107 FAUNOS, 107 FAUNOSDiscos Laptra, Argentina ***
Rating: 62
By Carlos Reyes
We are witnessing a moment of enlightenment and constellations in several music regions in Latin America. It’s almost as if a musical wave had crashed into towns proclaiming interpreters to go back to prime colors. 107 Faunos joins fellow Prietto Viaja Al Cosmos Con Mariano and El Mato A Un Policía Motorizado as the leading evangelists of this movement in Argentina. All three bands not only share nationality but also peculiar laziness in the vocals. It almost seems like 107 Faunos is staring at conventionality and trying to defy it, the outcome isn’t extraordinaire or even concrete, but it’s like the weird favorite cousin we all love because of his distinctiveness. This is their debut album and while they are no where near the complexity of the trip Prietto and Mariano offer us, this album is said to be a key production on the emergence of a rock independent scene in Argentina, and that’s why I’m taking the time to review it. Sounds denigrating, but if I had a cat and that cat liked music, this is the kind of laidback songs he would be listening to. The instrumentation is at times very eloquent, especially on songs like “Constelaciones” and “John Henry”, designed for the garage. The most exciting song here is “Pequeña Honduras”, is the only song that truly conveys a sense of irrationality as opposed to effortless music. While the song “Nenes de Mama” sums up the entire proposal of the band, an instrumental song with a plain and simple interference of a male’s voice reflecting “We are mama’s boys, with time and madness, we will make our wish come true and we are willing to do what it takes.” This might be a bit too hard to digest, give it time and it might have an impact on you, I myself struggled with it, but at the end I found a cute little musical exercise that I would have preferred as an EP.