Guapo is a London-based trio (formed by guitarist and bassist Matt Thompson
and drummer Dave Smith) that belongs to the tradition of
pompous, symphonic progressive-rock (early King Crimson, Univers Zero).
They debuted (as a duo) with singles in a noise-jazz vein but turned to more organic
suites and jamming on their first album,
Towers Open Fire (Power Tool, 1997).
Hirohito (Pandemonium, 1998) added samplers and electronics to the
trio's arsenal.
Death Seed (1999) was a collaboration with Ruins.
Great Sage (Tumult, 2001) is a hodge-podge of ideas:
a sort of King Crimson tribute like Mountain of the Five Elements,
the discordant post-rock jamming of Zero for Conduct,
Five Cornered Square bordering on free jazz,
and especially
the 16-minute epic El Topo, whose martial gothic crescendo leads to an
abstract noise-jazz soundscape with alien synths, repetitive bass riffs, manic guitar glissandoes and angst-inducing drumming, all wrapped in the grandiloquent atmosphere of a horror movie soundtrack.
The Ducks and the Drakes (2003) is a split with Cerberus Shoal.
Their fifth album, Five Suns (Cuneiform, 2004), adding Daniel
O'Sullivan on keyboards, marks a quantum leap forward.
The centerpiece is the five-part 46-minute suite Five Suns, which
begins with a rather noisy and massive overture. The second movement is
basically a funeral march adorned with hypnotic organ figures. Its variations
create elegant and robust tonal music, halfway between
Colosseum's Valentyne Suite and the Soft Machine's third album,
save that in its second part the melodrama doubles in emphasis,
reaching an apex of emotional and sonic intensity in the third movement's
majestic crescendo, broken by a liquid organ solo that leads in turn to a
convoluted and frantic group jamming and to a coda tinged with
exotic overtones.
The fourth movement indulges a bit too much into some noisy instrumental
doodling that, after six minutes, unveils a Doors-like melodic motif.
The locomotive-like rhythm resumes its race and leads to another apotheosis.
The fifth movement is also largely a soundscape rather than a narrative theme.
The other two compositions, the nine-minute Mictlan
and the six-minute Topan, suffer from the same vice of repetition
and inconclusiveness.
The gloomy Black Oni (Ipecac, 2005 - Hlava, 2008) is a confused suite in five unnamed movements: abrasive multi-layered drones flow into conventional prog-rock jamming and industrial noise;
the 12-minute second movement returns to the martial tempo of
El Topo but with evocative piano notes although it all disappears in
a chaotic coda;
the ten-minute third movement transitions from liquid minimalist repetition to austere
prog-rock frenzy
(Frank Zappa without the humor);
a rhythm-less soundscape of subliminal sounds evolves into psychedelic ambience;
and stately keyboards dominate the grand finale, another gothic march of sorts
ending in cosmic-religious rapture.
Despite the effective ending,
this is mostly a concentrate of prog-rock cliches by skilled practitioners.
The EP Twisted Stems (Aurora Borealis, 2006), performed by
the duo of David Smith on percussion and Daniel O'Sullivan on keyboards, guitar and bass,
offered a gentle twist
to Guapo's convoluted soundscape. An expanded version of the piece forms the
backbone of
Elixirs (Neurot, 2008), that also includes
the stately Jeweled Turtle (13:09)
and King Lindorm (15:40), the convoluted piece that most closely resembles the sound of Five Suns.
However, Arthur Elsie And Frances (10:53) is typical of the messy
pastiches that prevailed on Black Oni.
David Smith is also active as
Miasma & The Carousel Of Dead Horses, that released
Perils (Web of Mimicry, 2005) and
Manfauna (Latitudes 0:14) (Southern, 2007),
as well as The Stargazer's Assistant, that released the much more abstract
The Other Side Of The Island (Aurora Borealis, 2008) and
Shivers and Voids (Aurora Borealis, 2008).
O'Sullivan also performs in Miasma & The Carousel Of Dead Horses,
Matt Thompson started the project Rashomon with
The Ruined Map (Film Music Volume 1) (Mirrors, 2008).
Daniel O'Sullivan and Alxeander Tucker formed Grumbling Fur.
Guapo's
History Of The Visitation (Cuneiform, 2013),
featuring new member Emmett Elvin on keyboards,
as well as veteran
Kavus Torabi (second guitarist of the Cardiacs since 2003 and previously
co-founder of English math-rock pioneers Monsoon Bassoon that released
I Dig Your Voodoo in 1999)
and bassist James Sedwards (whose Nought had released the wildly
experimental Nought in 2000),
contains
the 26-minute The Pilman Radiant and the 11-minute Tremors From The Future.
The five-movement Pilman Radiant begins with an
apocalyptic repetitive symphonic overture and later continues to rely heavily
on repetition during its dark-tinged progress, even when the fourth
movement briefly merges atonal and metal music. Mostly it sounds like
a Glenn Branca piece performed by
Metallica.
Unfortunately there is little more than pomp and repetition to justify the
duration of the piece.
With less melodrama and more verve Tremors From The Future is a more
traditional prog-rock jam with some truly contagious rhythmic fever
(just before the lame ending).
The companion DVD contains a live performance of
Five Suns.
Obscure Knowledge (Cuneiform, 2015), made by the same quartet of
Smith (drums), Elvin (keyboards), Sedwards (bass) and Torabi (guitar),
contains a 43-minute piece
in three movements. The playing is vibrant and competent as usual, and the
veterans certainly have a lot of fun counterpointing each other, but in the end
this is a morbid intellectual exercise that mostly appeals to professional
musicians. The music flows more organic and spontaneous than in Visitation.
