Music : Re-Foc

Rating: - Re-Foc, re-Genius!
Why have you not already bought this cd? OK you're looking to see how good the reviews are, stop wasting time and buy it NOW.
These two young people are simply stunning, and if you have ever suffered from the slightest amount of pain in your fingers, watch Gabriela's masterclass on youtube! It'll make you wince.

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Rating: - Two Wonderful People
I was lucky enough to see these two when they were starting out, opening in a near-empty nightclub in Dublin, and busking on Dublin's streets. I was blown away by the skill and the heart they demonstrated in their playing, and rememember thinking how unjust it was and how under-appreciated these fantastic muscians were. It gives me such hope that through sheer peserverance and hard work these guys have worked themselves up from obscurity to deserved recognition, and also at how they have kept their warmth, sense of fun, and excitement in their playing.

I don't think that this album does justice to their staggering live perfomances, but I strongly recommend anyone buy it, (in particular if you are a guitarist yourself). It will be enough to convince you to see them live if you get the chance.

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Rating: - How annoying!
This has to be the worst music ever to put on when your trying to concentrate on something else! as soon as it starts i sit back, stare out the window, and listen in awe to two amazing musicians. I only come around again at the end of the song and think "dammit not again! I'll never get this work done." in other words amazing, buy it. in fact buy all their cds!

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Rating: - For every discernable music appreciator
If a new listener, Diem will probably capture you first, as it is quite easy to catch the hooks.

But every track deserves its place on this album, with the instrumentation and skill up to top knotch these Mexicans are truly blessed with fast fingers.

Of course half the compositons are based around Metallica's well balanced riffs, yet it's what the two guitarists take from that band to make their own is the key factor. I have heard Rodrigo and Gabriela play Wish You Were Here, Stairway to Heaven, One, Orion etc, yet how they turn these songs to their style is amazing.

Sangre y Ritmo is infected with superbly mixed chords, while Foc is their trademark track; featuring frenetic and fast guitar playing - described by the pair as "crazy."

Even if you listen to this album and say "It's too Spanish," give it another while to grow on you and make you realise that really, there is no genre available yet to describe the music. It isn't Spanish, it isn't flamenco, it isn't rock, it isn't jazz, it isn't post anything, and it hasn't been done before.

They also can't read muisc!

And I've seen them 4 times!

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Rating: - A GREAT ACCOUSTIC ALBUM
The "most frenetic guitar playing you are ver likely to hear" review is obviously just a few quotes from some of Rodrigo and Gabriela's press reviews. However, I would say that the most frenetic playing would probably go to The Guitar Trio (Paco De Lucia, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin) on their 'Friday Night...' live album. Just check out the 'Rio Ancho' song- its almost 'accoustic shredding'. But the rest of the review is accurate. It's fairly hard to pin Rod and Gab into one particular genre, as they tend to blend flamenco, jazz and metal traits. But this is for the better, and the songs on Re-Foc are possibly the best accoustic tracks I have heard since picking up Eduardo Niebla's 'I can Fly Now' album. Take 'Foc' for example, this is easily the best song on the album, and is nothing short of perfection. It acchieves the right balance between intelligent composition and impressive technique... something Yngwie Malmsteen and Michael Angelo would do well to learn from. I find it quite hard to listen to this song and not tap my feet or bob my head. On 'Georges Street/Tartar Frigate', the virtuosity takes something more of a back seat to composition, but the song still works excellently. This is possibly the most seamless and compatible unison of guitar and violin that you are likely to hear. There are also a couple of other reasonably good songs on the album, making it fairly good value for money. Perhaps my only criticism would be that sometimes I get a sense of repetitiveness from a few of their songs, in as much as they are occasionally slightly formulaic. A good lick is played, then shifted up an octave, then shifted back down again but altered slightly then finished off back up with an altered ending. But as Einstein's Theory Of Relativity is a prime example: when the formula (E=MCsquared) works perfectly, WHY CHANGE IT? And Rod and Gab have more than enough creativity between them to dish out the odd formulaic lick, and still make for entertaining listening. In conclusion, I would recommend this album to anyone remotely interested in latin accoustic guitar music, but also anyone who appreciates instrumental accoustic guitar music in general, or even anyone who just likes good music.