Biography
«Portuguese musician José Paulo Andrade is a former member of 80's urban folk band
Ocaso Épico (bass player), known for its mind-blowing performances at the extinct
lisbon venue Rock Rendez Vous (RRV). He also played guitar in a rock band called V12. Ocaso épico released one album - 'Muito Obrigado' - in 1988 and was ready to record its second one some years later when band leader and mentor Farinha Master died unexpectedly, putting a premature end to the project. the remaining members scattered and José
began learning and exploring new tools, mainly software based ones.
5 Dimensões
EP' is the result of his 3 year evolution journey as Gamma Ray Blast, in which he gathered influences from the 90's so-called 'ambient' precursors, such as Kruder & Dorfmeister,
Thievery Corporation and Badmarsh, among others, all wrapped up under a genuine Sci-Fi feel. Gamma Ray Blast operates on a lush and soothing beat base, very melodical, mixed with oriental and traditional portuguese elements, such as sitar, portuguese guitar (mainly used in the Fado genre), flutes and percussion.
A bit about the last 3 pieces, starting with the 3rd one Called Paredes which is a humble homage to the late
Carlos Paredes, a true genius of the Portuguese Guitar. It contains a couple
of samples from his work, like the song
Verdes Anos one of his most known ones. Fourth track
Grândola is another homage, but this one is dedicated to the April
25th political revolution that freed Portuguese people from the dictatorship regime,
back in 1974, where we can hear
Zeca Afonso sing the words of the first song to be
played on the (at last) censorship-liberated radio, Grândola Vila Morena. Musically, these two songs show the strenght of their dramatic and political meaning, but also
the smoothness of lounge electronic music. Last track is an original from Ocaso Épico/Farinha
Master, reworked, called
Adamastor.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
