Aventuras De Kirlian has been played on NTS in shows including Braden Wells, featured first on 26 August 2022. Songs played include Una Historia and Pez Luna.

Once upon a time there was a band called Aventuras de Kirlian. They got together in early 1986 in San Sebastián, where they all came from, and their line-up was: Peru Izeta (stand-up drummer), Jone Gabarain (vocals), Teresa Iturrioz (bass) and Ibon Errazkin (guitar). They were influenced by Young Marble Giants, Cherry Red bands, early Talking Heads, Tamla-Motown and a few assorted psychedelic bands from the 60’s. But, most of all, what determined their style was the fact that none of them could play at all. So they started writing songs that never went further than one minute long and never had very complicated chord changes. They were called “minimalists” from the very start, and there wasn’t much they could do about it. Anyway, that was never a big concern.

Between 1986 and 1989, Aventuras de Kirlian recorded several demos, played live regularly in the Basque country, and created a small but loyal fan base. They weren’t alone: other bands in San Sebastián shared their unashamedly amateur approach (one of them would later on become Family). In the summer of 1988, one of their gigs was attended by Alejo Alberdi. He had been a member of Derribos Arias, early 80’s eccentric lo-fi pioneers. Alejo thought that the band was terribly bad live, but he was quite impressed by the tunes. He secured them a recording deal with Dro, a label from Madrid, and the band recorded a mini-album with him as a producer in May 1989.

The album was released after the summer. Despite having good reviews, it was a total commercial failure, which lead the band to being dropped by the label around the summer of 1990. A brief period of despair followed as a result, but later in the year the band was playing live again with a new name: Le Mans.