Pablo A. Gimenez - 1988-1991 (Cassette Box Set)
Pablo A. Giménez (Zaragoza, Spain, 1955 - 2013) remains one of the great undiscovered Spanish composers. In the early 1970s he formed part of the group Estudio de Música Electrónica together with Luis Fatás, M. Medalón and Luis Colomer, through which they sought to approach music from other disciplines. Influenced by concrete music or composers such as Stockhausen, they also tried to bring an intellectual dimension to their work by making use of references from the new French critique or the manifesto of the composer Carles Santos.
Later, with the aim of clarifying his ideas outside of music, Giménez spent two years in Paris studying philosophy, sociology and literature, approaching professors such as Deleuze, Foucault and Lacan, who were decisive for the later intellectual development of his work. On his return to Spain he decided to settle in Logroño in the heart of a hippie community where he formed part of the group Casablanca. Founded in 1977, the band was composed by more than seven members and generally leaned more towards progressive rock, but with numerous influences ranging from salsa to jazz, along with the work of composers such as La Monte Young or Pierre Schaeffer and groups like Gong or Hawkwind.
After the dissolution of the band and a period in which he decide to distance himself from making music, Pablo A. Giménez regained interest when he was invited to compose the soundtrack for an amateur film. As a result of this episode, having already delved into theoretical issues such as structural anthropology and made use of resources such as the automatisms of the surrealists, his interest in sound creation returned. With magnetic tape as a support, his first works are characterised by the use of simple elements and cheap machines, with the exception of the saxophone. An approach which was certainly closer to a lack of means rather than to a specific sound aesthetic decision.
This release reunites Pablo A. Gimenez’s first four albums, originally published between 1987 and 1991 on Javier Cinca’s label, Sindicato de Trabajos Imaginarios (S.T.I) in Zaragoza, Spain. They contain various forms of home-made electroacoustic compositions, that draw inspiration from traditions such musique concrete or free jazz.
The original tapes have been digitized and remastered at Tezett-platte studio. Besides a hiss reduction, none of the audios have been edited and are thus presented as how the author recorded them originally. The edition contains 4 x C90 cassette tapes presented on a 4 way case, accompanied with an insert containing original photocopies of a newspaper interview to the artist from which most of the previous information is sourced, along with archival material. All the artwork comes from the original tapes and has been repurposed for this edition.
Featured albums on this edition:
- Pablo A. Gimenez - The Work in Progress
- Pablo A. Gimenez - El Coloso
- Pablo A.Gimenez - Á bout de souffle
- Pablo A. Gimenez - Stimmung 1987 - Umwertung 1991
Most information on the artist has been sourced either from conversations with Javier Cinca or from Javier Losilla’s interview to Pablo A. Giménez in 1998 titled El regreso musical de Pablo Giménez of which a reproduction can be found on the inserts of this release (in Spanish).
Limited to 100 copies.