Rodrigo Y Gabriela - 11:11
Rodrigo Y Gabriela are finally back with their 2nd studio album “11:11″ after a long wait since their incredible eponymous debut album was released in 2006. Since then Rodrigo and Gabriela have been touring constantly and I was lucky enough to see them at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre in March 2008, Rod & Gab have released a couple of live albums in the meantime “Live in Dublin & Manchester” and “Live in Japan” (check out their Store page).

“11:11″ builds on their debut release with the same brilliant interplay between the two with Gabriela’s punchy rhythm playing and rasgueado & percussive hits (check out this video of Rodrigo & Gabriela’s guitar tips) giving each track a flamenco flavour. Meanwhile Rodrigo’s melodies are as catchy as ever and his playing even more precise.

Each track on “11:11″ is dedicated to someone, for instance the opening track Hanuman is dedicated to Carlos Santana an obvious influence of theirs sharing their Latin background. Buster Voodoo as some of you may have guessed is dedicated to Jimi Hendrix (Buster was Jimi’s nickname when he was young) and Rodrigo & Gabriela have definitely managed to give the track a Hendrix flavour while still maintaining their own recognisable style, Rodrigo even busts out a Wah for an acoustic Wah solo including a cheeky lick from the intro to Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).

There are also tracks dedicated to the great Paco De Lucia (Master Maqui) and Al Di Meola (Logos). Now if you know anything about Rodrigo and Gabriela you will know they come not from a flamenco background but metal so it is no surprise that there is also a dedication to the late great Dimebag Darrell called Atman (A Sanskrit word meaning the only deathless part of the human being) and it features Testament’s Alex Skolnick performing a solo on Electric guitar. Alex has been friends with these guys for a while and has performed with them on a couple of occasions check out these two videos Part 1 and Part 2.

This album is much more experimental and darker than their debut, Rodrigo has included lots of harmonised guitar lines and they have performed a few production special effects to give the tracks a little more of a studio production sound whereas I felt with the first album that they were sitting performing right in front of you. This doesn’t detract from the feel of the album at all, they are subtle embellishments to a great album. Their tribute to Al Di Meola – Logos features what sounds like an overdriven acoustic guitar melody from Rodrigo and a beautiful chord progression that makes this track a highlight of the album to me. It has hints of Jimmy Page fused with Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia all in one. Another of my favourite tracks is Savitri which begins in very familiar Rod & Gab terrirtory but half way through transports you into a Moroccan club, they have added sound effects to make it sound like (if you are wearing headphones) you are walking down a hallway through a creaking door into another room for a very cool eastern sounding interlude, then you are taken back outside and to the initial melodic theme again.

If you enjoyed the first album by Rodrio Y Gabriela this album will not disappoint. It would have been a hard task to write an album to follow such an influential debut release but they have stayed true to their style and not tried to create something that doesn’t sound like Rodrigo & Gabriela. The progressions and melodies are in some cases a little more melancholy or exotic sounding which gives “11:11″ a little of its own defined sound without breaking out of their signature style.