Jheal Bashta – Marcha Negra [Traces]

Traces is a new Spanish label that unites two concepts as different as electronic music and mining, an economic sector that was the livelihood of many Asturians during the 19th and 20th centuries. As the name of the project itself indicates, it describes the current situation of the mining regions where practically only traces and marks of the past remain.

Marcha Negra is the launch that inaugurates this seal, Jheal Bashta is the master of ceremonies of a project for which he is the maximum responsible. 6 tracks published on vinyl that musically shows the entrails, the depth and the hardness that was lived during generations in this economic activity.

Marcha Negra is also the track that opens the A-side with fast and penetrating techno, with influences from the industrialist and with a supposed testimony that evokes the hard battle of the day to day in this profession. With Riots, the second track of the EP, the battlefield moves to the streets and barricades formed by all those workers who claim basic rights, as many families have lost all their livelihoods with the closure of the mines. Techno hard, with a consistent kick and again with a quite dynamic cadence. Nicolasa is the third and last track of this first side, this track refers to the biggest emblem of the Asturian mining, to the great strike of 62 and to the worst accident of the history in this sector, where a total of 14 workers died because of an explosion.  Jheal Bashta recreates with a deep sound, with a multitude of bounces, a small fragment of Albinoni’s Adagio for Strings and Organ in G Minor.

The B-side opens with the drama of death inside the mine, but this time the author gives it a more energetic meaning.  Die Inside shows industrial techno with more musicality, with an arpeggiated bassline that marks the path of this tragedy. Kill Murder Assassinate shows a more ruthless character, again Jheal resorts to a more accelerated rhythm and a forceful kick. Proclama is the last track on the B-side, an atmospheric landscape that mixes several degraded sound sources, some of them seeming to be field recordings, and a speech on mining that ends up being quickly lost.

Release date: February 24^th, 2020.