Biography
Culto Oculto
Typically categorized as an experimental, dark and progressive rock band, Cult Oculto has incorporated various influences and instrumentation throughout its long history, from psychedelic rock to new wave, art-rock, tropipunk, hard rock, folk, electronics, and drum&base.
Founded between 1989/90 and determined to make their music known to the world, they became, together with Sentimiento Muerto, one of the only two Venezuelan bands to play in the mythical CBGB’s in New York.
The first album Flotar is nothing more than existing… a wave movement was recorded in 1996/97 and released by the Mexican label Culebra Continental. In 1999 the band recorded their second album Baralt000mix, released in 2000, and in 2002 the third album Blanco.
In 2003, Culto Oculto traveled through Spain and Portugal as part of the 2003 White Tour. During the tour, they were invited to play live in the legendary space of the RTVE Radio y Televisión Española Conciertos de Radio 3 becoming the first Venezuelan band to perform on this important stage. After the European tour, the band members ceased their activities by starting new musical projects.
In 2007, Culto Oculto performed at the 15th Sziget Festival 2007 in Budapest, Hungary. This served as a trigger to work on a new production. From 2009 to 2012 they worked on composing, recording, and mixing the new album. Due to the Venezuelan conflict and collateral damage to the band, the work was never published.
In 2018 with all its members installed between Spain, Colombia, and Mexico El Culto resumed the album and on May 7, 2020, released their first single Güeitin. This single will be followed by two more to finally release the new album in November 2020. 2021 is the year scheduled to start a series of concerts between Mexico and Europe.
Culto Oculto is formed by José Henríquez in voice and guitar, Sydney «Cat» Kings on bass, José Juan Sanguinetti drums and Paulo de Oliveira on keyboards.
Contact:
cultooculto.ve@gmail.com
Tel: +34 678 627 506
New Culto Oculto single,to loop it in.
The theme, which enters with an almost disconcerting softness, as does the reality in the mornings, goes climbing towards a dance that, from exactly the second minute 2:16, reminds you of that Lock & Stock scene where the poker game just ended for Eddie and everything is spinning.
It all begins with a delicate rhythm that one might find similar to the sounds of a house that end up waking the sleeper up late. Soon after, a trance guitar and the masterful bass line enter, creating, along with percussion, a hypnotic sensation. It is then, when already our ears have been absorbed by this magic, that enters the voice, with a cadence similar to that of bass and in a language that perhaps for some future civilization or other distant place turns out to mean something, But for us, it’s just a babble that raises that hypnotism. At the same time, one can feel that someone is trying to communicate and no one is able to understand it.
That’s when, at 1:12 in the minute, with one last sloppy «a» the chorus is given. Both the guitar and the percussion become momentarily more aggressive, while the babbling sounds somewhat more desperate: this someone has realized that we are not understanding what he is saying.
We return to the hypnotism of the beginning, but this time decorated with games on the guitar that make it somewhat more tormented and that end up returning us to the chorus, where now the guitar seems to indicate how the subject runs from one side to the other, like looking for a way out of the verbal prison he’s in. Finally, everything becomes a perfect environment to make crazy jumps around a whole room, almost like wanting to hit the walls: the desperation of our character has reached its peak, and that’s when he ends up accepting his condition, and suddenly gives up: the song ends.
So it is the scene that this new single builds in my head, and how I happen to communicate the feeling it gives me. In short: hypnotic and somewhat desperate.
Diego Henríquez Gugliotta.