On May 24th we’re releasing “Obras de Los Jaivas”, a tribute to beloved Chilean psych rock Los Jaivas, and you can buy it now and get it on that date or even before. It will be available on CD and digitally, and it wil include four tracks with guest singers, “La conquistada”, “La poderosa muerte”, “Mira niñita” and “Sube a nacer conmigo hermano”.
This Friday, June 30, the progressive rock band Aisles premiered on streaming platforms the instrumental suite “Bahamut”, created in collaboration with the writer Francisco Ortega. The suite includes seven tracks, and a total of thirteen minutes, in which the group goes through different narrative passages inspired by the science fiction novel “Bahamut”, released by the Chilean author last March.
This work has influences from progressive metal, from the ambient of keyboardist Rick Wright from Pink Floyd, to the sound of Porcupine Tree, and Muse in the period of their album “Absolution”, and is the first publication of Aisles together with the drummer Alvaro Poblete.
“Bahamut” is a science fiction novel that is also an anticipatory historical thriller, which uses technological and cultural phenomena with which we already live. The author mixes various topics with ease, such as religion, technology, physics, astronomy, artificial intelligence, etc., all under the guidance of prominent scientific, academic, and even political advisers. For the speech of one of the characters, which is an artificial intelligence, the author used Dramathon and ChatGTP, two artificial intelligence applications, with the purpose of accentuating the coldness of a machine.
In addition, the writer conceived his novel listening to progressive and ambient rock – the ideal music for a science fiction work – and thought that Aisles could accompany this story. “I have always thought that the soundtrack for the book had to be kind of a progressive rock opus, and it seemed to me that, among the Chilean bands, Aisles was the one that worked best with the speed, the vertigo and the spatial and temporal changes of the novel, because they handle these changes in the metrics of their music very well”, comments the author of “Bahamut”.
This is the second collaboration between Aisles and Francisco Ortega, after working together for the video clip of the song “Fast”, released in June 2021, and inspired by dystopian anime such as Ghost In the Shell, Devilman Crybaby and Akira. The clip is based on the city of Santiago, under an omnipresent control system and with a violent society. This time, Ortega asked the band to write the music for the book’s trailer, but soon after, the group worked on an entire suite based on the novel.
As promised, we continue to create new content and you guys will always be the first ones to have access. Here’s our version of Red Sector A by Rush, one of our favorite bands and one which has undoubtedly been an influence on our music and a source of inspiration for decades. The subject of the original song is a bit harsh, but we feel the lyrics have gained a whole new meaning due to the world’s current situation. Resilience and perseverance have been crucial attitudes, both at a personal level and for the band.
What do you think of our cover? Leave your opinion in the comments below!
We are glad to introduce you to our new singer, Israel Gil, with a newly done version of our song “Smile of Tears”, which we originally released on our album “In Sudden Walks (2009). The track has a strong electronic influence from Depeche Mode’s eighties era, brought to the 21st century. The song was recorded during the pandemic, and it reflects the irony of our contact through social media and online meetings, where we pretend on camera that we are happy, but hopelessness is eating us up on the inside. Israel is replacing our longtime vocalist Sebastián, who stepped down as frontman in October, 2018.
We discovered Israel, a classical trained musician and student of Music Theory at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, through the social network Vampr, an app that connects musicians from all over the world who share common interests. After an intense audition process, where Israel had to learn old and new songs of the band, we finally chose him because of his natural talent, his discipline, his attention to detail and his friendliness. We love his voice and we hope you love him too!
We are still working on our fifth studio album, which will be released by the second semester of 2021. Most of the music is already recorded, we only need to record the voice and we hope to start showing new songs in the first months of next year. Our new material leaves behind the sound and visual complexity of “Hawaii” (2016), keeping the melancholy and instrumental passages that have defined us throughout our career, adding influences as Porcupine Tree and Animals as Leaders.
Hear Smile of Tears on Spotify
Hi everybody!
Some of you were already aware of this live recording, which was available only on our Bandcamp page since August, 2015, but now we’ve just released these three songs on digital platforms so you can listen to them wherever you are. Our EP is called “Live 2014” and it includes the tracks “Hero”, “Shallow and Daft”, and “The Sacrifice”. This set was recorded in December, 2014, at sala SCD Bellavista, in Santiago, Chile, during the promotional cycle of our album “4:45 AM”. You can check videos from that show here.
Also, we want to thank you for your loving support and patience. We are tirelessly working on our new album, which will be a departure from “Hawaii”. It will include eight tracks, with a heavier, more contemporary vibe, and it will be based on the dark complexity of city life. Our goal is to be constantly exploring new sounds and techniques to surprise you and ourselves.
We invite you, in the meantime, to listen this live recording, and to keep enjoying our music.
Much love
AISLES
Click here to go to your favorite streaming platform and listen to these songs: https://smarturl.it/aisleslive2014
