Aloysius

Flamenco recordings traditionally sound very brittle to the non aficionado - the guitar sounds bright even in the low register due to use of thinly carved cypress pine in its construction, palmas (clapping), cajón and taconeo (dancers’ footwork) all sound very trebly and there is generally no bass of any kind. On top of that the singing is brittle and microtonal. The world of flamenco is cult-like and insular, and flamenco artists often don't care too much about what those outside their scene think of their art. This arrogance has its downsides, but it does mean flamenco has kept its own vibe as it evolves rather than simply becoming diluted.

For me Bola does an excellent job here, taking great liberties but staying very true to the forms. The more stripped back numbers are outstanding, out of the ensemble numbers for me the farruca ('Galicia') works the best showcasing Bernardo Parrilla on violin. The siguiriya with Enrique Morente on vocals is maybe my favorite track of the album. I can't quite give this album full marks as it doesn't quite match the compositional vision of Paco de Lucia's Siroco or Vicente Amigo's De mi Corazón al Aire, but I chose this album as it's much less well-known. For me it's a solid
9/10

OccultHawk

It was good choice and forced a lot of us out of our boxes.

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TechnicLePanther

As an amateur classical guitarist myself, I think I have a better appreciation than most for the amount of work that went into this album. The compositions are complex and jazzy, and manage to dazzle at almost every moment, and they aren't simple trifles either. These aren't pieces that you can learn in a day; these are pieces that you spend weeks working on until you may finally perfect them.

And man, doesn't this album just coax beauty out of the most unexpected tones, timbres, melodies, and harmonies. If I heard what sounded like a little girl yelling as loud as possible on any other album, I would probably take off my headphones and cease listening immediately. But on this album, "Gina" for me is a highlight. In fact, its fast pace and wild melodies had me coming back to the song several times even before I had finished the entire album.

Sometimes the album sank into a soft patch, and these moments where I had a bit more time to consider the music were generally where the album suffered a bit more. Perhaps I was simply thinking too much during songs like "Galicia" to really get into the music. Or perhaps when the rapidly shifting chord progressions of the other songs were slowed down a bit, some of the mystery of discovering how everything fit together was sheared away.

Sometimes the songs were a bit too short, as with "Coral", I wanted to savor the ideas contained within just a bit more before they disappeared. But all too soon, the track was over and I was plunged into the next piece. Somehow, this and my former grievance however feel more like failings of my own perception rather than of the album, just as you wouldn't criticize art because it was blurry when you weren't wearing your prescription lenses.

Anyway, I've gone on much too long about this album already, and I fear I will only continue to ramble aimlessly unless I put a lid on it now. So my final thoughts are thus: this album is a hidden gem, as far as I can tell there are only about one to two thousand people alive today who are aware of its existence, which may sound like a lot but in the grand scheme of things is very little. The first half of the album is consistently energetic and exciting, the second half falls into the tendency of tracks that are both stimulating and pleasing to the ear but not catchy in the slightest (they are still enjoyable). Other than that, there's not too much I'd like to say that I already haven't. 8/10

On my list of favorite to least favorite albums of all time:

Glenn Branca - The Ascension
Agustin Carbonell - Bola
Grateful Dead - American Beauty

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MicShazam

Honestly a couple of really outstanding review texts from Aloysius and TechnicLePanther

I was thinking about what Aloysius said with flamenco leaning to the trebly side of things. That could be a thing that keeps me at an arms distance, since I tend to complain about songs in all sorts of genres if they feel unusually trebly to me. It didn't cross my mind when I listened to this album myself, originally.
I'm not sure I want to return to Bola again and again to try and develop an appreciation for it - but I do want to take a closer look at flamenco. I think I could get along with it well after some adjustment and exploration.

Alo's flamenco journal might come in handy for me