STRANDED IN A JOKE
A contemporary odyssey between clarity and absurdity
Well, here it is — my new album. The fourth one. It’s taken me a good while (and a fair bit of sweat), but here it stands: Stranded in a Joke, a sort of odyssey between lucidity and absurdity. A personal take on the big joke this planetary circus has become — and on my own trip through a world that’s disintegrating, both literally and metaphorically.
This isn’t an album to listen to on shuffle. The idea was to bring back that old way of hearing music I had when I was a kid lying on my bed. So, the tracks are sequenced with a very specific purpose — almost like three acts. Since it’s my album, I do what I want. So if you can, listen to it in that order. If you don’t like one, skip it, sure — it happens — but the idea is that you can picture the whole thing the way I see it.
The first five tracks go straight to the point: “Awaken,” “POS (Piece of Shit),” “The Desperate Maze of a Loser,” “Blink of an Eye,” and “Garden of Liars” form the most destructive block — somewhat in the spirit of Architecture, but with a different energy. It’s the part where everything feels on the verge of collapse: noise, anger, sarcasm, and that sense that we’re still dancing while the ship is sinking.
Then things shift into a more ambient and laid-back mode — or at least that’s how it seems — with “Lemonade,” “Black Coffee,” and “Loner.” Less anger, more emptiness. Lemonade, an acoustic guitar piece, tries to open this act and give you a breath after all that distortion, though it doesn’t quite escape the weight of what came before. The external noise gives way to inner silence: a kind of lucid dream, nightmare, or anxiety flare-up — depending on the day you’re having. An orchestra processed through my blender.
The final act is more scattered, almost like a caricature of sanity: “The Bearded Woman Meets Fedor the Giant,” “Nerds Make Love,” “Dopamine,” and “Be Flat.” Here, irony and solitude mix with absurd humor and resignation. Everything leads to that inevitable ending: me, my instrument, my effects, and my head. Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes it doesn’t. All imperfect. No edits. But that’s what remains in the end.
Stranded in a Joke doesn’t aim to fix anything or offer answers. Don’t play the CD backwards — nothing’s hidden there. There’s no moral, no inspirational quote you can slap on a mug for a late-night show. It’s more of a radiograph of my confusion: the constant noise in my head, the anxiety that’s become routine, the contradictions we don’t even bother hiding anymore, the digital loneliness wrapped in optimistic filters, and that feeling we all share — that we’re part of a comedy that stopped being funny a long time ago.
Maybe that’s what it’s all about: to keep playing, even after the joke is over.
Garden of Liars - Live Session
Razl: guitars and everything you can imagine
Carmen Bartolomé: vocals
Chus Gancedo: drums
Damian Erskine: bass
Mixed & Mastered by Lorenzo Matellán at Headroom Estudio
CANDÁS JAZZ FESTIVAL 2025
Last Saturday, August 9th, I performed with my Psycho Quartet at the Semana del Jazz de Candás in Asturias.
It was as hypertrophic and steroid-fueled a concert as they come, and I couldn’t be happier about the luck I had in being joined by Chus Gancedo, Toño Gutiérrez, and Rafa Santana — monstrous machines from hyperspace.
Garden of Liars musically reflects on the current state of media and social networks, where everyone creates fictional personas detached from reality, filling the information landscape with absurd rumors and lies that defy reason and common sense
GARDEN OF LIARS
I’m thrilled to share with you the video of one of the tracks from what will be my new album, Stranded in a Joke.
This track is called Garden of Liars and was filmed by audiovisual producer Ignacio Cadenaba in an industrial warehouse near the Asturian town of Cangas de Onís. The main guitar was recorded live on location, and we worked on several takes to allow Ignacio to create the stunning composition you see in the video.
The musicians who recorded this instrumental piece with me were Damian Erskine on bass and Chus Gancedo on drums.
CUTAWAY MAGAZINE (Spanish)
Here’s the interview I was recently featured in for the January issue of Cutaway Magazine. I talk about my upcoming album (almost ready), the Solitude experimental guitar performance, and much more.
The interview is in Spanish, so maybe it’s a good time to learn the language or use some kind of evil cyborg disguised as AI to translate it. 😜
SOLITUDE
Solitude is an experimental guitar project based on a solo performance I did at the «Librería de Pimiango» in Asturias. It’s a 25-minute set recorded entirely live in a single take.
Some of my musical influences, like Nels Cline, David Torn, and David Tronzo, showed me at some point in my musical journey that the guitar could go far beyond what I usually heard.
Solitude draws on the solitude that accompanies composers throughout their lives, as in the end, no one will carry you anywhere. At the same time, this performance is a tribute to the beauty of imperfection in playing—where it’s not about how you play but the overall concept of what you play.
Imperfection is a quality on the brink of extinction, deserving preservation as it’s the essence of the purest musical thought.
«Spanish guitarist Raúl Huelves (a.k.a. Razl) leads a power trio featuring bassist extraordinaire Bryan Beller. Coaxing super-seductive tones from both electric and acoustic guitars sans pick, Razl struts and grooves hard throughout, as compelling riffs, clever rhythmic twists, atypical harmonic touches, and an imaginative use of effects further flavor this savory sonic gumbo.»
★ Barry Cleveland-Guitar Player Magazine ★
«I just had the pleasure of listening to Razl´s latest album, «Microscopic». I cannot think of a better use of your time than to listen to this guitarist play some of the most infectious grooves being heard on this planet.»
★ Walter Kolosky (music journalist, author of Follow your heart-John McLaughlin song by song) ★
«Razl’s second album, Microscopic, is a real step forward from his impressive debut, Rotonova. His style hasn’t changed radically (although this time out it’s a «highly addictive guitar-and-beyond ridden groove-a-thon»), but Microscopic is not only stripped down instrumentally (basically a power trio album), but Razl’s tunes are both tighter and more focused and he seems to be developing a stronger individual voice as a composer.»
★ Sean Westergaard-All music guide ★
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