicians and some sort of interesting artistic visuals in each show.

Disfrutalo! is set to record their 1st EP with non-other than Ikey Owens of The Mars Volta/Free Moral Agents to produce and play keyboards. Tracking will be done at the beautiful 713Studios. No release date yet but it is estimated to be out around the end of January/early February, followed by a tour. Because they are a completely DIY band they are launching a Kickstarter campaign to help support funding for mixing, master, & touring.