Author: chemikscott

It’s a genuine delight to announce that influential Glasgow four piece El Hombre Trajeado have not only reconvened, they’ve only gone and recorded a new album.  ‘Fast Diagonal’, their first long player in twelve years will be released through Chemikal Underground on December 2nd, but you can pre-order it NOW and have a listen to ‘Do It Puritan!‘ featuring the extraordinary vocals of Sue Tompkins (Life Without Buildings)…

A stoutly democratic alliance featuring the acclaimed flamenco punk guitarist RM Hubbert and multi-instrumentalist Stevie Jones (Sound of Yell, Arab Strap), Glasgwegian mutant-disco kings El Hombre Trajeado return after a decade’s absence with the album ‘Fast Diagonal’: a firework display of irresistibly warped beats, basslines and bleary-eyed synth work gilded by appearances from guest vocalists Sue Tompkins (Life Without Buildings), Ela Orleans and Sao Paulo-based Chris Mack (James Orr Complex).

 

With beautifully intuitive artwork by award-winning, Glasgow based artist Toby Paterson, ‘Fast Diagonal’ is a triumph of abstract melodicism or, as producer Paul Savage commented in the studio: “like a math rock band doing the soundtrack to Gregory’s Girl”.

We were always big, big fans of the band and there are fond memories of seeing them play in Sleazys and 13th Note.  El Hombre supported The Delgados in 2000 when we were touring The Great Eastern but they also hit the road with far more illustrious company in the form of Nick Cave, Sebadoh and Tortoise (the uninitiated might find some more musical reference points in there too if they look hard enough).

John Peel got it too, asking the band to record three sessions and a fourth set, live to air, on one of his greatly missed shows. The band dissolved in 2005 with their members going off in different directions: Ben and Stef would pursue careers outwith music while Stevie played with the likes of Arab Strap before crossing paths more directly with Chemikal at the vanguard of his Sound of Yell project;  Hubby’s circuitous path would also lead back to Chemikal through his inspired, flamenco-infused solo work.

And so the circle is squared: El Hombre Trajeado, reformed in 2014 to play as part of Chemikal’s East End Social, have produced their first album in more than 12 years – Fast Diagonal – and it’s as dazzling and fluid and inventively melodic as anything they’ve ever written.

Two of Chemikal Underground’s finest, each with acclaimed new releases under their arms are setting out on the road this November for a clutch of intimate Scottish gigs….

RM Hubbert and Rick Redbeard who respectively released ‘Telling The Trees‘ and ‘Awake Unto‘ earlier this year will be touring together for the first time, bringing their glorious brand of acoustic/flamenco/folk/americana to whichever lucky souls amongst you manage to bag tickets.

Thanks to Dominic at Rio Community Centre in Newport-on-Tay, Steve Robertson at TwentyTen for sorting out Tooth & Claw in Inverness, Dan and Tallah at Electric Circus, Kenny at Stirling’s Tolbooth (and Strange Behaviours Festival), Mark McPherson at IMP Aberdeen for arranging Rick’s Society of Advocates show and Andy Shearer at Horsecross Arts in Perth for all their help pulling these shows together!