Esplendor Geometrico

Circa 1977, Arturo Lanz and Servando Carballar experimented with sound under the name Holoplástico. By 1978 they placed a newspaper ad to recruit a band, gaining the attention of Andrés Noarbe, Gabriel Riaza, and Juan Carlos Sastre.{{cite magazine |last1=Fdez Abel |first1=David |title=Esplendor Geometrico: El Discreto Encanto Del No-Se-Que |magazine=Noise Club |date=May 1993 |issue=2 |pages=33–35 |url=https://archive.org/details/noiseclub/NoiseClub_2_1993_Mayo/page/n33/mode/2up?q=%22Esplendor+Geometrico%22 |access-date=6 May 2025 |publisher=Por Caridad Producciones |location=Madrid |language=Spanish}} They formed El Aviador Dro which played techno-pop music "in the style of Devo." Lanz, Riaza, and Sastre lost interest in the direction of El Aviador Dro and departed the band in 1980 in order to strike out in a different musical direction. Their early work was influenced by Kraftwerk, as well as DAF, Neu!, and Can.{{cite magazine |author1= |title=Esplendor Geometrico |magazine=Interchange |date=1983 |issue=3A |pages=25–26 |url=https://archive.org/details/inter-3a/page/n23/mode/2up?q=%22Esplendor+Geometrico%22 |access-date=6 May 2025 |location=UK}}

The band was active in the early-eighties international tape scene where they established a rhythmic, experimental electronic sound that foreshadowed the emergence of the powernoise subgenre by over a decade.{{cite book |last1=Reed |first1=S. Alexander |title=Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music |year=2013|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199832583|oclc=1147729910|via=the Internet Archive|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/assimilatecritic0000reed |page=132}} In 1981, the band released their first single, "Necrosis en la Poya", on the Tic Tac label.{{cite magazine |author1= |title=ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO Necrosis en la poya/P.LE./ Negros hambrientos (Tic Tac) |magazine=Vinyl |date=January 1982 |issue=10 |page=39 |url=https://archive.org/details/vinyl-nr-10/page/38/mode/2up?q=%22Esplendor+Geometrico%22 |access-date=6 May 2025 |location=Amsterdam |language=Dutch}} This was followed in 1982 by the EG-1 cassette (also referred to as Muerte A Escala Industrial) which had a run of 300 copies and their first LP, Héroe del Trabajo / El Acero del Partido, which was released in two pressings of 500 copies.{{cite magazine |author1= |editor1-last=Davenport |editor1-first=William |editor2-last=Rankin |editor2-first=Christopher |title=Esplendor Geometrico |magazine=Unsound |date=1983 |volume=1 |issue=2 |page=12 |url=https://archive.org/details/unsound-zine/unsound-1-2/page/n11/mode/2up?q=%22Esplendor+Geometrico%22 |access-date=6 May 2025 |location=San Francisco, CA}} Their first works included vocal experimentations but the band abandoned these by the time of Héroe del Trabajo / El Acero del Partido. Sastre departed the band in 1982.

Esplendor Geométrico released 1980–1982, a double album compiled, digitized and mastered for CD in Netherlands, containing the first single (1980), cassette (1981) and LP (1982). The song title "El Acero del Partido" (The Steel of Party) was inspired on the metallurgical complex in Elbasan (Albania), while "Héroe del Trabajo" (Hero of Labor) was inspired by the Albanian honorific title for civilians workers. CD 1 was previously released as the "Eg1" cassette (later CD with bonus tracks). CD 2 was previously released as the CD "El Acero del Partido" (including the LP "El Acero del Partido" and the single "Necrosis en la poya").{{citation needed|date=April 2025}}

In 1985, the band formed their own label, Esplendor Geométrico Discos, and released their second LP, Comisario de la Luz / Blanco de Fuerza, with an initial run of 500 copies. The LP included an excerpt of the band's November 1984 performance in Madrid.{{cite magazine |author1=Cruz |title=ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO... Comisario de la luz/B lanc o de fuerza. |magazine=Syntorama |date=January 1986 |issue=8 |page=37 |url=https://archive.org/details/MASE_8SYNTORAMAEneAbr86/page/n35/mode/2up?q=%22Esplendor+Geometrico%22 |access-date=6 May 2025 |language=Spanish}}

File:Esplendor Riaza.jpg

In 1990, the band released a double cassette box titled Diez años de esplendor ({{langx|en|Ten years of splendor}}) to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the band. It was recorded and mastered in Belgium. In 1997, it was reissue as a double-CD set titled Tarikat. The reissue label "Vinyl-On-Demand" also released the 3LP box 1980-1989; First decade in 2007, including a third LP with live studio and bonus tracks. In addition, there is also a red 'Friends Edition' box set with golden imprints.

In 1993, they released Arispejal astisaró, an album recorded at Chon Studio Palma (Majorca), mixed at Al-Majriti Studio in Melilla, and digitalized and mastered for CD in Bochum (Germany).

In 1994, the band played at the first Sónar festival in Barcelona, alongside acts such as The Orb.{{cite magazine |title=Sónar Advanced Music Meeting |magazine=The Wire |date=May 1994 |issue=123 |page=73 |url=https://archive.org/details/the-wire-magazine-1994-05-cbz/mode/2up?q=%22Esplendor+Geometrico%22 |access-date=6 May 2025 |publisher=Adele Yaron |location=London |issn=0952-0686}}

The band returned with 1997's Polyglophone, the following year, artists such as Coil and Chris and Cosey contributed reworkings of Esplendor Geométrico tracks to the remix album EN-CO-D-Esplendor. In 2002, Compuesto de Hierro was released, while a double CD compilation, Anthology 1981–2003, hit the shops in 2005.

• Necrosis en la poya 7" (1981, reissued in 2020)
• EG-1 cassette (1981, reissued on CD in 2000)
• El acero del partido/Héroe del trabajo LP (1982, reissued on CD in 2000)
• Comisario de la luz/Blanco de fuerza LP (1985)
• 1980-1981 cassette (1986)
• En Roma cassette (1986)
• En directo: Madrid y Tolosa cassette (1987)
• Kosmos kino LP (1987,{{cite magazine |last1=Lo |first1=Mark |title=ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO Kosmos |magazine=File 13 |date=October 1988 |issue=2 |page=10 |url=https://archive.org/details/file-13-2/mode/2up?q=%22Esplendor+Geometrico%22 |access-date=6 May 2025 |location=Eatontown, NJ}} reissued on CD in 1996)
• Mekano-turbo LP (1988, reissued on CD in 1994)
• Madrid mayo '89 cassette (1989)
• Live in Utrecht LP (1990, reissued on CD in 1999)
• Diez años de esplendor 2 x cassette (1990)
• Sheikh Aljama (jeque de aljama) CD (1991){{cite magazine |last1=Piñango |first1=Javier |title=ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO “Sheikh Aljama" (Daft/Rotor) |magazine=Noise Club |date=1990 |publisher=Por Caridad Producciones |issue=1 |page=42 |url=https://archive.org/details/noiseclub/NoiseClub_1_1992/mode/2up?q=%22Esplendor+Geometrico%22 |access-date=6 May 2025 |location=Madrid |language=Spanish}}
• 1980-1982 2 x cassette (1993)
• Arispejal astisaró (powerful metal) CD (1993)
• Veritatis splendor CD (1994)
• 1983-1987 CD (1994){{cite magazine |last1=Büsser |first1=Martin |editor1-last=Arndt |editor1-first=M |title=ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO 1983-1987 CD |magazine=Zap |date=2 March 1995 |issue=119 |page=17 |url=https://archive.org/details/zap_zine/zap_119_1995/mode/2up?q=%22Esplendor+Geometrico%22 |access-date=6 May 2025 |language=German}}
• Nador CD (1995)
• Tokyo sin fin CD (1996)
• Treinta kilómetros de radio CD-EP (1996)
• Balearic rhythms CD (1996)
• 80s tracks CD (1996)
• Tarikat 2 x CD (1997)
• Polyglophone CD (1997)
• Syncrotrón mini-LP (1998)
• EN-CO-D-Esplendor (remixes) CD (1998)
• Compuesto de hierro CD (2002)
• Moscú está helado (remixes) CD (2004)
• Anthology 1981-2003 2 x CD (2005)
• 8 traks & live CD / DVD (2007)
• Pulsión CD (2009)
• Desarrollos geométricos CD (2011)
• Ultraphoon CD (2013)
• Fluida Mekaniko CD (2016)
• 40 Años Nos Iluminan 2 x CD (2020)
• Cinética CD (2020)

{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Esplendor Geométrico}}

• {{Official website|https://www.rotordiscos.com/autores/esplendor-geometrico/1721/}}
• {{AllMusic | id=esplendor-geométrico-mn0000198384 | title=Esplendor Geométrico}}
• {{Discogs artist|Esplendor Geométrico}}
• [http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/arturo-lanz--cold-wave-drum-machines Arturo Lanz RBMA lecture]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100926003031/http://rwm.macba.cat/uploads/20080210/Avant01_eng.pdf]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20240131221948/https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/fanzines/ritroc/ritroc_a1986m11-12n1.pdf]

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Category:Spanish electronic music groups

Category:Spanish industrial music groups

Category:Musical groups established in 1980

Category:Spanish musical groups

Category:Musical groups from Madrid

Category:Noise musical groups

Category:Cassette culture 1970s–1990s