Xisco Rojo – Transfigurations : A Guest Mix
Madrid-based guitarist Xisco Rojo recently released a shockingly gorgeous album of drone-meets-Spanish-guitar, an enigmatic, darkly psychedelic record called Transfigurations about the power and magic of love. Intricate guitar compositions are accompanied by twinkling chimes upon the album’s opening, and Xisco adeptly uses the space between notes to add an aura of intrigue and sorcery.
This record comes six years after Xisco’s last full-length studio release, entitled You Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley. Prior to tracking for Transfigurations, Xisco was on the brink of despair, having suffered from anxiety and that particular mental anguish that unfortunately seems to afflict so many an artist. Having hit rock bottom, he changed many things in his life, became a father, and seemed to learn something about gratitude and letting go. The result is Transfigurations, aptly titled and proving that often, fallow periods are a painful necessity, from which to re-emerge revivified and renewed. As Lonesome Valley explores death, Transfigurations finds that beauty, joy, and life can coexist with it.
Transfigurations is a triumphant rising-from-the-ashes record, haunting and glorious.
Xisco was kind enough to make a guest mix, saying:
“These songs and sounds have been accompanying me for long now, and represent a more or less obscure array of musical figures that somehow managed to convey a very personal essence into their musical endeavors, which is a very compelling attribute for me when it comes to art. The music in this mix is featured in no specific order, but more like a sightseeing stroll around the sounds of the human soul.”
- LE MYSTÈRE DES VOIX BULGARES – Pilentze Pee
- DOPO – The long red fires of the dying day
- CASASNOVAS – Gozos a la Virgen del Bario
- C JOYNES & THE FURLOG BRAY – Libraire du Maghreb
- ELIZABETH WALDO – Chant to the Sun
- ROZHKOV MIHAIL – Untitled
- ALI FARKA TOURÉ & TOUMANI DIABATÉ – Ruby
- ROBBIE BASHO – Song of God
- EL OVEJA – El día del pulpo infinito
- SACRED HARP – Ditch Duets
- UMBESHI TOKARI – Déjamelo a mí
- B FACHADA – Conceição
- XISCO ROJO – Maia
- MOLLY DRAKE – Happiness
Get Transfigurations on Bandcamp!
