Vytas Brenner – Araguaney {1973}

Soul Jazz Records just released the incredible compilation Venezuela 70 – Cosmic Visions Of A Latin American Earth: Venezuelan Experimental Rock In The 1970s. The track I picked is by Vytas Brenner. Born in Tübingen, Germany, he migrated to Venezuela in 1949 and later went to Italy, Spain and studied electronic music in Nashville. The track Araguaney is from his first album La Ofrenda de Vytas from 1973 that was re-released in 2015 by Vinilisssismo/Munster Records and is still available on their website. Exquisitely played and produced, the track lifts me up to let me drown in soft fuzz and electronic noises, just the way I like it. It is another good example of how knowledge can lead to true authorship and to an unique artistic voice, even though virtuosity often stands more in the way than it helps. In this case it leads to something magical and unique.

An equally great track from this compilation is Amor en Llamas by Pablo Schneider.

“Whilst much of 1960s Venezuelan rock music emulated British and USA styles, the 1970s saw the evolution of a new generation of creative artists such as Vytas Brenner, Angel Rada, Pablo Schneider and Miguel Angel Fuster, who all explored the possibilities of mixing together rock with elements of electronica, funk, jazz, latin rhythms simultaneously exploring their links with Venezuelan roots music, creating a new sound which blended a multitude of new and old world influences, uniquely Venezuelan.”