(Disaster Amnesiac) Before Orasique's Ixtlahuaca even ended up in Disaster Amnesiac's possession, I was excited about it. Its orange jay card, emblazoned with what is clearly Bryan Day's asemic art work and listing of (to me) unfamiliar musicians provided the requisite intrigue. Suffice it to say I am happy to have listened to it. Orasique is a group made up of Don Malfon on alto saxophone, Fernando Barrios on drums, Marco Albert on vocals, and Misha Marks on iatarra, which is a home made electric guitar. Each of these elements battle it out on Ixtlahuaca's seven tracks, sometimes fiercely, as on Quien sabe que clase de revoltos sean, sometimes with more restraint, as on Oyo alla astra su propia voz. It's really fascinating to hear the various sounds of the iatarra; this instrument naturally has timbral characteristics of regular guitars, but its body seems to give it a very pleasing metallic flavor as Marks gets down on it. There are most assuredly spaces in which he develops regular "guitary" themes, but it's just that the iatarra often ups the ante on the "guitar as percussion instrument" hand, and in Misha's hands it often feels like an extension of Barrios' kit. Speaking of which, Fernando sounds as if he's assembled a set of drums that features various small elements, metal wrenches and cracked cymbals and junk shop busted head small tambors to go along with his traditional, very nicely resonant bass drum. His "all over" style skitters and scatters along during Las urgencias del cuerpo and Cuando los vivos comenzaron a salir, but he's not afraid to keep things bone simple, as on Oyo alla...., where he sounds like he's been studying Tony Williams' minimalist hi-hat on In A Silent Way. Marco Albert's vocalizing often brings images of crazed street corner prophets, but it's clear that he's also exploring the concept of voice as primary musical instrument. The small sound crevices and and burbling dada cadences of Cuando los vivos comenzaron a salir show this. His background in electronic music would seem to be a ground for these voice explorations. Don Malfon keeps a quieter profile throughout much of Ixtlahuaca, indeed he often seems to be content to let the other three dudes duke things out. That said, when he lets loose, it's clear that he has a point of view and a voice with which to show it. It seems clear that Don gets the whole group concept. His shredded ribbons of alto sound on Me mato un novillo are certainly worth the wait. Taken in as a whole, Ixtlahuaca is a juicy sound revel from a quartet that digs in and develops seven pieces of organic and compelling band-based Improvised Music. This release has an organic, loose feel that is never stuffy and academic, that's for sure. Listen, fellas, Disaster Amnesiac is living only about an hour or so away from Heroica Nogales. Any chance you could do a tour up that way? Listo! - Mark Pino

(Lost in A Sea Of Sound) eh? and Orasique are two electrons orbiting a nucleus of pure sonic energy. They have worked together, Orasique providing the sounds and eh? securing the platform for the sounds to be heard in a wider spectrum. In this edition of aural spirit, Orasique has collected seven tracks making the foundation of Ixtlahuaca. This album is uncovered seething radioactive noise. Structures have been discarded or melted away over time. What remains are four musicians connecting their vast experience, all gathered in an ammunition depot with a gunpowder trail fuse slowly burning to the center. The beauty of Ixtlahuaca is there is no explosion. With all the combustible energy in hand, this group of four artists skillfully skirts complete mayhem and delivers the thresholds of magnificent sounds. One of the most intriguing aspects of Ixtlahuaca is the use of voice. Marco Albert is credited with voz in the liner notes, an Italian musician with a flare for language and it's diversity. Fernando Barrios from El Salvador creates an asymmetrical palate of percussion and electronics. The deteriorating canvas held together by strings from Misha Marks, a New Zealand born guitarist who plays a latarra (a homemade electric guitar built from an old metallic first-aid kit). And the colorful splash of sound strokes on this sonic canvas are procured by Barcelona's Don Malfon, a saxophonist with a extensive history in creativity. There is no very good way to use words for description of the sound these four artists have created. The platform is completely free and together they hold cohesive discipline. The bandcamp notes say "free-improv quartet based in Mexico". I would add to this, raw clarity of untethered consciousness, their thoughts brought together by lifetimes of experience in making music. The connection they have made hovers in check with their abilities to be part of something, and not all of themselves. A complete submergence into a fantastic creation of sound. As stated above, Ixtlahuaca is released on the San Fransisco label eh? Cassettes are available from the Public Eyesore / eh? website or their bandcamp page. This is a release that grows better with each listen, and also unveils how talented these artists are, and are together. - Robot Rattle

(Kathodik) Avant-impro dal Messico. Orasique, son un quartetto composto dal sax del catalano Don Malfon, la latarra (un’elettrica autoprodotta con un kit metallico di primo soccorso) del neozelandese Misha Marks, la batteria e oggetti del salvadoregno Fernando Barrios, la voce dell’italiano Marco Albert (tra i fondatori del collettivo multimediale milanese, Otolob). Staffilate, convulsioni, ritualistiche evoluzioni, silenzi, ironia e decostruzione linguistica. Urgenza affilatissima, calibrata al millimetro e al millisecondo. - Marco Carkasi

(Sands-Zine) Degli Orasique s’è scritto recentemente recensendo la compilation “Pulsioni Oblique Vol. 2”, pur’essa su cassetta, e a quella recensione rimando il lettore che vuol saperne di più. Posso solo aggiungere che l’utilizzo della voce, in declamazioni surreal-dadaiste, porta in questo frangente a un confronto serrato con i Jealousy Party di Mat Pogo. Il che è tutto dire! Se riusciranno a pubblicare su un formato più guascone, tipo CD o vinile, potrebbero lasciare un segno ben visibile negli anni a venire. - Mario Biserni

(Raised By Cassettes) Right away this cassette starts off with some horns and it's just weird jazz. Vocals come in, but they aren't really saying words and sound more like perhaps what a squirrel might sound like if trying to sing. This is so fast paced now that if there was such a subgenre for jazz as skramz I believe this could be in it. The tones are plucked higher and it sounds like beeping from the vocals. There is such a feeling of urgency in here but it is also quite fun, like it could make you bounce off of the walls. This shifts into a more straight forward noisy punk rock song. It becomes organized chaos and I really do enjoy the destructive side of it all. A sound like banging now, as vocals are spoken and distortion runs wild behind them. There are little honks from horns and this just feels like a jazz song falling apart. Quieter now, the next song has some scraping and it sounds like hints of scales being hummed. This is the creaking of the door opening slowly and the power singing of a monk combined to form an ominous sound. Notes begin to come in now as well. The singing becomes so overpowering as the notes scramble. On the flip side, the jazz horns return with grunts and growls as vocals. Then the words begin to be forming but I cannot understand them. This is getting rather savage and primal now. Some laughing. It slows down now, as it seems to be calming. This all comes into the next song which begins with a quiet whistling. Sounds like birds or some other animal come in now as well, in squeaks and squeals. The percussion has been a big factor on this cassette and you can really hear that now. Slowly, the horns come back in with vocal sounds. Rattling and growling now, as this is vocal sounds that aren't words and very minimal sound along with them. As the sound cuts through sharper, the vocals pick up to where they could almost be words. This all comes together like rattling glass bottles and the train horns sounding as the vocals reappear and send it into utter chaos. This all sort of ends as everything fades out and it just felt like such a wild ride. - Joshua Macala

(Sound Projector) Orasique are a quartet based in Mexico just now, although their members are from all over – sax player Don Malfon is from Spain, Misha Marks from New Zealand, drummer Fernando Barrios from El Salvador, and Marco Albert is from Italy. They’re described as a “free-improv quartet”, but this genre label doesn’t adequately contain the unhinged noises on this release Ixtlahuaca (EH? 119). For one thing we’ve got the very weird sound – the combination of these four players exceeds the boundaries, more than once, of what might be considered “polite and restrained” modes of playing in the free-improv mode, especially among those musicians who like to live under a veneer of “respectfulness”. Instead, anything-goes is not only the rule of thumb for the recording session, but (I’d like to think) is a philosophy they all live by, and this raucous behaviour extends out into the street and the restaurant where they went afterwards to order lunch (the cafe owner there is currently recovering in an asylum). Only the saxophone of Malfon clues us in to any kind of jazz-related exploits, and even here his blurtish yawps would be more suited to an all-nighter with Hijokaidan or Incapacitants. Second secret weapon is Marks from Aotearoa, who’s been putting down roots in Mexico City since 2008 (and has grown into a deadly plant emitting vapours that destroy all normals within 50 feet radius); his chosen weapon is his trusty “latarra”, a home-made guitar which he built from an old first-aid box (how??!). He, I guess, is responsible in this foursome for smashing the air with his noise-rock inflected swipes and violent stabs. Thoroughly approve we do. As for vocalist Marco Albert, we were knocked sideways by his bizarre Mutations record for this label in 2020, but here he seems intent on going even further if anything, and runs a gamut of styles and extreme vocal approaches, more like a crazed actor rehearsing movie-monster roles than a conventional musician. Bashing metal and skins Barrios is not merely a sideman or rhythm section, but an integral part of the semi-ugly sound as he scrapes and skitters, and a big part of propelling the inchoate energy-push that these four achieve as surely as a giant ogre stomping across waste-ground in pursuit of his quarry. Lest I seem to keen to characterise these four geniuses as primitive, untutored “wild men” of improv, you need only peruse their respective histories to learn they have performed with many great musicians and bands across the world, and are clearly respected in this and many other genres. The cover art may look plain and unprepossessing, but this is a truly demented, overheated item of absurdist, abrasive joy - Ed Pinsent

(KFJC) free improv quartet out of Mexico of multi-national origins, with artists from Catalonia, New Zealand, El Salvador, and Italy (reflecting the multicultural nature of the region of Mexico implied in the title). full on freeform frenzy, fiery but more of a low simmer; bubbles, pops and screams abound. a flurry of lysergic radiance and delusional unity, the psychic collaboration of sonic chaos sending each other off deep chasm into sharp corners and sparse contemplation, expertly dynamic shifting from one track to another. this is surly jazz, but in deeply troubled and confused form. regardless, the digestible track lengths leave no excuse to throw a cut in the mix. lacerate your brain with this psychotic sizzling skronk and sizzle. - Abacus