Tarkus

Tarkus were a hard-rock quartet from Lima, Peru comprising Alex Nathanson and Wallo Carrillo from Peruvian psychedelic band Telegraph Avenue (named after Berkeley, California’s bohemian strip) and their two friends visiting from Argentina, Darío Gianella and Guillermo Van Lacke. After writing 20 original tunes, Tarkus (named after the legendary Emerson, Lake & Palmer album) recorded eight of these songs on an eight-channel board in only five weeks, giving birth to South America’s very first hard-rock album. They only played a handful of shows and barely lasted over a year, but their self-titled debut stands as a time-encapsulated nugget of amazing songs sure to stoke the musical fires of anyone into early Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Blue Cheer or Grand Funk Railroad. “El pirata” opens with a pummeling riff before Nathanson comes in singing with sinister inflections (in his Spanish tongue). Vestiges of Telegraph Avenue’s dark sense of psychedelia lace the album, especially on the turbulent “Tempestad,” and “Tema para Lilus” which borrows from Black Sabbath’s heavy doom riffs, making for a song that sounds like a Latin version of Flower Travelin’ Band.