If you put musicians in a room and tell ’em to jam, you’re going to end up with fewer hits than misses. But sometimes, you end up with something like Máscaras, the Portland instrumental surf-psych-punk trio of Papi Fimbres (drums), Theo Craig (bass), and Carlos Segovia (guitar).
Máscaras was borne from a series of jams, and they went so well, the band took a bunch of the resulting songs and turned them into a debut album, 2015’s Máscara vs. Máscara. It’s explosive, urgent, and fiery—a carnal collision of wild-eyed rhythms, fuzzy bass lines, and tightly wound electric guitar riffs.
Which brings us to Máscaras’ new five-song EP, El Morán. Let’s get right to the point: The band’s glorious, chaotic energy still courses through these tunes. The recording process took a lot longer than Máscara vs. Máscara, largely because Fimbres moved to Germany for a year after tracking the drums. But those circumstances sucked none of the joy, spunk, or attitude from Máscaras’ music.