Nemegata Album Review

South American since birth and Austinian by emancipation, Nemegata knows no antecedents locally. Superfónicos share the Colombian connection, but like Grupo Fantasma offshoot Brownout before them, the now local trio cracks a whiplash tabula rasa rock. Planet Latinx retains no discernable indie signature other than its mother tongue, but even within that distinction, Victor-Andres Cruz, César Valencia, and Fabian Rincón slash a singular crop circle. Detonator "Yo Quisiera" splatters post-punk in ritualistic Spanish upside Eighties Euro guitars and avant-garde production flat and minimalist but inflamed. "El Llamado" unfolds a stripped roots taunt, voices chanting "the drum liberated you" en español before the song bursts into a retrofuturistic synth/guitar space jam that imagines Esquivel forging hardcore on a Mellotron. Melted distortion ("El Porro de Manuel Zúñiga") and deliriously lit solos ("El Rompecabezas") from Cruz match his shaman, curandero, jaguar intonations – holy, dispassionate, inevitable. Ominous centerpiece "Oro" lays down ancient and original trap percussion from Rincón and bassist Valencia, while "Nyïa" stokes incantation and supplication – otherworldly, sacrificial – inside a spellcasting drone. "El Hijo" even coins a new genre: ancestral post-punk. Battering beats and guitar clamor build a buzzing hysteria between your ears like the whole of Hycha Wy.