Platurno - Núcleos (2006)

Nuevamente grandes discos latinoamericanos y desconocidos, esta vez con una banda chilena una banda chilena de rock de vanguardia instrumental, con muchas influencias crimsonianas, algo de ELP pero con un estilo propio. Un lindo disquito de una banda que casi nadie ha de conocer por estos pagos,  y muy digno de que conozcan y aprecien... y si quieren saber más,simplemente, pasen y vean, digo... escuchen!
Artista: Platurno
Álbum: Núcleos
Año: 2006
Género: Progresivo ecléctico
Duración: 51:07
Nacionalidad: Chile
Recién conozco esta muy recomendable banda chilena (ufff... ¡todo lo que me falta conocer del rock progresivo latinoamericano!) en un álbum que sin ser descollante es un excelente punto de partida para comenzar una interesante carrera en las arenas del rock progresivo. Tiene todo lo que a un proghead le gusta, quizá solo le falte un toque de horno, pero en todo caso se nota que es un álbum realizado con pocos recursos pero sí con mucho cuidado y a conciencia, con buenos arreglos y un enviadiable compañerismo musical entre los músicos. Pero en principio, debo decir que su segundo disco "Insano" tuvo muchas mejores críticas que el álbum actual, considerado por el crítico César Inca "un disco de los más llamativos de la diversa escena progresiva sudamericana que tiene lugar en este año 2011".


Sobre el disco que presentamos ahora, no lo he escuchado lo suficiente como para hacerle un completo review, sóo digo que me gustó, y les dejo la opinión de gente que sabe en serio.

El inicio espacialoide, las atmósferas electrónicas con que inicia el álbum poco tienen que ver con la propuesta general de "Núcleos", contagiada a ratos de crimsonismos emersonianos. Más importante aquí es la presencia de ambas guitarras eléctricas, una enervada en explorar distintos riffs y frippertronics, y otra expresiva de demostraciones tan sutiles como enérgicas, soportadas, eso sí, por teclados cuyo cubrimiento general de corte etéreo da permiso a la sección rítmica tejerse con complejidad sobre sus puntos y matices. Especialmente destacables me resultan 'Anhelo' con su delicioso piano y sus paisajes guitarrísticos, 'Mundo del amanacer' y 'Pirata' que con sus aires cálidos demuestran definidamente los contagios referidos antes, 'Quintany' con su emulación de cantos de ballena y un arpegio de guitarra acústica que al poco se entrelaza con experimentos eléctricos, 'Perdido' que es nostálgico y compremetido con las lamentadas líneas de violín, 'Resquebraja' que, con crudeza indómita, concluye combinándose de muestras jazz entre intimistas y hogareñas.
Salvo 'La maga' y 'Perdido', "Núcleos" es un disco instrumental compuesto cuidadosamente y tocado con inspiración enamorada de la calidad. Es una propuesta saturada de carácter y neurosis rítmica, sin embargo construída con melódicas demostraciones progresivas. Álbum adecuado en seriedades rudas, dinámico y competente.

www.manticornio.com

Platurno is one of the most promising younger bands in Chile's progressive rock scene. You can almost touch the youth of their musical offer by identifying certain levels of flatness in the writing department, as well as some passages in which the musicians don't gel their mutual interaction with reasonable perfection. But there are also very notable moments in the repertoire of Núcleos, their effective debut album. Platurno's prog music is based on a mixture of melodic prog-metal, space-rock and modern symphonic prog, with some added touches of jazz-heavy-prog (not unlike Planet X or their compatriot band Australis). Sebastián Aguayo's keyboards and Felipe Rivera's guitar pretty much share the spotlight alternatedly during the ensemble's excursions: drummer Andrés Aguayo provides a solid foundation for the aforesaid excursions, with tasteful use of moderately complex resources that don't kill the main motifs' basic dynamics. Dynamics is, by the way, the band's main forte, more than composition. Platurno doesn't show a bombastic addiction to long-term exhibitions: most tracks in the album stand between the 4'30" and 5'30" marks. Almost all the material is purely instrumental, with the guitarist providing some lead vocals (not too abundant, luckily, since his range and power are both quite limited) to a couple of songs. The namesake opener gets started with spacey synth layers that soon enough open the door for the emergence of the guitar riffs that sustain the main theme. 'La Maga' (the first sung piece) bears a curious confluence of funky-rock cadences and soaring psychedelic ambiences. 'Sueños de Panal' is a slow jam with a pronounced spacey feel: this and the subtile blues undertones present on the guitar deliveries may remind the listener of early 70s Pink Floyd; 'Cósmico V2' persists on the spacey factor, albeit balanced against the melodic jazz-rock tones provided by the main theme. 'Anhelos' shows Platurno at their most symphonic, with a prominent presence of solidly elaborated piano scales and elegant guitar solos. '. (3 Puntos)' is formed by aleatory vibes sounds on synth, being a brief prelude to 'Mundo del Amanecer', which is arguably the catchiest track in the album: its main atmosphere is a strong reminder of Planet X with added neo-prog touches and symphonic prog ornaments that bring some convenient solmenity to the main motif's development. 'Quintay' goes to far different places, since it is basically a dialogue between bucolic classical guitar arpeggios and mysterious phrases on slide guitar. The final result is somewhat disturbing, despite the fact that the calm sounds of the classical guitar is featured in the mix. Another soft, drumless piece follows: 'Perdido' is a sung ballad with a featured violin (played by a guest) that floats confidently above the floor made of guitar and piano constrained sounds. The album is closed up with the dual sequence of 'Pirata' and 'Resquebraja', which completes the heavy side of Platurno. It's a nice way to end an album that, in my opinion, doesn't qualify as truly essential, but should be paid attention to anyway, since it is the manifesto of a progressive promise that reveals interesting hints of more focused things to come in future releases. Let's hope that Platurno have more time to evolve and mature properly as a musical unit. Núcleus is a very good album.

Cesar Inca

Without a doubt, Platurno are one of the most promising bands from Chile and along with Mar de Robles are nowadays my favourite ones from that country. My history with Platurno began when i knew they would perform at the BajaProg Fest, so i visited their myspace site and liked what i heard, but better was when i met them and see them playing alive, what a great band with excellent trained and talented musicians, but besides that, they are better people, modest and intelligent guys who i am pleased to have met, and hope to see them again in some point of our lives.
Platurno released in 2006 their debut album called Nucleos and let me tell you that they are looking forward to their second release! which i am eagerly waiting for, this album features 11 songs with an average of 4 minutes, and a total lenght of 45 minutes approx.
The album kicks off with a powerful song, the title track Nucleos which starts with a kind of an spacey mood, but then turns into a Crimsonian guitar style oriented, i believe one of their obvious influences (as i can judge by some tracks) was King Crimson. This is an excellent opener that will catach your attention.
La Maga opens with a soft sound, but that is just the very beginning since later it turns into a more aggressive and faster song, it has an excellent drumming and is one of the only two songs that have vocals, the guitar man Felipe Rivera is who provides the vocals with a delicate touch and a very nice keyboard background, the last minutes of the song involves a heavier guitar style and a noticeable percussion work.
Sueños de Panal, as the first song it also starts with a kind of spacey keyboard soundwith a slow mood, then the guitars appears and this song provokes a kind of relaxing mood, for the spacey notes i believe that bands like Tangerine Dream may have been played in the member's ipods.
Cosmico V2 is a wonderful track, it creates a beautiful and melodic atmosphere, the guitars will remind you again to some Crimson's Discipline era, but the difference here are that those guitars are accompanied with again an spacey keyboard sound and a delicate percussion, after some minutes the song becomes even softier and puts you in the song's mood immediately, at the end the song returns to the guitar driven style, this is one of their finest moments.
Anhelo has a classic piano introduction by Sebastian Aguayo, after some seconds the other instruments enter and create a very nice melody, but to be honest this is one of my less prefered songs from the album.
We are reaching the half of the album with ...(3 puntos) which is a short piece which is like the preambl e to the following one, this is only a moment with some keyboard sound like a marimba.
And now one of my favourite moments is Mundo del Amanecer, which was the only song i really recognized when i see them live, and it stays as my personal favourite, it has an aggressive and of course heavier feeling, the keyboards are at it's best and the whole track is truly enjoyable, it has fabolous guitar riffs and a constant and clean drumming.
Quintay begins with some atmospheric synth and then acoustic guitars that gives it a folkish touch, after some moments the song becomes a bit strange with some kind of improv sound and a nervous atmosphere in some moments, it fades out as it began.
Perdido is a beautiful song, the second and last track featuring vocals, and the first and only track that has a violin sound provided by a guest musician, while the vocals appear we will be trapped in a melodic piano sound, i don't know why but i feel this is a very personal song of the band.
Pirata is the other short song with a heavier style and with the predominant sound of the guitars, this track is actually the prelude to the last song of the album which is called Resquebraja, and follows up immediately the previous one, with a very alike heavy guitar driven style, it is an excellent way of finishing an excellent album.
Being this their debut album, what we can only ask them is to maintain their great and mature sound they have despite being a young band, an album that i really like and can recommend to all of you, and as i said before, i am eagerly waiting for their second effort which who knows may be released at the end of this year or the next one.
My final grade, 4 stars, excellent addition to any prog lover and highly recommendable.
Enjoy it!

Guillermo H. UrdapilletaLista de Temas:
1. Núcleos
2. La maga
3. Sueños de panal
4. Cósmico V2
5. Anhelo
6. .
7. Mundo del amanecer
8. Quintay
9. Perdido
10. Pirata
11. Resquebraja

Alineación:
- Sebastian Aguyao / keyboards and classic guitar
- Felipe Rivera / guitars and vocals
- Andres Aguayo / drums and percussion
- Fernando Peña / electric bass
Guests:
Edison Atencio - bass
Priscila Valenzuela - violin

www.myspace.com/bandaplaturno