Atanas Akerstra - Vol. 1

Following the release of the excellent Angel Katarain and Estralurtarrak collections last year, Hegoa Diskak open their account for 2022 with another deep-dive into the obscure music of the Basque Country, reissuing an unsurprisingly absurdbly obscure record from 2006. Atanas Akerstra is the project of one Rogelio Astigarraga, who, despite a long standing connection with industrial music via the band Akauzazte, performs a kind of American Primitive-styled form of spiritual blues said to be deeply connected to his Basque heritage. Well, this is certainly music that sounds plugged into the earth, an exercise in circular structures and textural explorations utilising just guitar, the occasional organ and very infrequent vocal(isations - it's less singing as it is tonal contribution). There's a few nods to Astigarraga's industrial past in the sonic landscaping of Paxiera Mozkorrak and closer Hutsuneak, though these are mainly divergent interludes from what is often a primal and physical blues excavation somewhere between Beefheart absurdism, Kimbrough like transgression and noise rock aesthetics. Which is to say that fans of Jon Collin would do well to investigate. Another storm be a gathering... Edition of 125.