Reviewing music on a regular (ahem! Not that regular lately) basis is great because you basically get to hear many records you would never cross with otherwise. Sometimes they're crap, sometimes they're pleasant surprises. Massa Última (aka Portuguese Rui Almeida)'s self-released cdr surely belongs to the latter category. Almeida, joined by Luís Couto on the title track, uses a lot of field recordings, mostly taken in Ireland and the Aran Islands, along with instrumental sources like guitars, keyboards, mbira, drum loops etc. For a debut, his style is already remarkable, though a little rough at times, or just a bit dispersive. But there are little gems like the droning title track (with bowed strings which could definitely appeal to those into guitar-based ambiences, à la Aidan Baker) or the equally captivating "Change Resistance" (a composition for radio waves, massage chair, broken drumpad and keyboard), which are very convincing in their fresh, handicraft approach. At times the used of looped concrete sources, as in the opening "Quiet Stratagem", reminded me of Murmer, though on the whole Massa Última relies more on electronics and instruments - "Opposite Reverse", for instance, is structured on a backward melody, though I must say this is the track I liked the least, as I found it a bit predictable. But as I wrote above, this is definitely a promising and at times original debut - let's see how Almeida evolves.