Product Description
- Love Is Happiness
- Twenty Years Later
- Sunset Breeze
- Raining House
- Travel To The End
- Live Here Forever
- Moonlight Melodies
- Paris Noir
- Half-full Glass
- Rainbow Melodies
- Mistery Dream
- Pampa Soul
- Ice Star
- Sunrise Melodies
Mellonta Tauta appeared on the scene in 1994 with their Sun Fell album on the legendary Hyperium label (Germany’s entry in the vein of 4AD). This Argentinian band has a sound compared to Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, etc, submerged in the realm of heavenly voices and neoclassical influences. Sun Fell – and the follow-up Fishes & Oceans ep – received very good reviews from the press and fans, then the band disappeared.But the wait is over! Mellonta Tauta is reborn in 2013. Twenty years later, they return with the all new album Rainbow Melodies, a beautiful journey through lovely melodies: a pure experience full of energy and beauty with great arrangements in a variety of alternative pop styles, graced with beautiful female vocals. A highly anticipated return for the fans and anyone who loves sweet, engaging, catchy alternative-pop music.
Mellonta Tauta is:
Daniel López Quiroga: guitars, bass, all arrangement & production
Karina Altamiranda: voices & lyrics
Federico Aldaz: drums & soul
Q: Daniel, tell us more about your bandmates.
A: The history is that Federico and I played live together twice in ’88/’89. And Karina participated in Mellonta Tauta’s demo recordings in Argentina in March of 1990. I moved to Italy to create the Hyperium releases with vocalist Leticia. Recently, through Facebook, I reconnected with my original bandmates, and I was inspired to return to the sound we started many years ago.
Q: Yes, tell us more about Rainbow Melodies. The idea behind it, your inspiration, the spirit inside you that motivates this?
A: The need was urgent, the music was born and accumulating for years, happily reuniting with Karina allowed us to finish the work. Mellonta Tauta was sleeping for years; at one point I woke up in the same spirit, the same restlessness to explore new music. To create songs that I liked, basically, was the challenge. This album reflects the work of nearly three years, handcrafted and certainly reflecting the emotional essence of the original work. This time I can feel there is less dark and more light in the atmospheres and the melodies. There is less depression or distress, and there is more optimism, but without abandoning the melancholy. It is an eclectic album and every song has its own world and its own rules. I like that each song is different from the rest, the arrangements are not repeated, the sounds change and I did not have to tie myself to a rigid and strict formulation. The creative process with Karina was fantastic; we work hard looking for the right phrasing to each song. It is a very musical album, melodic with interesting instrumental moments, emotionally sincere every standpoint.
Q: Why the name Rainbow Melodies?
A: The title Rainbow Melodies responds to a purely emotional factor: a need to capture the excitement, the joy, of returning to work on a project of Mellonta Tauta. This prevails throughout the album with a certain luminosity, positive energy, and I think the “rainbow” sums it up. The chromatic palette applied to various musical moments of the album. Each song can be assigned a different color. The rainbow is also the triumph of color inside the storm, the light emerging from the gray clouds; the music that returns more colorful than ever, brighter, more vital than ever. We came back to stay!
Mellonta Tauta: Sun Fell (Digital)
Mellonta Tauta: Ocean & Fishes, the EP Collection (Digital)
Reviews Editor –
Gothic Paradise Best of 2013
Speaking of big years, this band first surfaced two decades ago amongst the dawn of the heavenly voices of the 90’s. Now, twenty years later we finally have their latest album and this one is great. The music is so dynamic, especially Karina’s diverse vocals from the giddy, girlish to the sultry and soft. Coming back strong and really making a name for themselves, it was a great pleasure to have this album this year.
Reviews Editor –
A review from Ver Sacrum
Classiche atmosfere Projekt circonfondono Rainbow melodies degli argentini Mellonta Tauta (titolo di un racconto di Edgar Allan Poe) i quali fin dall’opener “Love is happiness” ci conducono per mano fra gli agresti sentieri del dream/alternative-pop più rassicurante. La graziosa vocetta di Karina Altamiranda si presta al giuoco, piroettando leggiadra tra le perfette melodie intessute dai suoi accompagnatori Federico Aldaz e Daniel Lopez Quiroga (“Mistery dream”). Ne deriva un disco lungi dal rappresentare una pietra miliare del (sotto)genere, comunque onesto ed interpretato con la giusta disposizione (“Live here forever”). Inducono ad uno stato di gioia intima, quella che sale lentamente dalle viscere e che s’impossessa con delicatezza della nostra anima, queste canzoncine che poco pretendono dall’ascoltatore, non necessitando di soverchio impegno per essere assimilate ed apprezzate. Le sto ascoltando in cuffia, nel tepore del salotto, mentre la mia gatta dorme (o finge di dormire) beata sul tappeto, accovacciata ai miei piedi. Fuori piove, ed un vento insistente spirante da Nord-Est non invita certo ad uscire per una notturna passeggiata che pur sovente mi concedo. Meglio la quiete delle domestiche mura, mentre il resto della famiglia già giace tra le braccia di Morfeo, “Travel to the end” scivola lenta tra le pieghe del buio, testimone della capacità dell’ensemble di tessere trame anche più complesse, se solo vuole evitare d’insistere sul solito canovaccio. Rainbow Melodies è uno di quei dischi che dopo qualche giorno riponiamo sullo scaffale, dimenticandoci di loro, ma che si riascoltano con piacere anche a distanza di anni. E non è l’unico del ricco catalogo Projekt, label che evidentemente conosce il significato di qualità. -Hadrianus
Reviews Editor –
Wicked Channel
You can tell a musician runs Projekt Records. Sam Rosenthal who a lot of people may know from the incredible band Black Tape for a Blue Girl knows his music and when he seems to sign a band that band already has my attention, because of all the releases Projekt has put out, there has yet to be one that I felt was inferior. Mellonta Tauta I will just say right now is incredible. They have been around the scene since 1994, and for fans of bands like Belle and Sebastian, Apples in Stereo, Stars and Magnetic Fields are going to love this new cd. Karina Altamiranda who is the vocalist comes across like Kate Bush for the gothic dream pop age. Rainbow Melodies is just as the title tells you, it is a collection of songs that just open your mind and eyes to so many beautiful journeys. Love Is Happiness opens the cd and you get such a rich blend of vocals and sound that you just want to sit back and close your eyes and let the headphones speak to you. This cd ranges from jazz, goth, to just pop and it does it all so amazing. This cd is operatic and also so emotional. It incorporates keyboards, saxophone and almost anything else the songs require. This band reminds me of a softer Rainer Maria, it is just so beautiful this record that no matter what age or music genre you are into, this cd is such a treasure that I feel any music fan would really dig this record. There is definitely not too many bands like them out these days and when you hear one it is a must to pick it up. 9 out of 10 -James DePaolo
Reviews Editor –
Sound and Vision
El pasado 16 de abril se culminó el regreso de una de las bandas más importantes – y subvaloradas, debemos decir- de la música shoegaze/dreampop hispana: Mellonta Tauta. La banda argentina, fundada a finales de los 80′s y lanzando tres producciones a mitades de los 90′s (sin contar los compilados y las colaboraciones en los que participaron), el pasado 16 de abril publicó con su alineación original su primer disco de estudio en 18 años (desde Sun Fell): Rainbow Melodies.
¿A qué suena el álbum? A todo lo que un fan de lo etéreo y lo gótico desea escuchar: estridentes y cristalinos arpegios con voces angelicales y oscuras; las baterías orgánicas y programadas suenan frescas; las atmósferas son ecléticas. Además, habrá texturas psicodélicas en breves episodios instrumentales.
Hay canciones más poderosas y construidas que otras, por ejemplo “Travel to the End” y “Live Here Forever”, con saxofones y expansiones interesantes en sus notas. También las hay más digeribles y suaves, como “Love is Happiness”, “Twenty Years Later” y “Mistery Dream”, con ecos románticos detrás de la instrumentación. Y, por si fuera poco, de igual manera encontraremos tracks un tanto experimentales como “Paris Noir” y “Ice Star”, con programación y caja de ritmos. -Alex
Reviews Editor –
Premio Mr E
Mellonta Tauta es un proyecto de la ciudad de Mar del Plata que fue siempre más orientado a la difusión europea que argentina. Su motor es Daniel López Quiroga quien, al frente de su propio sello El Kaburé Records, llevó su obra a Italia y demás países del viejo continente con la certeza de encontrar allí mejor recepción que en su tierra natal. Grabaron en 1994 su, hasta este año, único álbum llamado Sun Fell (que integra mi orgullosa colección en edición original) y nunca se codearon demasiado con ninguna escena argentina. Es que esta banda tiene claras raíces en toda la revolución gótica que de la mano del sello inglés 4AD sacudió al planeta (entiéndase el planeta rock independiente… un planetita) a fines del siglo pasado. Sun Fell olía a Cocteau Twins o This Mortal Coil, lo que los condenó a un espacio ínfimo en difusión pero a un reconocimiento cercano al culto.-
De vuelta en Mar del Plata Daniel vuelve a poner los motores en marcha y a veinte años de su debut Mellonta Tauta recarga su propuesta con dos décadas de madurez, crecimiento y, seguramente, algunos dolores como todos tenemos. Hay una clara continuidad entre los dos discos y un cuidado extremo por los detalles y las instrumentaciones barrocas que juegan un duelo refinado con la versátil y educadísima voz de su cantante femenina. La aspiración es claramente no quedarse en esa faz gótica oscura sino que aparecen brillosos toques de pop y hasta jazz que le dan al disco coloraturas variadas sin abandonar, como ellos mismos manifiestan “un poco de Dark pampeano… de malambo oscuro”.-
Rainbow Melodies es un paseo por sonidos de sueños pero que no adormecen. Es un trabajo altamente recomendable para los seguidores de este tipo de música que, lejos de lo esquemático, sabe abrir el juego renovando un género que parecía perdido y que está a la altura de lo más granado que pueda evocarse. Un retorno tan inesperado como saludable. Y hecho, orgullosamente, en Mar del Plata. -Mr E
Reviews Editor –
MusicTAP
Mellonta Tauta is an interesting term to be adopted by a band as its name. It means “things of the future”. It is also a short story by Edgar Allen Poe. I knew the latter as I’m a Poe fan (Just ask my HS English teacher. She’ll tell ya!). The former I had to look up. Still, it’s an interesting term. And still an interesting band name.
Mellonta Tauta have their geographcal roots in Argentina, comprised of three very versatile musicans that include Daniel López Quiroga (guitars/bass), Federico Aldaz (drums), and the vocally talented Karina Altamiranda, who also writes the songs found on Rainbow Melodies. As the history of this band goes, Mellonta Tauta began in 1994 at a time when the Gothic music of the ’80s began to become a genre all its own with multiple spikes in various directions in style.
Fast forward some 20 years later, this band reassembles, as luck will have it, via the communicative powers of Facebook. The result is the excellent neo-classical hybrid album that is Rainbow Melodies.
Rainbow Melodies is a collection of songs that skate from one side of the genre to another. Cue the first song, “Love Is Happiness”, and you get a richly textured layer of sound, with Karina’s ghostly vocals providing the shimmer of the track. But move over into the second track, “Twenty Years Later”, obviously a reference to the re-emergence of the band, you get something entirely different. With a steady drum track, and vocals sounding like the alien operatic in The Fifth Element (and I truly mean that in a good way as I adored that part of the film), the song is an immediate favorite.
Rainbow Melodies has within its parts, songs that incorporate a highly enjoyable jazz element with excellent saxophone blended in. On the lengthy and electric, “Travel To The End”, the sax is mournful and, when it meets Karina’s operatically talented voice, it offers an emotion of a different kind. The sax is also heard in the equally lengthy folllow-up track, “Live Here Forever” but not before Karina has you travelling on a melancholy road.
“Paris Noir” gets a little psychedelically electric, and jazzy. Karina handles it well because she has a voice that can do miracles with every style she embraces. Her two musical partners, Daniel, and Federico supply no lack of expert musicianship to make the album what it is, one to pay attention to and to enjoy. There’s not a whole lot of bands like them out there.
Rainbow Melodies is an excellent album. After 20 years, it’s clear that Mellonta Tauta is destined to be together. With its bold blending of jazz, neo-classical music, electric psychedelia, and heavenly voices, sometimes all in the same song (“Rainbow Melodies”), this album is one to be enjoyed. So, call the music what you want – Shoegaze, Darkwave, Dreampop. I’m going to call it refreshing and worth my time. -Matt Rowe
Reviews Editor –
Pagina 12
En los ’90, este grupo de dream pop y shoegaze llamó la atención en la escena argentina por su particular sonido, al que se podía vincular con los de bandas como This Mortal Coil o Cocteau Twins. La banda, liderada por el guitarrista Daniel López Quiroga, publicó su debut en un sello alemán, y ahora regresa, a casi quince años de su separación. Y lo hace con formación nueva (las etéreas voces son de Karina Altamiranda) y una producción que mantiene varios de sus rasgos identitarios, pero que maduró en el logro de paisajes sonoros de una belleza nada ostentosa. -R. C.
Reviews Editor –
Gothic Paradise
Reappearing after nearly twenty years being absent from the world of Heavenly Voices, this band returns with their all new album Rainbow Melodies Rainbow Melodies The band has crafted a spectacular masterpiece with this album, spanning moods, tempos and genres but all remaining well within the realm of dreamy ethereal and dreampop music. The band really put a lot of work into this one, presenting us with fourteen spellbinding tracks that hold the listener captivated.
The album kicks off with “Love Is Happiness”, a captivating piece that immediately became a favorite on this album. While I may not understand the lyrics completely, the vocals become another instrument amidst the mix of soaring guitars with all the shoegaze reverb coming out while a steady, upbeat rhythm moves everything along for a truly dreamy piece. Karina’s vocal talent is truly extraordinary, the first time I listened to the album I was sure there were multiple vocalists. Her dynamic voice shifts from ethereal and angelic to sensual and dreamy from one piece to the next. “Twenty Years Later” picks up next as another spellbinding piece as the heavy percussion lends itself well to the subtle mix of 80’s new wave styles of synths and guitars, all the while providing a backdrop for the soft and beautiful vocals. It seems I’m noting nearly every track as a favorite as the album moves along, but that just speaks to the overal dynamic nature of these talented artists. After a short, dreamy instrumental piece, “Raining House” kicks in next and is much like “Love Is Happiness” in it’s structure, including the upbeat rhythms and vocals over the beautiful soundscapes of various guitars that really carry the piece well.
At this point the mood shifts a bit from the seemingly happy-go-lucky feel of the first few pieces to a darker, jazz-infused sound across several pieces. This shift caught me off guard the first time I listened to the album after such an upbeat dream-pop style on the first pieces, the soft, moody style with trumpet, saxophone and grooving bass is such a difference, but as I’ve listened to the album several times, it has really grown on me and is a great dynamic style for the album. “Travel to the End” is the first in this series of laid-back, smooth jazzy pieces. This piece exhibits the huge shift in vocal style as well as musical style and is great mix. “Live Here Forever” shifts even more in vocal and musical style, while the soft guitar chords remain the focal point behind the vocals, after the jazzy guitar does it’s solo, toward the end of the track when the saxophone kicks in, then the jazz sound really becomes authentic and beautiful. After another short instrumental marking the halfway point of the album, “Paris Noir” continues the jazzy style for one more piece before we shift again.
Another short instrumental provides a short interlude before drifting into the title track “Rainbow Melodies”. The shift from smooth jazz to this downtempo, dreamy style isn’t nearly as big as before, in fact it still has a lot of the same elements with the jazzy guitar and the more pronounced vocals rather than the ethereal, dream-pop nature of the first few pieces. “Mystery Dream” picks it back up a bit for a nice dream-pop piece before the album starts to close with a couple more instrumentals and “Ice Star”, which serves as kind of a finale, blending and mixing all of the above for a dreamy, closing piece (with exception of the final instrumental track “Sunrise Melodies”). With that, the album comes to a close and so does this review. As I mentioned before, this album has really grown on me and is definitely a current favorite with it’s dynamic variety in overall moods, vocals, instruments and musical styles. It’s definitely worth picking up and adding to your collection.
Rating: 5/5