La Ciudad Secreta : Experimental Sounds of Barcelona 1971-91 [coll] – [Munster Records]

Thurston Hunger   1/1/2015   12-inch, A Library

A massive love letter to (and from) underground Barcelonians
between 1971 and 1991. Unpolished, often unreleased works with jamminess at times, as well as collisions from jazz (or improv of various flavors) and protopunk and even experimental electronics. Lots of cross pollination between projects, and a mixed bag overall (sometimes on a given track it can go from extreme genius to grating). As always gems await your mining, for me Los Psicopatas Del Norte, Albert Gimenez and Melodinamika Sensor definitely grabbed me. Hard to write a short review when the dedicated liner notes give you an inside view (and the brilliant packing grabs images from fliers of the times). Definitely items to work with here, but my guess is for folks connected to the scene this captures an amazing part of their lives that may have lapsed, slouched or even changed for more stable, if less creative pastures. Meanwhile a new generation huddles in Barcelona today and should be sending KFJC their cassettes and records!

-Thurston Hunger