Los Natas: Toba Trance, Volumens I & II (2003/2004)
In recognition of Pride Month, I’ve been featuring colored vinyl in a rainbow sequence over the past week ...
At the start of their career, Argentina’s Los Natas took Kyuss’ desert rock blueprint to Patagonia (not really, but close enough), via 1996’s unimaginative Delmar; but they hit their stride on ‘99’s Ciudad de Brahman, and really came into their own with ‘02’s spectacular Corsario Negro.
What do you mean you don’t own a copy???
Then it was INTO THE VOID with them, by way of a pair of experimental musical excursions called Toba Trance, Volumen I (‘03) and Volumen II (‘04), that saw the power trio foreswearing much of their metallic bombast in order to visit more esoteric and atmospheric sonic expanses.
To wit, Toba Trance I’s opening exploration, “La Tierra Delfin,” sounds like a full-fledged ambient movie score; one that re-imagines the band's stoner rock foundations as an instrumental amalgam of space rock and trance music, stretching out to 21 outlandish minutes, in the process.
This YouTube comment says it all: “Chau Cerebro, que tengas buen viaje!”
Not to be outdone, “Que Rico ...” unleashes 14 minutes of spine-chilling melodies, bubbling psychedelics and a forceful finale, while the aboriginal (I can’t think of another word for it) “Die Possime” uncorks 16 minutes of electronic burps, tribal drums, Indian ragas, and droning guitar tectonics.
By comparison, Toba Trance II is both more dynamic and less hypnotic, mixing the Spanish guitar strums of “Tomatito," windblown crops of “Matogrosso” and evanescent “La Sepa” with another cinematic experience in “Traición en el Arrocero” (“Betrayal in the Rice Paddies” -- sounds gripping!) and the emphatic, flute-enhanced Motorik of “Humo de Marihuana” (“Marijuana Smoke”).
There’s also a shortened live version of “Que Rico ...” bringing up the rear, as if to affirm that los chicos could actually play these songs more than once, yet many fans still weren’t sure whether Toba Trance qualified as an official Los Natas album or some wonderful recreational acid trip.
Not least because both volumes were darn near impossible to get your hands on, having been originally released in extremely limited quantities by Finland's Ektro Records, and later brought together on equally hard-to-find red-and-purple wax by Germany's Nasoni Records, seen here.
So, any way you look at it, Toba Trance was born a cult item (and an acquired taste!), and when Los Natas resumed a bluesier stoner rock course with 2006’s El Hombre Montaña and’09’s El Nuevo Orden de la Liberdad, I would argue that their best -- certainly their most daring -- work was behind them.
p.s. -- A few of these words evolved from my All-Music Guide review of Los Natas’ Toba Trance I & II.
More Los Natas: Delmar, Ciudad de Brahman, Corsario Negro, München Sessions.
