Esplendor Geometrico
We would have to go back to 1978 to find the origins of one of the most innovative and risky proposals of the Spanish electronic - industrial scene, and one of the few with international repercussion. In those days, a History student (Arturo Lanz), a prison officer (Gabriel Riaza) and a graphic designer (Juan Carlos Sastre) were forming part of a weird band called El Aviador Dro y sus Obreros Especializados whose, with a look near to Devo, a corporative - futuristic - revolutionary ideology and a music influenced by Kraftwerk, Pere Ubu,The Residents, the synth-pop of the moment and some industrial drops, would become one of the milestones of the Spanish movida madrileña in the early 80's, and the first Spanish tecno-pop band, founding one of the first indie labels. But before they would become famous in the country, Lanz, Riaza and Sastre left the band in 1980 after releasing two 7'', due to the serious internal discrepancies with the rest of the collective, and quickly organized their own band, which they baptized with a name taken from a futuristic poem: Esplendor Geométrico. Their first work was a tape with four tracks, one of those -"Moscú está helado" ("Moscow is frozen")- would be included in the "Fix Planet" compilation, released by the german label Ata Tak, that opened them the doors to the industrial and electronic european scene. Later, it would be released the "Necrosis en la poya" ("Necrosis in the cock") 7'', whose 500 copies were pressed by the basque label Tic Tac in March 1981, despite of being a self-production of the band. In these early works it can be still perceived a light electro-pop flavour in its style, but not in content: the crude and provocative lyrics in "Negros hambrientos" ("Hungry niggers"), for example. Their following stuff, the "EG 1" tape, with 300 selfreleased copies in September of the same year, contains some tracks that put them in a nearby orbit to that of monsters like Throbbing Gristle or the early SPK. Some other tracks – as "Muerte a escala industral" -, start to show the obsesive-rhythmic forms that would be established in their following recordings. Meanwhile, they were growing further apart from the movida madrileña and, as a consequence, they would begin to be ignored by the specialized press in Spain, reluctant to pay attention to electronic proposals. After the release of "EG 1", Sastre friendly leaves the band, though he has kept on collaborating in some cover design. In March of 1.982, it is published the first vinyl LP, "Héroe del trabajo / El acero del partido" ("Work heroe / The steel of the party"), selfproduced and again released again by Tic Tac label, in which it is perceived a new evolution, as they abandon the blowing lyrics of their early works and channel their sonic torrent to more virulent courses: the openning track is a good proof of this. After this LP, it follows a long and alarming silence of three years (maybe caused by the residence of Gabriel Riaza in Melilla – Nort Africa – and by job reasons), only broken sporadically by appearances in some compilations.
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