For those lovers of National Rock and of good rock, precisely I've been listening and analizing the first album by Jorge Beltran, who calls himself Humus and the name of the vynil is 'Tus Oidos Mienten" ('Your Ears Lie') and I hope that mine are not lying, because this is a work that's worth listening over and over. Humus, before making this album has already five opus, also of good quality but that only been published as cassettes and with a very limited distribution. All of them show a definite direction, advancing in maturity and musicality, all this shows in 'Tus Oidos Mienten". Jorge, although he plays all the instruments, clearly demonstrates that he is a guitarist. Per se, this is a work for the guitar. It has a lot of influences by other masters very well assimilated, which makes his style very original, as he never stays on any particular one, instead he gives a lot of himself, really very creative, here in Mexico he is the only one with that kind of playing. To exemplify a little bit the line he is working, let say that it is very similar to Manuel Gottsching from Ash Ra Tempel around the time when he inherited the group to himself, both of them show different styles and the music is different but the bottom line is the same. The guitar is accompanied by other instruments, making licks, scales and everything that is possible to do with six strings, which is an open field to any musician with talent. Humus in this album makes a show of creativity, never staying on a note or groove, whats more, I dare to say that compared with Ash Ra it has a lot more variations because Manuel clings to a wave and has very long themes, whereas Jorge goes from one side to the opposite and like I've said before his songs are very different one to another. To be honest I am very glad that Humus has crystallized the effort of years, thanks also to the support given by Jose Luis Garnica, who's helping with the production and realization, this I think is because the perseverance of Humus, that, although not perceiving financial rewards for his work he never puts down his guard, doing music as a labor of love, which demostrates, at least in this sense, that it is unconditional, with a lot of energy and not comercial at all, so it permeates overall an honest quality. To finish I have only to congratulate you, so you keep on working with energy and we can all see a second Humus album. To my readers I recommend that you try to get this LP, you can find it at the Saturday music market 'El Tianguis del Chopo' and that you listen and analyse it so you can see the quality, you will see that your ears are not lying.

Psychedelic and progressive music is flourishing all over the world, so why not in Mexico? This country has a great (and larger than you think!) psych rock tradition from the sixties and seventies. The two biggest names to emerge from Mexico the last few years are that of Loch Ness (mentioned in the Flashes section of CW a few issues ago) and that of Humus. Humus started out as a one-man project, the one man being Jorge Beltran who played all instruments: guitar, bass and percussion. During the late eighties he recorded five cassettes with his instrumental progressive sound. "Tus Oidos Mienten" is his first LP. Like the tapes all the music on it was recorded at home on a four track. Humus -aka Jorge Beltran plays a dark progressive guitar sound with lots of effects. Quite brilliant really, and everyone of the eight tracks on 'Tus Oidos Mienten' features another strange atmosphere, not unlike those of certain seventies bands like Can, Magma or even The Residents. For his newest release, the 'Humus' LP , Jorge decided to expand his formula and recorded the album with a real band. He restricted himself to his elaborate guitar playing and some synthesizer and electronics work. Helped by Loch Ness bass player Victor Basurto, drummers Charly Lopez and Carlos Bozzo Vazquez, and piano player Enrique Curiel. Jorge recorded eigth tracks again, this time in the local Sky Corner Studio. This provides a "bigger", more professional sound for his music that is still and unsettling and strange as a few years ago. Jorge Beltran is a real guitar virtuoso in the Frank Zappa tradition and his impeccable guitar playing dominates the various psychy rock, jazz and avant garde styles in all tracks. This is music with a very personal signature and with a bizarre, intriguing dark aura. A brilliant LP for guitar freaks and fans of psychedelic/ progressive music of a 'different' nature. Mega-recommended.

From Crohinga Well noº11,Belgium.1995