Combining elements of classic British progressive rock and jazz, not so popular genres nowadays, probably may seem commercial suicide, but this extremely exciting eight piece band from Barcelona, Spain, delivering an absolutely groovy and colorful mixture of jazz, jazz rock and progressive rock, their music overlapping the classic sounds of the 60s and 70s, but introducing modern, avant-garde textures, glows, experimental turns and subtle colors, creating unique, new musical fusions.
Founded in Barcelona in 1999, the band is named after a radically creative children’s TV show from the early 1980s – Imaginary Planet. Their music should appeal to listeners of such diverse artists as: Anekdoten, AKA moon, Area, John Coltrane, King Crimson, Avishai Cohen, Steve Coleman, Deus ex Machina, Gabriel Faure, Gilgamesh, Hatfield at the North, Pat Metheny, Nucleus, Soft Machine, Van der Graaf Generator, Frederic Mompou, National Health, Weather Report, Kenny Werner, Frank Zappa, and John Zorn.
On their second album entitled “Biomasa” and released in 2008, Planeta Imaginario blends geographically and temporally disparate musical influences, from the English Canterbury School (National Health, Gilgamesh, Hatfield and the North) of progressive rock, Chick Corea’s Spanish fusions, American guitar rock (a la The Allman Brothers Band), West African and Mediterranean rhythms into a fantastically creative, imaginative, evocative and uplifting musical brew, including a world of musical references – everything from A to Z – Allman Brothers to Zappa – and influences from continents ranging from Africa to North America, Europe and beyond.
The 13 tracks of “Optical Delusions” is an absolutely fascinating journey through classic progressive rock moments extremely inspired twisted into explosive free-jazz, pulsing jazz rock passages, it’s like a constant chase of smooth, spacy moments and groovy, experimental explosions. Quite hard to describe it precisely, Planeta Imaginario create a very breathing, color and soulful music, their experimental escapades are enjoyable just as the smoother, cloudless moments and their music seems to be an endless, constant and consistent flow of moods and vibes.
Beautiful is just not enough to express the depth of their music.
Planeta Imaginario @ MySpace
Cuneoiform Records
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