Enigmatic Madrid-based collective Danzón El Gato fuses a kaleidoscope of rhythms and sonic landscapes in their cosmopolitan debut album El Sonido Bastardo, inspired equally by 1970s library music and golden era hip hop and spiced up with exotic afro-latin-psych grooves.

El Sonido Bastardo, the debut album by enigmatic collective Danzón El Gato, establishes a fascinating dialogue between jazz, funk and roots music. Formed in the underground hotbed of Madrid’s experimental scene, its members have decided, this time, to start from the groove in order to explore tradition.

Recorded in Madrid, El Sonido Bastardo is a kaleidoscope of rhythms and landscapes: echoes of North Africa, the tropics and Latin America intertwine with a rocky rhythm section, inspired equally by 1970s library music and golden era hip hop. Each track is a sonic journey loaded with influences that sometimes dissolve, leaving the listener in a borderline and polychromatic terrain, a reflection of Madrid itself, a huge city born from the confluence of cultures whose hybridization is palpable at every corner.

The creative core of Danzón El Gato is formed by Javier Adán and Santiago Rapallo, two craftsmen of sound, far from the spotlight but always at the forefront. They met at the beginning of this century in Zure Gura, an experimental jazz band that fused Basque tradition with contemporary sounds. Since then, they have shared a journey in projects such as Dead Capo or UMD (Unidad Mínima de Destrucción), as well as having composed experimental pieces for cinema and even the Prado Museum.

Unexpectedly, shortly after the recording was finished, the studio in the Suanzes neighbourhood where the album was conceived was dismantled. The space in which the studio was located, which for years was an epicenter of sound experimentation, gave way to the relentless advance of the real estate market.

El Sonido Bastardo captures the essence of a city in constant transformation, where music comes and goes, anchored in tradition but with a cosmopolitan and exuberant look.