New keys to the mystery of Family

And he has done so despite the cordial negative of the artists themselves, the head of the Elefant label and many musicians and friends of the city itself. Add that Family never granted interviews, that there are only two promotional photos of Javier Aramburu and Iñaki Gametxogoikoetxea, one of them unfocused, and that only offered half a dozen concerts in 1991, between Donostia and Madrid. The album was published when Family no longer existed. Today Javier distributes his talent between painting, graphic design, record covers and Iñaki illustration is often seen in local concerts.

‘A breath in the heart. The mystery of Family ‘(EFE EME) tour the Basque scene of the 80 A final reflection. Prieto Álvarez had already written an extensive article about Family in 2017 for EFE EME notebooks, «until one day, after talking to the editor about a text about the Catalan rumba, he told me: Why don’t you write a book about ‘A breath in the heart ‘? There have been nine intense months spread over vacations and free hours.

“I don’t believe in perfection”

The text underlines a series of coincidences that led to the final result: the RCA seal rejected the proposal because it The producer could be Alejo Alberdi (demolition Arias), who had already worked with Kirlian adventures, but when he proposed changes, the duo closed in band. Rodrigo Silva-Ramos was finally, a professional raised in Paris who settled in Madrid in 1985 after the death of his father. From there a Mirage keyboard contained the first samplers, a novelty at the time.

One morning, while it was tiny in his tiny apartment, he appeared on his little TV adventures in Kirlian. “A song of his caught his attention that did not hit anything there, in a shabby program, for retirees,” recalls the producer. Manages to contact Teresa Iturrioz, bassist of the group and partner of Javier Aramburu; She passes a model of the young lizard, now turned into family. Rodrigo sees its potential and retouches ‘as an aviator’ based on hype, bass and electronics, New Order style. Javier rejects the idea: “We liked anything.” Months later Rodrigo receives an unexpected call: “We have thought it well and we want to record, you are the best solution,” Javier communicates. But there are still more coincidences. The album could have been recorded in the pointer FX studies by Fernando Arbex, which Rodrigo had reactivated. But Baltasar Garzón decrees the entrance in prison the former battery and composer of the jumps by linking to a drug trafficking network. The alternative for Rodrigo is to move his entire team to a small space of the Fangoria Vulcan studies (Alaska and Nacho Canut).

The album is recorded in one week, mixed in another. Javier, who already lives in Madrid, deals with voices, programming and some guitars. Iñaki sometimes attend with his bass. But the singer was not happy with the sound because he was “away from his spirit.” The solution was to obviate Rodrigo’s equipment and use the programming of the Roland D-20, present in the model. The producer remembers that this synthesizer had “a low line that was a bit like an organ”; For Family it was perfect. When Rodrigo gave Javier a technical advice or about voices, he always replied: “I don’t believe in perfection.” For the author of the book, the most novel is the opinions of the producer: «He is a person who loves his work, incredibly cheerful when he was with the album. Although he points out that he did nothing, only entity preserving the talent of the duo, the truth is that the album is as it is thanks to its presence ». And so all the planets of the universe of ‘A breath in the heart’ were aligned. Of course, the mystery continues.