Hotel Azteca product reviews

I don't know what I was expecting when I got this CD, but I know that I was quite surprised by the music as it played. The band's name gave me a feeling of Spanish, almost flamenco perhaps, and the album title gave me a light expectation of something tribal, powerful and rough... warrior music.

Just goes to show, you can't pre-judge music. What I found on this little silver platter of audio vibe was an album of purely instrumental music, with a somewhat 70's feel to it all, with hints of flavour for each track.

Track 1, the title track, which I expected more of a brutal sound, really took me by surprise, with undertones of 'cruisey Sunday BBQ on the beach' and some light jazz riffs floating through for highlights, while track 5, "The Bulb" actually struck me as quite a jazzy track, with a sound I found hard to label, but quite easy to groove along to. track 4, 'The Volcano' on the other hand actually struck me as a perfect backing track for an impressive multimedia presentation, it just had a nice rhythym with little 'sparks' that could be used to time presentation elements appearing for emphasis. OK, maybe that's a little geeky, but hey, this is my review. -grin-

Overall, the album has quite a stunning mix, with an overall feel something akin to a mix of 'The Doors' blended liberally with 'The Beach Boys', with just a hint of Spanish Guitar a la Santana for texture and highlights. Well worth listening to and easy on the ears if you keep the volume medium-low... the perfect soundtrack for a Kiwi-style beach BBQ... once the weather allows, of course. The lack of vocals makes this perfect for those occasions when you want to promote relaxed conversations. Another great NZ Music album.