Festivale de Football Day 19: Paraguay

Wow, is Paraguay ever a frustrating place. Have you ever looked for Paraguayan music? Go on, I dare you. What did you find? Some information but no actual music for Maximos Q'mbieros? Something about reggaeton? Me too. What's more, the one bit of music I did find excited me in it's description, but is equally frustrating.

Music.download.com has been very useful a number of times during this series, so when Wikipedia was no help, it was there I headed. And I found, under my favourite label of Electronic & Dance/Experimental, a collective known as Nada Infinitum, from the Paraguayan capital Asuncion, one whose purpose was to explore "genre, noise, beat, and psychological exploration." Curious. Furthermore, this is an act that moved from utilising solely synths and samplers towards incorporating found sound and cut-ups, and one for whom a mooted lyrical augmentation was rejected. My sort of guys, I think.

It bodes well, but fails to really deliver. There's ever such a slight industrial approach in the beast here, but it's not enough to carry the song into industrial territory. There's clock ticks which don't seem to propel the music sufficiently to add the required tension. There's paucity and space, but only very occasionally - in my mind, to add real tension, there needs to be more spaces. Pregnant pauses, if you like, but Nada Infinitum have a tendency to fill up all the space.

True, it builds well, and the synth sound is almost like a clever eighties Goth reference, but on the whole, such a promising remit is not met. Frustrating, like the rest of the country, on the football field and off it.

Nada Infinitum - Tilted Cross


Buy Paraguayan music here

Buy Nada Infinitum

Tags: Paraguay; World Cup; electronica; Nada Infinitum

CIA Factbook: Paraguay