
Ever active, ever adventurous, Venezuelan musician Rubén dHers gathered a host of pieces he
recorded between 1999 and 2003 in those moments when he wasnt busy in kRé activities, and so his
first solo album became a reality. Titled Todo Está en Descanso, this album is a catalogue of ideas
conceived from the outside margins of the usual standards of the art of music. Minimalism, RIO-
inspired shady ambiences, musique concrete, flirtations with post-rock, electronic processes
all of
them alternate in a sequence of weirdly ordained sounds aimed at the evocation of mental images and
dream-like sensorial experiences. The sound effects are not only a very important part of the sonic
elaboration: they almost operate as leaders of the musical road trodden by dHers throughout this
repertoire. Everything seems so unreal in every sound comprised in this portion of time that lasts 60+
minutes, yet the impact in the listeners mind feels undoubtedly real. Porciones Bajas starts with
creepy moods organized under a distant aura, where dissonant aleatory layers mix seamlessly. Las
Polillas bears a more serene tone, with soft, concise acoustic guitar phrases setting an air of
melancholy amidst the sonic background that comes and goes like sea waves. Nube Baja is very dark,
stated within a RIO-inspired frame in a deconstructive strategy. The disturbing shades of violin set a
properly neurotic dialogue with the random guitar washes: spectral, indeed, yet playful in a bizarre sort
of way. For the final moments, a dramatic twist toward an oppressive density takes place, as if a
window had been opened to a surrealistic world. La Vigilia y el Nácar is more closely related to post-
rock, Tortoise-type: mostly introspective, deeply autumnal. A similar thing well find later
in ElVerdadero Dios. Desenso Sedoso pursues this mood further, only this time in a predominantly
eerie vein that may reminds us of krautrock heroes Cluster or pre-Mirage Klaus Schulze. The
occasional presence of the acoustic guitar brings an unexpected candid detail to the main picture. Later
on, Mi Brazo Sonoro will have a similar treatment, only with a slightly disturbing undertone operating
on a subtle level. Primer Manual de lo Inexpresivo is basically a catalogue of effects, much in tune
with the radical sense of destruction that was promoted by the Fluxus Movement: musique concrete as
a blunt weapon against the ideals of expression in sound. Almuerzo does the same thing but in a more
patently humoristic way, recycling sounds of teeth brushing, panting, breathing, jaw movements, etc.
The pair of Tres Cosas Incesantes 1 and 2 displays a mixture of avant-garde electronica and the
minimalist side of contemporary chamber. This sort of strategy is continued in the following namesake
track, building a bridge to the standards of post-rock. Anna y las Palmas closes the album setting an
enhanced landscape of introspection it sounds like a recapitulation of the three preceding tracks, but
oddly enough, it seems to bear a collateral joyful mood. Todo está en Descanso is a very peculiar
recording, a delicatessen for any melomaniac with strong experimental interests. I conclude this review
with a message to all of them: download it from the Rubén dHers website!by Cesar Inca
D'HERS, RUBEN Music Online:
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