Because I don’t know how to begin describing this album, I’m instead going to write about the book I’m re-reading at the moment, The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. Bester is amongst my favourite authors ever, even though I’ve only read 4 novels by him (he didn’t do many more than that). The sheer scale of invention, the pace of his stories, the utter imagination on display – I’ve not read his match in those regards. In many ways, he was the true Godfather of the whole cyberpunk thing, so it is fitting that the next book I have in the queue is the Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, a book I haven’t read before but I have read Snow Crash by him and that is really, really good.
Using the creative fusion that inspired Alfred Bester as an analogy for Combo Chimbita’s latest album Ahomale is not actually the non-sequitur you may think it is. The name comes from a spirit that singer Carolina Oliveros says accompanies them during their sessions, which is also not as crazy as some people may think it sounds. I have one too, and I call it El-Ronus Mariachi, though I don’t plan to name an album that in any future.
Soundbergs 