tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50552627643431131532024-03-10T04:35:18.799-06:00Club Fonograma ArchivePierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comBlogger2161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-23610193798960187262024-02-18T19:13:00.003-06:002024-02-18T19:31:44.772-06:00In Memory of Enrique CoyotziThe Club Fonograma family is heartbroken to learn that our former writer and friend, Enrique Coyotzi, has passed away. Coyotzi began contributing in March of 2011 and worked tirelessly to expand the blog’s scope of coverage through an earnest and deeply felt love of music. Following his work with Club Fonograma, he took on editor positions at Red Bull and later Spotify Mexico, where he continued to champion Iberoamerican pop.<div><br /></div><div>Many in the CF team got a chance to meet Coyotzi. His earnestness and warmth as a writer translated in person, creating connections and friendships that today are reeling from his loss. The outpouring of love on our feeds makes it clear that anyone who met Coyotzi remembers him dearly.</div><div><br /></div><div>We love you, Quique.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykrdhAKJLv07oK3T8J5me-mzinLrquH5sP0RNj1lQ1Pc2b_l1hGOs7E7FzmP2vmq_x4JIf9FvZG2efAvoXGVMqZlkkEPrQmvVdL7cUnLJlyS8flc1hR73HH384w-vsoVRgzTKST5rYeftLST1Sb-Woyuwk1mhVUWxHDrsmlI7hLpHqdv9WWutvAyGX3E/s498/fono2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="498" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgykrdhAKJLv07oK3T8J5me-mzinLrquH5sP0RNj1lQ1Pc2b_l1hGOs7E7FzmP2vmq_x4JIf9FvZG2efAvoXGVMqZlkkEPrQmvVdL7cUnLJlyS8flc1hR73HH384w-vsoVRgzTKST5rYeftLST1Sb-Woyuwk1mhVUWxHDrsmlI7hLpHqdv9WWutvAyGX3E/w400-h358/fono2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div> </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBiLMfxjIhX2-nefZx847oeqeT_D90H80RoD-Xz6HcH2k7eNLc5SpdWWTmWdBwDXREolB4JJWgPdavPRiuvMlwb89im4IWgIIHH3K9ja2HorO2kt4TAzstqCNJxphRV7R2-TrFPvKRxj5hHN3lp4PmCRvYHafBQxojBbtP5UZdGP1QMdEnTQTi39Blps/s640/fono.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBiLMfxjIhX2-nefZx847oeqeT_D90H80RoD-Xz6HcH2k7eNLc5SpdWWTmWdBwDXREolB4JJWgPdavPRiuvMlwb89im4IWgIIHH3K9ja2HorO2kt4TAzstqCNJxphRV7R2-TrFPvKRxj5hHN3lp4PmCRvYHafBQxojBbtP5UZdGP1QMdEnTQTi39Blps/w400-h300/fono.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-42306384728714942942022-12-27T17:28:00.000-06:002022-12-27T17:28:49.201-06:00In Memory of Carlos Reyes (1987-2021)Carlos's spirit of discovery and kindness was the soul of Club Fonograma, which in turn changed the lives of so many people around the world. We celebrate his life knowing his legacy lives on through the many artists and writers who passed through the site and the world was enriched for having him grace it with his love. QEPD Carlitos.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-hA42T6-qdyf_4H_Y8niMVFVDND311wdXvhZ-WPDbqXZJhv8L3XkcYDWhiOdBW7f-5K9KRNEA86c_qQK-u8NhJgkmLTJf6Kmri-k5tOr0DsgWWlg51KfpV4iWg6kp9bmWYphuagFIMDlD_BcDpNg3HJU1ty2PoEsXRGm4KAV0xrwgEuURjF1fkED/s853/carlos1.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="853" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-hA42T6-qdyf_4H_Y8niMVFVDND311wdXvhZ-WPDbqXZJhv8L3XkcYDWhiOdBW7f-5K9KRNEA86c_qQK-u8NhJgkmLTJf6Kmri-k5tOr0DsgWWlg51KfpV4iWg6kp9bmWYphuagFIMDlD_BcDpNg3HJU1ty2PoEsXRGm4KAV0xrwgEuURjF1fkED/w400-h400/carlos1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxgRCFwKVD_Kq_xrbiFytMuoMcXmw_bNBYl005nVo3q_59MjUb6XUYQgoGdcDD_vu8HNbPmhhgWCo3UvadrJ6hXh-J1eQSVnpXNcUsrrw_fNtipXmMo4XeM9XGid2Ag5g_QBarzyEPdqglPhXGvmGgst9Emi4zkJ2P-OEirzU665OcvwGhxHfqf7e/s1361/carlos2.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1361" data-original-width="1361" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUxgRCFwKVD_Kq_xrbiFytMuoMcXmw_bNBYl005nVo3q_59MjUb6XUYQgoGdcDD_vu8HNbPmhhgWCo3UvadrJ6hXh-J1eQSVnpXNcUsrrw_fNtipXmMo4XeM9XGid2Ag5g_QBarzyEPdqglPhXGvmGgst9Emi4zkJ2P-OEirzU665OcvwGhxHfqf7e/w400-h400/carlos2.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-68014682960518414162019-11-27T10:30:00.003-06:002019-11-27T10:32:03.338-06:00Best of the 2010s<div>
<span style="font-size: normal;">The Club Fonograma staff have reunited to recap the Best Iberoamerican (Latin America + Iberian) music of the decade. This project consists of essays from ex-Club Fonograma writers and friends, along with a full list of our top 100 songs and top 50 albums of the decade.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/albums-2010s.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="620" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFO6j14-2Qzfe9oFYBzcxF39CDOgKSrygdSiHYQPfhzzpH-DLoBbXx43XMSxlYc5_5cowc40YJAJEQom3rgibNB7kmrQ5ZST9MGwhp04uWKGylpIrGj8WwvSzwDICzR2mV_usf7IpSX90/s1600/ClubFonograma_dkda_bestalbums.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 20px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/albums-2010s.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;">Best Albums of the 2010s
</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/songs-2010s.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="620" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrkPIgCn3ey0ORrIj8D9zxZvPphkjxL2F2wY_jRJc6mMMEC31HFy8oq91Y_90l8Vfy2iTBnY5m87BbF04D-PoBdGeT5Z78DF7bP6GI6JMULW-HPeb6np9wkhQ8m47HKFBtDiXW7SC7p9s/s1600/ClubFonograma_dkda_bestsongs.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 20px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/songs-2010s.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold;">Best Songs of the 2010s
</span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/k-pop-goes-west.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZoepJljaim0tC32IwvuZ6_VqfT-XkFz8ggd0bBknSHOVi7qaUUDq8lz5NUf5zTgPMCtMK0Scnb9B3SzpsV_Vw4eB8W8DWA5fhN5LruKPQuOaNW4-zMovt99Jyi-4A-P137FRXS2Oevyw/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-jhope.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/k-pop-goes-west.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">K-Pop Goes West
</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Blanca Méndez</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">The decade when Latinx K-pop fans saw their worlds collide.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/helado-negro-and-music-that-let-us.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG-oE8DlYUdEy68QTIKD3-IASkOF6nUgoOh5HnAjOdEagPM_nl1AqvetBzysZU5r1g4uqbqx9EpwYUwTcm3YZMl-gdamU2ipBiuCSLOX3qAul3msHdg4CxhskURk35FNovcQOEdwLUtFY/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-heladonegro+%25281%2529.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/helado-negro-and-music-that-let-us.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">Helado Negro and The Music That Let Us Exhale
</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Julyssa Lopez</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">How Roberto Lange used his music to give listeners a place to think, heal, and recharge.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/the-world-according-to-natalia.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_xAByLcgbap9Wh3KhOmo9AisRPxi-0m014AHU7CfO39Mvra_IxKQg6zzdFMY_ITsBlOGg0lzBryDYtEVlP_wufXrYx5LjpA9DHdtzgtDhZT5kzNIGlqQ-pZ0fxQiOsZjikbrnVHNb4k/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-lafourcade.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/the-world-according-to-natalia.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">The World According to Natalia Lafourcade
</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Andrew Casillas</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">What her rise to pop icon status says about our past, our present, and our future.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/generacion-ruidoson.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6I8cpakj-EN-XXRfvIFIXmDXhcvE54y5TNc5uAIInHPcCXfSgaWu0GOtQqtJBzpQIyVCSEmIBDfk3tf34WRsSmWgKtqsLSKY8c2nJSafqh3TLlGthzYGdJsa1nikZPbBh0P-RpJ_KSw8/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-mariayjose.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/generacion-ruidoson.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">Generación Ruidosón: Creating the Sound of the Border for a New Decade
</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Reuben Torres</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">On ruidosón, Mexican identity, and the ghosts of a generation.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/club-fonograma-ungovernable-generation.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsg3F3Xhof6z-FUZdXl4MR5OAjnyu3Cw1ZtIX8PISJG5zi-28mTGPka2ukFVMf318c36-snwwKdNk7uS_ZfJOrHFDFh0Y7QL-f9QsKiIbHPnzUYIXkxIxP3zbuuw_U_9tePMp9_pnjTf8/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-fakuta.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/club-fonograma-ungovernable-generation.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">Club Fonograma,<br />the Ungovernable Generation,<br />and the Pop Insurrection:<br />A Decade in Revolt</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Ze Puga</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">Understanding the socio-political (and highly danceable) last decade of protest pop.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/the-brief-cuban-american-gozadera.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjij-JMdvXGIlBVwvIsRO8V5l1aOHo1vm24OyVwPo-6ifWHgao6HaJWYhyphenhyphenex6SHBaMbroyJy3RUpsYE2JPCBRftYtUVlf7hjg4y_HmESPwc5QQfEDvbKNR14cESq9hBYBrZgjh07lf_ibA/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-gentedezona.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/the-brief-cuban-american-gozadera.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">The Brief Cuban-American “Gozadera”</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Stefanie Fernández</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">Cubatón in the age of U.S.-Cuba normalization.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/el-embrujo-inconfundible-de-mi-sol.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM3SI-cTyj2WTcqKvUaOfMkydPU1r8yeh2oAnAq5LYXnmQ6zg9axAG3DImIajCw-m9bo2WE8Iy7L1NO-i7lnOvQCeV2AX0j5KXh2OtPP-11n2Ym7DPwQQB3BfaM6UBAgMMe6eejsVAUWE/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-ritaindiana.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/el-embrujo-inconfundible-de-mi-sol.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">El Embrujo Inconfundible de Mi Sol</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Verónica Bayetti Flores</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">On Rita Indiana's diasporic return anthem "La hora de volvé."</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/dejenme-llorar-thank-you-letters.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnX1jnObM9WcUOkVWKElBFWec34QHrkVGwuLVLe09LAWfzypIPqNXAi5za3cB5rp0noR4Q92cqQcfQLjf9nnvcBgRvigZJW7hHAHA0SsL5LYc5ttR233xa0ITP3lCA4Y6aR9ChH0wb60/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-fonogramaticos.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/dejenme-llorar-thank-you-letters.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">Déjenme Llorar: Thank-You Letters to the Songs that Held Me 2009-2019</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Phoebe Smolin</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">Club Fonograma and the songs that are my favorite places and my sweetest friends.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/how-women-reclaimed-space.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTb1RuS6jxWFvcrbf5qJIZrjg6utC-6aC1IzUd-843_BQ_yCRHFIYEhO_TSB854RvozjPPTzvO6ddfxDUkzCRCC75sPm0aJWDb5PPtqLfUMmiImLUADvAKfFuSeWPCtchpNHfpvwZHvk/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-rosalia.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/how-women-reclaimed-space.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">How Women Reclaimed a Space for Themselves in this Decade of Música Urbana</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Lucas Villa</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">A post-Ivy Queen generation fights for representation in a male-dominated genre.</span>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/the-night-denver-gave-me-a-future.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMlusXAe-NIvqPE7z39yDp-JEsd0R2muPg1mXZdROl5FozUZJ4UHkQDXLg_cGCW5-5kWis_wdHe0kV7Mr8SRwzY0ucynAZ2eQreXPV1i5jcGXHtgC0MNnIhsEOd9QKBRjY7j_OFOlBH_Q/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-denver.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/the-night-denver-gave-me-a-future.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">The Night Dënver Gave Me a Future</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Richard Villegas</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">How <i>Música, Gramática, Gimnasia</i> changed my life.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="clear: both;">
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/club-querer.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bs9FlXqSN-fXTyf1NRPQ0WJN3cyY3N5OHNlXyEVdlGu5W9naolV8cb-eVHF6spkg9KTW2yiTKmcfzuFRL_1ux3NR-kMX7pIsVAAiAX9thJLWsVm8zziG1kkEu3UEm3DgztOFRjdNwA4/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-anwandter_border.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/club-querer.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">CLUB QUE(R)ER</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Sam Rodgers</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">The Latinx LGBTQIA+ artists who globalized queer culture.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; width: 50%;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/how-spain-turned-to-musica-urbana.html"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3tbbw3UnPQKQyhdkzVUraDNOcZ-LPfG9q5gsNM8HHkOKriaD5brO9RUd0X0O62V5SOYi1QBrIwa2-mTCv_rcxtsMB27l_nSo8rjB-5GrdPLbn2fDzfvigQm_AQXqoKRcwlvx-qR2Qf9s/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-ctangana.jpg" width="275" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/how-spain-turned-to-musica-urbana.html"><span style="color: black; font-size: 18px; font-weight: bold;">How Spain Turned to Música Urbana in the 2010s</span></a><br />
<span style="color: #999999; font-size: 14px;"><b><i>by Pierre Lestruhaut</i></b></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 14px;">Trap music found a new outpost in the Old World.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-15098391093702023832019-11-27T10:30:00.002-06:002019-11-27T10:30:14.074-06:00Club Fonograma Archive<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Club Fonograma was a United States-based music publication established in 2008 by Carlos Reyes, and featuring</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> collaborators from 10 different countries. The site was </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">devoted to music criticism and commentary focused on global pop and independent music from artists of Spanish and Latin American origin or background.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The present site is an effort to preserve Club Fonograma's full archive, as it still remains a rich and exhaustive testimony of Latin music and culture from 2008 to 2016. Below you'll find links to pages compiling some of Club Fonograma's most meaningful work over the years, which includes end-of-year lists, album reviews, compilations, artist interviews, and coverage of music festivals.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>CLUB FONOGRAMA ARCHIVE</b></span><br />
<a href="http://oldfonograma.blogspot.com/p/club-fonogramas-lists.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Year-end and other lists</span></b></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://oldfonograma.blogspot.com/p/reviews.html"><b>Album reviews</b></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://oldfonograma.blogspot.com/p/fonogramaticos-and-other-compilations.html"><b>Fonogramáticos and other compilations</b></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://oldfonograma.blogspot.com/p/interviews.html"><b>Artist interviews</b></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://oldfonograma.blogspot.com/p/festivals.html"><b>Festival coverage</b></a></span>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>CLUB FONOGRAMA STAFF</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Founder/Editor:</span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Carlos Reyes</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><b>Contributors/Staff Writers:</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Paulo Correa</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jean-Stephane Beriot</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Andrew Casillas</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Juan Manuel Torreblanca</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Blanca Méndez</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Pierre Lestruhaut</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Enrique Coyotzi</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Adrian Mata Anaya</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Reuben Torres</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Giovanni Guillén</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Souad Martin-Saoudi</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Claire Frisbie</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Sam Rodgers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Glòria Guso</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Jeziel Jovel</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Monika Fabian</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Cheky Bertho</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Marty Preciado</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Pablo Acuña</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Stella Vásquez</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Zé Garcia</span></div>
<br />Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-42807354372965992732019-11-27T10:30:00.001-06:002019-11-27T23:10:46.022-06:00Club Fonograma's Best Albums of the 2010s<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFO6j14-2Qzfe9oFYBzcxF39CDOgKSrygdSiHYQPfhzzpH-DLoBbXx43XMSxlYc5_5cowc40YJAJEQom3rgibNB7kmrQ5ZST9MGwhp04uWKGylpIrGj8WwvSzwDICzR2mV_usf7IpSX90/s1600/ClubFonograma_dkda_bestalbums.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFO6j14-2Qzfe9oFYBzcxF39CDOgKSrygdSiHYQPfhzzpH-DLoBbXx43XMSxlYc5_5cowc40YJAJEQom3rgibNB7kmrQ5ZST9MGwhp04uWKGylpIrGj8WwvSzwDICzR2mV_usf7IpSX90/s1600/ClubFonograma_dkda_bestalbums.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"> Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Club Fonograma staff have reunited to recap the Best Iberoamerican (Latin America + Iberian) music of the decade. This project consists of essays from ex-Club Fonograma writers and friends, along with a full list of our favorite songs and albums of the decade.
<br />
<br />
Here are Club Fonograma's top 50 albums of the decade. You can listen to songs from the albums featured in this list on our <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0lpWxc6gzog7hyHofr69kP?si=iw4voORhSUyNyN5LhZA-9A" target="_blank">Spotify playlist</a>. And also check out all of Club Fonograma's best of the decade recap <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/best-of-2010s.html" target="_blank">here</a>.
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" caidas.jpg="" de="" dydx5npjs1acxao4ywpo78-vi4wk-jsvwclcbgas="" esdlcp="" historial="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" k="" neamauiwi="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" ubojkzchjxs=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzyMcHBKbeSN5oyv33tDZ1hEjGMMMVpT2aHMq_BlROk0ZIj9UqOofAuowtdSPMoxJmzWVcnV091IQrTZtSyIaxBIg7QQgqVb7OJl01z4OmmvpVgZBdinRBjrllF6wrJrawcWa3rgwCEvs/s320/esdlcp+-+historial+de+caidas.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">50</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">El Sueño de la Casa Propia</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Historial de Caídas</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Pueblo Nuevo, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
There’s nothing really original about <i>Historial de Caídas</i>. Actually, now that I think about it, there’s nothing really original about El Sueño de la Casa Propia, either. I mean, glitchy, sample-fueled electronica has been making its way around clubs for the past 20-25 years or so. Much of this kind of stuff could rightfully be accused of being easy, lazy, boring, or confused (I’m looking at you, Greg Gillis). José Manuel Cerda Castro, the man behind El Sueño de la Casa Propia, seems to have a decent understanding of pre-digital electronic music. His sample manipulation is rudimentary, but not elementary; almost like early-90’s IDM. When the record starts to perk up the glitches and pops, Castro doesn’t override or counteract his beat, he makes sure it stays central to the auxiliary sounds. This is a record that’s deep, complicated, and full of warmth and optimism. But it also sounds like a banger playing on your speakers. Something for your head and your tippy toes. <i>- Andrew Casillas (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2010/10/el-sueno-de-la-casa-propia-historial-de.html" target="_blank">Historial de Caídas album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://pueblonuevo.cl/catalogo/historial-de-caidas/" target="_blank">PUEBLO NUEVO</a></span></span></div>
<!--more--><br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a ai="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" lestat.jpg="" mfx4lyy3vw="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" u71ytnvoqr87lxxdeatld5zawqorztqclcbgasyhq="" univers="" y_jxwati=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmPKx5JjK6L2-F15HY3XOSBqXW6TkqBFvmCBKXmMRYUzmP1duVSFRBTkHJk9YbzNxXr60_5pcUCnAZwqlsBWDAiHwxCjrMN5tYz3kSDwCtaiLNMDfIKRelJOHuw3uXG4u7IiMEN1RgrJo/s320/univers+lestat.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">49</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Univers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>L'Estat Natural</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Famelic, 2014</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Described as a supergroup since their debut (the band included members from Mujeres, Aliment and Piñata who also later founded Heather), and having announced their separation at the end of last year with a series of concerts, Univers’ story equals that of a shooting star: brilliant, fast and fleeting. <i>L’Estat Natural</i> is their first album, released in 2014 following two previous EPs (<i>La Pedregada</i> and <i>Cavall Daurat</i>, from 2013) and it could be considered today, may I say, a classic. A perfectly calibrated set of songs that drinks from different sources ranging from post-punk (the drums, in particular) to shoegaze through dream pop. Evasive lyrics that talk about people, places, feelings, and the vocals, wrapped in haze, picture a fantastic, dreamlike atmosphere. Univers’ sound freed from the pressure of being original: nothing is new here, but everything is new at the same time. Plus, as Club Fonograma’s founder Carlos Reyes said back then, “nothing is particularly catchy here, yet everything resonates.” <i>L’Estat Natural</i> contains some of the most memorable songs of the band, including their first one, “Paral·lel,” “Travessant la llum del sol,” “Muntanya Màgica” and the one that closes the album, “Lluita infinita de cossos.” <i>- Glòria Guso</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/17bHXKgihIvpgZDdk3L0qL" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/lestat-natural/840794166?l=es" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://univvers.bandcamp.com/album/lestat-natural" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a axenjrfnpuk1yefrsmhddxiceyvy2iyaclcbgasyhq="" bp.blogspot.com="" buscabulla="" dt3sz7w1fq="" ep.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y6id9l_i=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPpKU8vcBP8cQmYha-tHq5u0dwbPUKIpwX20JPQjfbWeVw02ctx70yTUeeBTwRXXFSoOxjtX4uccTa_TzJkXVmtd8Ev6Ls6KaElVGZC2FxXjkPnFL1bOGJsOglbQyGCfQVJdtJWbZkIuI/s320/buscabulla+ep.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">48</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Buscabulla</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>EP</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Kitsuné, 2014</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Buscabulla, [the 2014] breakthrough tropical dream pop chanteuse closes her already iconic debut with “Sono” a sonic tropical paradise that would make J Dilla proud: golden hip-hop samples and Andean flutes customized to sound like a Curtis Mayfield. Is it weird to think about how in an alternate universe Buscabulla is performing “Sono” at an awards show and then the guitar part right after her tripped up & pitched down vocals is being played by Cristóbal Briceño or some other “Latin” virtuoso to widespread audience acclaim?<i> EP</i> is lush, vibrant, mellow, immersive. Buscabulla’s sparse vocal manipulation add so much detail to her compositions. This isn’t Fever Ray psychological inner torment – these are decorations for “the trouble maker’s” pastel island pop. On “Métele” she coos – “ooh baby” – funky lo-fi synth pop finesse. And her Caribbean accent really shows here: “métele (echoes) esta noche – hey! – me pongo los tacones...” ;) OMG I want to be walking Santurce smoking a blunt with you rn, Buscabulla! “Temporal” is fine aural pop made up of contemplative & effective samples. Synths elevate – our psychedelic tendencies enjoy this viginette – a single horn adorns her closing sighs, like a ghost ship trailing the Caribbean coastline. Indeed the only tragic thing about Buscabulla’s first release is its brevity. <i>- Zé Puga (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2014/12/club-fonograma-best-albums-of-2014.html" target="_blank">Best Albums of 2014</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4XzDA7d2tSLL6F8q3CtJii" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/kitsun%C3%A9-buscabulla-ep/1154628169" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a avida="" bp.blogspot.com="" c33quk="" c="" dollars.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tangana="" v9vdroggueefllp3ga-g8jfm37pcv-jwclcbgasyhq="" y6c39shi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG-HffcnrlACKo1fMbJ1QaNGVZ7xLembx9kEINSMUFwJWLXXW1RB0yl_Fmh7AlYLwu6AVhQFD7qDb_M8OmgjDFQofnw0kpr6jWrJiwpMf7aZzQsP-lC1DFmD-L1vqJ38h4WENQICAGhco/s320/c+tangana+avida+dollars.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">47</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">C. Tangana</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Avida Dollars</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Sony Music, 2018</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
<i>Avida Dollars</i> recentered the whirlwind mainstream trajectory of C. Tangana’s career. In 2016 the Madrid rapper began steadily releasing singles that flirted with the kind of blockbuster urbano that’s made for YouTube’s right side recommendations (let’s call it the 1 Billion Views Club): “Antes de morirme” with its balmy yearning, the movie set lust of “Mala mujer,” and the downright nasty “Booty” alongside Becky G. These songs, all made with Barcelona producer Alizzz, signaled an ambition that, while fun in their chaotic spirit, spread Tangana’s artistry wider and thinner. Often when rappers have these career highs that threaten to overshadow what they stood for in the first place, the mixtape can set the record straight. But even then, <i>Avida Dollars</i> is not a purist collection of hard edged flows to assure us he’s “Still Rapping” – rather, it’s a statement on how success doesn’t have to translate into self deterioration. The gracious runtime also makes it one of the first essential Tangana records. “Baile de la Lluvia,” produced by Take A Daytrip, flexes in the rain and turns a depressing cityscape into a playground. “Cuando Me Miras” is Pucho at his most charming, with piano steps that feel almost whimsical. “Llorando en la Limo” details those first post-platinum moments of backlash and longing. Crying in the limo – still a flex. <i>- Giovanni Guillén</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/3xFCSN4oKeJE1lJ2c5KLZQ" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/avida-dollars/1369320494" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a ae="" bejl7rbjdgnyhyhbruyqz1fnox-wjqlgclcbgasyhq="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" n887c_4tx08="" odisea.jpg="" ozuna="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y_krdu0i=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM5Oq4ZHdkoAMeR4d203vldy9S_XojjllczK2TbNCqkeGENGx53P3eUWmk71QigkXMTt-q-T66XyWrHLLvY6cYEJJPAZoUGK3lHC_tCOSVwacoC7-fenn6AkYg6Q3Ag37mD-A4g7ytNFE/s320/ozuna+odisea.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">46</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Ozuna</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Odisea</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">VP Records/Dimelo Vi, 2017</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
<i>Odisea </i>served as a music industry standard of urbano excellence, to say the least. Ozuna’s debut album drove a new standard of expectation and quality in a latin urbano realm, and Ozuna set this excellence with his first album ever. It’s brilliant. <i>Odisea </i>is rich lyrical composition, concept sound with a larger aim and narrative excellence all with a a reggaetón-ruled rush. Indirectly, and probably not intentional, <i>Odisea </i>also served to challenge the urbano explosion, inviting musicians to creating conceptual albums with narrative arcs and tones. It’s a production display of beats, wildly inventive with Ozuna’s rich and textured voice and lyrical allure. Remaining 46 weeks at number one on Billboard Top Latin Albums charts, from “Se Preparó” to “El Farsante,” <i>Odisea </i>holds 16 songs that all-together create a landmark for urbano expression. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4s05NbwGgw5SO42AdsN5Oo" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/odisea/1269285897" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a azp0v_hv2vc="" ba0zqlsicimxxgtnepqvhnt6vgm4pgclcbgasyhq="" bp.blogspot.com="" cupido="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" k="" prestame.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y66krifi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2X-l0VJpsEQDnCz4Im5DtXTGZanAdjMHThUwIpoW0KkyU_j-dmLt_KWOVZT33_cKDl9sqGYwdNDhg1IFDoOLUXNJivPzSTqbeUWwj-_VoHPaL_20OHjrOmGg9t1TKhewEzpKSKa1LvRM/s320/cupido+-+prestame.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">45</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Cupido</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Préstame Un Sentimiento</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Primavera Labels/Universal, 2019</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Please allow me to be self-conscious for a moment and ask the following. What was the point behind all the nerdism, all the relatively unknown bands that were championed, all the records that were dissected 600-words at a time in this now-defunct music blog? The answer to that question is uncomfortable, mainly because nerdism (at least cultural nerdism) only seems to come in handy when discussing culture with other people well-versed in cultural nerdism themselves. Try reading a few of the longform album reviews that <i>Préstame Un Sentimiento</i> has spawned since its release and see how they all exude an unmistakable air of musical and cultural know-it-all. It’s not a coincidence. Cupido are the very incarnation of a nostalgic millennial culture nerd’s wet dream, the communion of so many pop culture references that you must wonder whether this was put together using the detritus of an early 2010s music blog content. The vintage bedroom psych pop instrumental backdrop, provided by members of band Solo Astra, takes us to the days when relevant music bloggers were going insane for Ariel Pink, vaporwave, and lo-fi psych pop. But it’s the heavily auto-tuned vocals of Spaniard trap star Pimp Flaco that take Cupido towards even nerdier territories, that of Simpsons’ references, social media-era narcissism, and Bad Bunny-esque emo romanticism. It’s for the egotistical enjoyment and dissection of records like these that nerdism for nerdism sake is all worth it. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/7veKXYhZXIb5glMwXSVvWr" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/pr%C3%A9stame-un-sentimiento/1451479957" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" empress="" g="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" lga5gree94ojlnfouqeydgezgnksnrkwclcbgas="" nezzhcg8i="" of="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" us.jpg="" zmofrsfnjmw=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlakHa9PzDLKM90QpoqnSDUIaeEfpeDr9xlwuRKEtipvsW_snkdXMjgxCmi1tyjjyTarfLU04eBx4d56QQ3lDV3F9JzZfTJnswygYaapNcCYhdaSu6slPlZM1l_016r8HoTfnn0aLn9Kg/s320/empress+of+us.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">44</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Empress Of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Us</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Terrible, 2018</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
What happened between <i>Me </i>and <i>Us </i>is Lorely Rodriguez opened up. She opened up to collaboration and to the vulnerability of crafting pop songs around the universal, rather than the specific, diary-entry stuff of her first LP. We must add that the time between albums also gifted us with “Woman Is a Word” and Blood Orange collab, the devastating “Best to You,” two songs that cemented Rodriguez’s reputation among her peers and new listeners as a serious songwriting talent. On <i>Us</i>, we find a new confidence in Rodriguez’s song crafting and, more specifically, playfulness. She uses a lot more of the lilting jazz melodies and phrasing that made her demos <i>Colorminutes </i>and EP <i>Systems </i>so exciting. And the reintroduction of Spanish mixed throughout tracks is laudable as her star continues to rise. Why <i>Us </i>is not higher on our list than <i>Me</i>, however, could be the Club Fonograma penchant for the crunchier (pissed off) material – or the <i>Bueninvento </i>Factor if you will. <i>Us</i>, with standout tracks “Trust Me Baby” and “When I’m With Him,” is just as successful a realization, it’s just the strawberry to the former album’s chocolate. <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/30bFyVsboSI6Nb7roQCgq8" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/us/1426105502" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://empressof.bandcamp.com/album/us" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a algodon="" bp.blogspot.com="" c="" constante.jpg="" ehokjp-4yceqnhxucq8xrxqxuqvnaqosaclcbgasyhq="" evk0nhfi="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" la="" lucha="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y6xahnsi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTP9wcZSAnM7s2PRDoR1HOvPHld7del-otZztLLhNMm8wHwfwkW4PGFVPbAvv3WlXSnD4NYOBcdhyphenhyphenKAoT92xSSlzIRYhNUFiSCWV8FmGZ9vPW2-l4CheBtXGZN_HwoWJKwK0eBuk_8pFs/s320/algodon+-+la+lucha+constante.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">43</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Algodón Egipcio</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>La Lucha Constante</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Lefse Records, 2011</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Like the well-packaged titles of his songs, Algodón Egipcio’s shrewdness for craftsmanship is of inner expression and experience, but also attentively in dialogue with its era. In dialogue, but not in tune; Cheky’s platforms neither practice nor reject vocation, they’re just “flowy.” All these conditions allow for such a song like “La Transformación” to be read as a piece about the alteration of data, genetics, your virtual “Second Life” character, or a full metamorphosis (and how sadly, there is no “back button”). The cultural epochs in <i>La Lucha Constante</i> aren’t allocated to a time frame; instead, we get a comprehension of its installment through the negotiation of rhythms that are presented to us. It’s as if Cheky’s infamous afro was the epicenter for sylvan ideas and actions. The execution of such ideas – and how they come to action through the music – is more suffocating than nurturing. But trust me, for a visionary fascinated by The Smashing Pumpkins, Akron/Family, and Destiny’s Child, the outcomes are phenomenal. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/03/algodon-egipcio-la-lucha-constante.html" target="_blank">La Lucha Constante album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4pyu1geRItRJB7bECBtCck" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/la-lucha-constante/417560613" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.algodonegipcio.net/album/la-lucha-constante" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" byo2e1lw="" ehvocn1_a8ebw_oezui7yc_q7apt_fraclcbgas="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" isolation.jpg="" kali="" neb-3weci="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" uhcis=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9QhfaBptDyAsWdzfAZaQej8-xZ3bFAxE4_WsBJh1RnO-3etrM4nqnI7c5_9sCRJqNsOliqaDglJqudQv_4xn1R3MppgsVVJArJaFxU6gXivnM_DHe8wefWEqTb9-oaWHZ5YrAs9AWN0/s320/kali+uhcis+-+isolation.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">42</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Kali Uchis</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Isolation</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Rinse Recordings, 2018</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
After the wonderful <i>Por Vida</i> EP three years prior, many assumed Kali Uchis was on the fast track to pop stardom. But rather than settle for being Latinx R&B’s It Girl, Uchis went all-in on contemporary pop. Indeed, what makes <i>Isolation </i>such a revelation isn’t that it dips into different styles, but that Uchis delivers on evoking and embodying so many disparate sounds. That you could swap vocals (and add cartoons) and release this as a new Gorillaz LP is a high compliment (and indeed the Gorillaz-backed “In My Dreams” is probably the album’s standout). Hip-hop, vintage soul, quiet storm, música urbana, indie rock – everything was on the table, and Uchis succeeded at virtually each of them. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4EPQtdq6vvwxuYeQTrwDVY" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/isolation/1358285249" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/kaliuchis/sets/isolation-13" target="_blank">SOUNDCLOUD</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" emoibjbdyju12qnmjrnfroux_63f2ewzqclcbgasyhq="" helado="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" is.jpg="" negro="" owhhrpuali="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" this="" y86xsiwi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_T5jRCwo2i0fu0GTvCGXejz2V8QQbeVtWnem9aMr0x48C-rd1r9JCzpCBvHVLrafftfWb_gPZdXJa6keYWhcGkrtgLRQuAcgxk1UMEaSHatISXsWnv0IyNtnOyX8zPtRpo9oFd5GPZVw/s320/helado+negro+-+this+is.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">41</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Helado Negro</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>This Is How You Smile</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">RVNG Intl., 2019</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Sonically, <i>This Is How You Smile</i> has broad range and depth of sound and lyricism. Conceptually, this album is the dedicated culmination of Roberto Lange’s talent and journey; the masterpiece that has been unfolding in front of our eyes since 2009’s <i>Awe Owe</i>, Lange’s debut full-length album. <i>This Is How You Smile</i>, 12-track album, is Lange’s soothing exhale after a held breath. It’s releasing tension. It’s peace and emotional serenity. This album disentangles any and all emotional pains, and leaves you with nothing but warmth. With hallmarks such as “Running,” “Seen My Aura” and “Todo lo que me falta,” Lange delivers a wealth of experimental pop and emotional-laced poetry, a unique interpretation and masterpiece bringing together mind and soul. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/17LsQV3q3cgTBrat3D5JSv" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/this-is-how-you-smile/1441162701" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a aa="" aguas.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" jqn30g1rc2s="" mula="" mx3bznzeafpc-grryjytgb7ogknxwgclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y-mnca9i=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwhCyigfhZDIBaXqhK9hhhxWhqR4ed4n5pP7wWscSEV9tGQZPafLRjz-5m6KcVusCqGqroCsOyFgWLeSi-HwwOd2TNzLD7aCFs-EYQmL2Ct_ns6NgRlFK049qDOTwE7ON2BAH3YRzsIEE/s320/mula+-+aguas.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">40</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Mula</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Aguas</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Pulcra Records, 2017</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
A blend of dream pop with dembow is the best description for Mula’s <i>Aguas</i>. Las Acevedo leave the minimalist twee pop that made them famous in their circuit and get into the world of alternative rhythms such as R&B and a bit of reggaetón and trap. The futurist Gemini would not be the same without the strict intervention of Rachel Rojas who, with her contribution in production and melodies, grants the Acevedo sisters permission to solidly carry out a hypnotic tour through sensuality, empowerment, and the political history of the Dominican Republic. An enjoyable album for those looking for a party sound and who do not settle for radio hits. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4smdZfo1CmTfAMCNtNkXT2" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/aguas/1210842581" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://mulaband.bandcamp.com/album/aguas" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" e5izfvd00mclvw4o-u8uneujav7h8lqclcbgas="" fin.jpg="" hdyynzhdbqi="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" john="" nebfgr0hi="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" talabot=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbkWDmz2PcynctwLYtImDyqQ73_QndNwEYgV12TaG93C1_smB5WO0kwlaTUGw7Raz8-O5KSAP_VIcnyxqHtnYDrmMBocbtxOfZ9JLsMPSAg4TCGDrmEaa9WXBSuv_HjEh4DWkU_INAGFo/s320/john+talabot+-+fin.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">39</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">John Talabot</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Fin</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Permanent Vacation, 2012</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Ask anyone who has lived on a beach town in the Mediterranean to describe what life is like over there, and they’ll be quick to mention the 180-degree turn between the crowded party ambiance of the summer and the deserted gloomy feel of the winter. Logically, one of the musical movements most associated with Spanish beaches, Balearic beat, has only really been interested in soundtracking the energetic part of the year. Balearic beat is seldom mentioned when discussing John Talabot’s debut album <i>Fin</i>, mainly because, despite the feeling that the sounds and aesthetics of Ibiza form much of the palette and the feels behind the tracks, Talabot has always wanted to overlay a much darker mood over the glistening images that one might picture when listening to Mediterranean dance music. Contrary to other seminal dance records made these past ten years, it’s not the catchy hooks nor the rapturous vocals that make <i>Fin</i> such an enticing listen, it’s Talabot’s remarkable ability as a shifter of moods, as a commander of light and dark, pleasure and sorrow. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4esRg2sry34w2G0HT7jcLI" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/gb/album/fin/492554018" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://perm-vac.bandcamp.com/album/fin" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" bulbo="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" jessy="" nebou_1oi="" r_fi251upe="" s320="" sezw84ijc0pltnqan6m8l_cj5gclcbgas="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" telememe.jpg="" w=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQv2qaEL5siXiD6TuyA1WsK-EOEt9f3iM-b2hc0rx-xse9GSXI5vjQlgf8LNPigiC02flbKiFEqZ0LWNa7Si3KJxWCQqdnPuOcSvmiX2hVhjYhYyv6abH3TYJOvexoVXNF0SWjv7hccpE/s320/jessy+bulbo+-+telememe.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">38</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Jessy Bulbo</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Telememe</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Independiente, 2011</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
A few years ago, during the MySpace golden age, a hot punk girl showed her panties to the world. As you would assume, she got herself a few millions of profile views. But once you actually sent her a friend request, she would respond back with an automatic message celebrating the new friendship with an excerpt from Timbiriche’s “Somos Amigos.” This is the kind of personality switch that makes Jessy Bulbo such an interesting character in Latin Rock music. Jessy Bulbo won our hearts since her very first album; the production of <i>Saga Mama</i> was almost damaging to the human ear but was still a treasure. <i>Taras Bulba</i> was just something else; an uncontrollable and alarming vindication of what rock and roll is all about. The true advancement between <i>Taras Bulba</i> and <i>Telememe </i>is the straightforward narrative. In “Belzebú” she stops singing for a bit to instead, tell the story through a very touching monologue. And that, along with “Flores y Frutos,” is the real nakedness on the album. <i>Telememe </i>is a round record, perhaps the first Jessy Bulbo work that actually feels complete. The album cover outlines the album’s roundness, and as it suggests, she seems to have found a sense of absolute freedom. <i>- Jean-Stephane Beriot (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/02/jessy-bulbo-telememe.html" target="_blank">Telememe album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/53EESVB11w9SsVv6LByzRm" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/mx/album/telememe/1455897148" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" gepe="" gp.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kwngevgcjyc="" s320="" s="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" umtzitqvnjwoupt1sbjqchh4jfdx5r0uqclcbgasyhq="" y76_i53i=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzy30MMttTl62kX99xDem5SIwFhDUOmxxkraHFdStlrvg_SesdNEX_ImIcfN7c6Igo3eaeMSJyoNp6anUT6uLt4bP27Mqvl48VsBTRDb3f-0m22XHf3g7M5b6j45Rc5iN7mczzKBax3M/s320/gepe+-+gp.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">37</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Gepe</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>GP</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Quemasucabeza, 2012</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Super entertaining and increasingly gay (musically speaking), <i>GP </i>captures a subculture that is very typical of the south. Daniel Riveros delivers a record very marked by the rhythms of Northern Chile, with Altiplanic sounds adapted to his distinctive voice and a few ballads. There is not as much post-production as in previous works, and the danceable electronic experimentation of previous albums can be heard almost only in “Bailar bien bailar mal,” a song where Gepe is accompanied by Mexican singer Carla Morrison. Virtuosity and palpable artistic choices take care of the rest. Gepe is still verbalizing universal feelings regardless of the vessel he is surveying. And it’s ultimately this conscious choice that makes <i>GP </i>truly essential. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6f6ZV6dYzZVJTvvxhd1Y0t" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/gp/972053996" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" donde="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" iuwxugmli="" jugaran.jpg="" k="" o0r_eswcg4="" rhmmndhfqmo6csnxj-h0aljg31haf-qclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" taino="" whitest=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAxeBLmoIak3RJmUV8SPcmP0p2XYNcKnkB5nque-ZdLCnRKIUld5A3gx5jlbVSeU77cP-1l68BZ_KNG5Z-LLNMH0bsTRkrnaXf531m_SRsoTI-A3siMDwI2qzvL0pR-epeWy0oBzrw70/s320/whitest+taino+-+donde+jugaran.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">36</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Whitest Taino Alive</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>¿Dónde Jugarán Los Cueros?</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Stereoptico, 2014</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Led by the equally prolific and abrasive producer Cohoba, and branding on the idea of providing the audience with something they call Chopería Fina (rocking beats while wearing leather), Whitest Taino Alive afford to sound truly colossal on their debut album. Featuring a grand-sound design and an ambitious composition, <i>¿Dónde Jugarán Los Cueros?</i> is an album that sounds nothing short of pristine. For a producer with a fondness for rapture and visceral banging, he is faced with the task of negotiating his beats for the vocal dissertation of WTA (comprised of Cohoba, Blon Jovi & Dominicanye West). The results are valiantly tackled and arresting for the most part. WTA pop references a wide number of topics that go from Sosa to Heisenberg and Lara to celebrating Selena’s butt as a cultural monument. While the abrasiveness of the lyrics makes it seem like they’re name-dropping indiscriminately, they’re actually using pop culture as a tool/hook to welcome non-Dominicanos to their idiosyncrasy. Lyrically, the album delivers plenty of hilarious one-liners, but frequently struggles to accomplish roundness in the storytelling. The narrative is still wonderfully uncompromised in both their outbursts and restrained lines of attack. And that’s perhaps WTA’s biggest attraction, its ability to position itself as understated text and then become a major threat to the dancefloor by the very next track. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2014/09/whitest-taino-alive-donde-jugaran-los.html" target="_blank">¿Dónde Jugarán Los Cueros? album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1ARjU91pYNxE7gLZTEToX9" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/d%C3%B3nde-jugar%C3%A1n-los-cueros/938195095" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/whitesttaino/sets/d-nde-jugar-n-los-cueros" target="_blank">SOUNDCLOUD</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" era="" extrana.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" im_y6hs3w="" imageanchor="1" indian="" nectcomzi="" neon="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" uyicc7aqwqdssqvopvizphp7q9m2w6hgclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyjT7-UYAwKSogsc3CId66nikZr1cG660kvoTodH4rpKfHrRCCHCvZWa2phMTEsWxjx48RwA9QRuQiLrlOPwQcmK1a0FXpqeotCwCxhh4id15MOSkss9n9s_WqyuM1adc-rnu3VIOYTgA/s320/neon+indian+-+era+extrana.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">35</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Neon Indian</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Era Extraña</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Mom + Pop, 2011</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Alan Palomo’s pun-titled sophomore release fashions an ensemble of synth-driven pieces that showcase the artist’s experimentation with textures. The album is a rainbow of sonic color woven with jewel-like blips and beeps, or arcade game samples, like on “Arcade Blues.” These deliberate flourishes form the signature of the band’s take on psych-pop/indie rock/chillwave. On “Future Sick” and “Polish Girl,” Palomo flexes the humor that will underpin the follow up LP, <i>VEGA INTL. Night School</i>, a much more upbeat record. <i>Era Extraña</i>, on the other hand, is an introspective, longing album recorded mostly in Finland. Here and there it gives us hints of the strutting rock star Palomo brings to the stage, but this is an album better fit for headphones. It’s an indie soundtrack for the memory of a summer. It’s day drinking as opposed to the subsequent record’s after midnight deviances. <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1S23RKAbHcn3AF2F7ns3sN" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/era-extra%C3%B1a/461771122" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a b="" bp.blogspot.com="" cardi="" e7nehcmbyza0mf1sv3dcyhcv3hgufri7aclcbgasyhq="" g="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" invasion="" of="" privacy.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" u5gzb5s4ck8="" y6kdm4yi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8wMaSOxNPbEPT6-Q_pZ-PM0Db-rymsqvIgdkc6D7Y6CVfTD6AvyvgkjIg1F-hzlRFiYxIGbYdtm8gYpfVMmjD9-8s0f7gQeuCNMp3LMczeTEXhW5dSHMEn5qE8GVCAcwfxbrpfsN5fLk/s320/cardi+b+-+invasion+of+privacy.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">34</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Cardi B</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Invasion of Privacy</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Atlantic, 2018</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Love it or hate it, “Bodak Yellow” was the Song of 2017. You could hear at every club, and every girl at that club knew every word – and thought she was bad as Cardi while singing along. The hit shot Cardi B into superstardom, and the album that followed, <i>Invasion of Privacy</i>, is unfiltered, unapologetic, and undeniable fire. It embodies everything charming, magnetic, and, yes, messy about Cardi B. The brash Bronx rapper sets it all up with “Get Up 10,” a foreward of sorts for those who don’t know about Cardi’s come-up. “Be Careful” is an immediate standout, unexpectedly tender and vulnerable, so honest that you can feel her pain.<br />
<br />
“Money Bag,” with its haunted house synths intimidates as it flaunts, but it’s the chilling “Thru Your Phone” that’s straight out of an episode of “Snapped,” which thanks to Lil Nas X collab “Rodeo,” we now know is her favorite show (and another very good reason to “be careful”). While block party jam “I Like It” didn’t quite soar to the heights we expected, it was a fun way to bring together three heavy-hitters for a quick flex. The real flex, though, was closing the album with “I Do,” making sure we all know she does what she wants and scoffing at those who said her 15 minutes of fame would be up soon. You can almost hear her cackling. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4KdtEKjY3Gi0mKiSdy96ML" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/invasion-of-privacy/1368105671" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/iamcardib/sets/invasion-of-privacy-4" target="_blank">SOUNDCLOUD</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bihzvm7ne8ikcvtow1bakcditkgjc2qclcbgas="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" k_n28givn1e="" nec_4x04i="" odisea.jpg="" odisea="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQk_8ZRg8r7QhPySZc1BfKaPV7UaVqdqYz5qOEmkt_bc0aZIvswQn5UPKTDgWeg6kxBCHuSkh_wv4NYmf4YCX-cQZ_qvKJnTa-sw9-Ssm0tTnYgCvIXXZgN83MI6awQKAMr6jzCh1qBhI/s320/odisea+-+odisea.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">33</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Odisea</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Odisea</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Oveja Negra, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
As a transitional record between the post-DFA dance pop of Teleradio Donoso’s <i>Bailar y Llorar</i> and the more traditional pop singer-songwriter albums released under his own name, Alex Anwandter conceived his most captivating yet puzzling record under the name Odisea. The most self-evident stylistic shifts present in <i>Odisea </i>laid in the use of the disco and house sonic palettes and song structures, often extending tracks beyond the six-minute mark for dancefloor purposes. But the disco sequencing here didn’t form the backdrop for the individual liberation associated with escapist urban nightlife, instead it accompanied the alienation provoked by inner city violence and the impending smartphone-era technology. Despite often painting such dystopian landscapes, <i>Odisea </i>doesn’t come out as a pessimistic record. As Carlos Reyes’ review of the record pointed out: “He is not spitting on the place, he becomes aware of it. He feels the pain and sees the beauty of the place that’s transforming him.” Which is why the album’s full picture feels a lot more complete when experienced alongside the Anwandter-directed videos that were made for two of the standout tracks: “Cabros” and “Casa Latina.” Thematically and visually similar, the juxtaposition of closed/private and open/public urban spaces are the main forces here. Where the closed spaces feel dominated by routine, loneliness, and workplace exploitation, it is the open spaces that provide the escape, whether it’s in the form of solitary rapture or physical confrontation. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4zS21a3YMQDwZdpW2169j5" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/odisea/596930608" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" discordia.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" if34oc5ni="" imageanchor="1" inoerigiun84iejrdybjxsumeef_swxcaclcbgas="" s320="" salve="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tab="" uujnsgzykdu=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_bAfrYeI1D29w6XHtkKP1fgZdjZgvcm1-ZmyKwMrxq7MIoAlFl68S_LEqapjx28rhQGZX2e0BKdZCv3jESj6HNNvVyKHdeSJXdfM00TNENs03VuF28CPNZL6Tu1f5z1-AYFVoU-cxnA/s320/tab+-+salve+discordia.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">32</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Triángulo de Amor Bizarro</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Salve Discordia</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Mushroom Pillow, 2016</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
After releasing two of Spanish indie rock’s most important records, Triángulo de Amor Bizarro put out the very accomplished yet also somewhat unchallenging <i>Estrellas Místicas</i>. But three years later, their fourth album <i>Salve Discordia</i> made clear TAB was not a band that was going to musically settle down as they began their second decade of activity. This didn’t mean they were considering forgoing their identity either, as post-punk and shoegaze remained the bread and butter of the Galician band, one whose tongue-in-cheek name admitted in a very direct way just how derivative their sound was. <i>Salve Discordia</i> is full of frenetic distorted rock, and drummer Rafael Mallo shines as it’s the wild percussion and unexpected tempo shifts that elegantly hold the album together. But this is also where TAB started moving out of their comfort zone, giving us some of their most accessible work so far: there’s the reggae/dub vibe of opener “Desmadre Estigio,” the slow arpeggiated dream pop of “Seguidores,” and the very new wave (and shall we say “Age of Consent”-esque) “Baila Sumeria.” And in traditional TAB fashion, the political and social undertones are as ambiguous as they are amusing. In the Spectoresque “Qué Hizo por Ella Cuando la Encontró,” Isa sings about loving someone so much that you’re willing to vote to the right for them – the grandest romantic gesture TAB have ever put to words on a song. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1cI2Kqc5FbT4z8c44xmtMn" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/salve-discordia/1273099603" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a al="" bp.blogspot.com="" fakuta="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" npgicazxgt4nuju6i_tuqz4w9hnitnwgqclcbgasyhq="" o="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tm5wmxyopso="" vuelo.jpg="" y7kfygmi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb6LXYalQfsVCdp3IYMA5bEoi6s9FaHNATEq2U2uy0nnlehBJtFuhqsOdw50h0iDiriqCgnAmlQEEDLe9EehNB3nBmLXLojM54DTfBvRdGz78Hk05tI1UXk4OWwCZDOKcGi1wgT0fq9kY/s320/fakuta+-+al+vuelo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">31</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Fakuta</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Al Vuelo</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Michita Rex, 2011</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Fakuta is a master of soundscapes. Her voice alone, infinitely clear and pure, is capable of remarkable reach, both into the ether and into your soul. The carousel chimes of “50 Años” are straight out of a dream or nightmare sequence, depending on how you look at it. “Mi Casa” builds on the dreamy-creepy carousel vibes with a stickier, sour instrumentation before “Mil Veces Vuelvo” takes you on a thrilling video game mission. The alien voice intro on “Segundando” gives way to a fascinating vocal performance that plays with shapes and spacing in challenging, refreshing ways.<br />
<br />
The sparse opening of “Virreinatos” punctuated by tapping that’s hard to ignore is almost unnerving. As Fakuta slowly adds layers of sound, that tapping remains underneath, inescapable. Even Fakuta’s ethereal voice can’t quite distract from it, and it gets under your skin. By contrast, “Al Vuelo” is airy and invigorating and sounds like the sensation of taking flight and soaring above the clouds (or at least what you might imagine it to feel like). “Aeropuerto” is the song that everyone remembers, and for good reason. It captures the liminality of airports and airplanes beautifully, conjures the anticipation of traveling to some place far from the daily drudgery. And that’s really what this whole album does when you listen, each song its own fantasy land, it’s own escape from reality. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/36IP9A6vHdQmDMtCuWCX2N" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/al-vuelo/455999054" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/fakuta/sets/al-vuelo" target="_blank">SOUNDCLOUD</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" lq-pkz1bur0i1w29hbxp-gw1jriurj8dgclcbgas="" mar.jpg="" nedf3dani="" pro="" qwy0n_g="" s320="" silva="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" vista=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxxrIdRfgkjVi-LRMLm1fT9AREk3WgdtTMqDbZ1sM_GiUh8rcs_yGSnSPXKNofc919IPfnTPu7XHrbQn_Uomf6McLVfWjrRRbkehESbd7tu-xRcq0_ya3OJRC34SBZbIiIOf6y4F2OYgw/s320/silva+-+vista+pro+mar.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">30</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Silva</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Vista Pro Mar</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Som Livre, 2014</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
When I think of what made Club Fonograma so special, <i>Vista Pro Mar </i>is one of the first things that comes to mind. Without this wonderful website, the odds that I would have encountered Brazilian artist Silva would have been slim-to-none. And what a gift Silva provided us with in his standout 2014 LP. <i>Vista Pro Mar</i> catalogues one man’s personal journey through little more than hushes and pops. Close your eyes and you get the sense that he’s standing right behind you, ushering you through the heart of his world. “Okinawa,” in particular, remains singularly spellbinding – a song of personal longing juxtaposed with the sounds of waves crashing, as if the entire world is at the precipice. Armed with his guitar and simple folktronic sounds, Silva brings his world to you, and it’s a place that you’ll never want to leave. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/3vtSXrHwtkfLt8kTwms4d6" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://apps.apple.com/gb/album/vista-pro-mar/id816433283" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bdm="" billete="" bp.blogspot.com="" capsulon.jpg="" de="" fuete="" gj6hcasoeq9prxlcas4eakkbqsw6uqclcbgas="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" musica="" nealp0kui="" o="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqvc7vDZNOnpvYMpOJIbtiP54hzJV4tHcXFAIohVLxjFfRsCYo0lwnH4GSyzD7XvA7a6L-_JIW49I1rbs4yHMmnfJaKff7C-KupL9JaNN21QOIa4e3d5t0YnnW_9L7aaoHep3flR1637M/s320/fuete+billete+-+musica+de+capsulon.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">29</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Füete Billēte</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Música de Capsulón</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Independiente, 2013</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Hate them or love them, there’s no denying <i>Música de Capsulón</i> is a hell of an accomplishment. With hardly any pause between tracks, the MCs found a robust manner to accommodate their previous offerings, assembling an entrancing narrative. Whether it’s with the assistance of Freebass’ luxurious beats or Overlord’s under-purple-drank, stoner production, Füete Billēte’s vast musical spectrum, which ranges from 90s rap, to crunk, to contemporary hip hop, stands out throughout, revealing new genius in every spin. Beibi’s and Pepper’s performances, however, are what steal the whole show. Johnson’s reggaeton-esque flow is commanding, while Kilo’s sick, often Auto-Tuned verses are intrepid. The sheer volume of smashers on <i>Música de Capsulón</i> is impressive. Following the throwback intro “Mira Esa Perrita,” the title track quickly makes itself present. It easily equalizes the same exciting effect we had when we first heard “La Trilla.” The self-aware “La Moda,” hard-hitting “Hasta el Piso,” and Aaliyah-sampling “Una en un Millón” are ultimately designed for perrear/twerking. Outstanding singles “Bien Guillao” and “Al Mando” bring out their most gangster side, while Overlord-produced tracks “Fumaera Namás” and “Vaso Lento” exhibit them DUI all the way. They even show their more romantic style in the fucking sexy “No Me Quito” and get dreamy in the opulent “Peces Cuadraos.” Whichever side they present, they succeed in it. <i>- Enrique Coyotzi (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2013/11/fuete-billete-musica-de-capsulon.html" target="_blank">Música de Capsulón album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/5krve9le3U2KLrRVOw5Bvi" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ar/album/m%C3%BAsica-de-capsulon/767601617" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a balvin="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kdei-kslhre0apofurfqfsjgl-wzsz1vaclcbgas="" nexq1-szi="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" vibras.jpg="" z5vqpycadhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWUOIetnvYvvo7cC7yPRLYqJo36gnqpN4GwE-2HTxXq0ePg38yydXFsYaNbUsi16ywrqAyq5C_3QUBDNKGePXqSzmxfQlho1WA3OK_eK0dOhO_7C8FnwgQulfPb32zqzx06unb1Wpdo8Q/s320/balvin+-+vibras.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">28</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">J Balvin</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Vibras</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Universal Latin, 2018</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
This is the sound of the brass ring hitting the table: J Balvin, fresh from achieving pop stardom (culminating in a remix featuring <i>fucking </i>Beyoncé), forgoing a victory lap for a trip around the world in 40 minutes. Beginning with an echoing indie pop intro featuring Mexican chanteuse Carla Morrison and ending with a stomping raver with Brazilian and Aruban singers, respectively, Anitta and Jeon, <i>Vibras </i>is as much a pop music snapshot as any other record this decade. In-between these jaunts, J Balvin unites the old world (via Rosalía and Willy William) with the new (he got both Wisin <i>and </i>Yandel!) in a way that his motherland’s eponym could have only dreamt (much love to Colombia, fuck you Christopher Columbus). Geopolitics aside, <i>Vibras </i>wouldn’t resonate if it wasn’t so uncompromising. This is J Balvin’s tour around the world, and folks, you better believe there’s a dress code. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/5kprdYds6oZb4iSldfflOT" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/vibras/1368816332" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bkkzkiwqe="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" jpg="" juana="" mlmyjxti81cwzuiliz5avgabpssyovwclcbgas="" molina="" nebuchmci="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" wed=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA_HKXK6q2JhnY0a8wWvw0F4z3PUa3xfvC48nYQo0r-Zhypx26cl87e0WldF2mYSLMD6k3m5muflbju1Qz98gNzmVHxrRk23ixpR2xECs2IZtqawih3VZxWJAONsLM1LPSzklrNoSW0g4/s320/juana+molina+-+wed+21.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">27</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Juana Molina</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Wed 21</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Crammed Discs, 2013</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Juana Molina warrants many descriptions: composer, noise stylist, humanist, beat maker, and former comic. But we often forget to reference what makes her divine to the great spectrum of pop culture. Molina is a master of horror. Molina’s uncanny sensitivity is the rumination of our daily appointments with existential terror. <i>Wed 21</i> makes emotional devastation sound monstrously beautiful in a deceptively simple manner. Conceptually and aesthetically, it’s one of Juana’s boldest provocations, and it’s far from being a shortcut to aural ecstasy. Throughout the record we find an artist who is compassionate to the medium, but who dares to be abrupt and compulsive for the greater service of emotional unease. There’s a metaphorical pull in <i>Wed 21</i> that stops it from being read as a mere brainteaser. Molina fills the space with sound. A whole lot of sounds in fact. When deconstructed, the swarming conditions come off as inner wars of spiritual proportions. It’s a turmoil of an album – assaulting and frightening – and one of Molina’s most accomplished vehicles for letting out some steam. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2013/10/juana-molina-wed-21.html" target="_blank">Wed 21 album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/5kPgL6cR1ks9ElKafo4nD7" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/wed-21/708683606" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://juanamolina.bandcamp.com/album/wed-21" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" cosa.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" julieta="" n5ww9-brnn0ofvbj1q79k0jnqs83y4ptqclcbgasyhq="" otra="" pgen2qfake="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" venegas="" y9xvuwai=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwAy5fn2fPZinU0I_elelKe7MwXwgADXltChOSPKYeIUv5Xondmipv7tLBzxK_5WR_G1Ug55uA4pXg5wnaWyyyShxv720_QH45oX40Kkb8grGH6n2SMr7OXu0UETQ6MZJcgbyrK7P6lh4/s320/julieta+venegas+-+otra+cosa.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">26</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Julieta Venegas</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Otra Cosa</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Sony International, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
In the last decade Julieta Venegas gave us three albums, <i>Otra Cosa</i>, <i>Los Momentos</i> and <i>Algo Sucede</i>. Of the three, <i>Otra Cosa</i> is the hinge on which her former and current soundscapes coalesce: the metamorphosis from post-punk rocker en español to pop queen and then – in the last decade – the expert song-crafter. At the time it felt like an extension of the buoyant moments of <i>Limón y Sal</i> streamlined into a more cohesive whole, but that belied the fact that Venegas had spun out the whimsy from that album, made it electronic, and wrote one of the most upbeat heartbreak albums ever – a more mature twin of the giddy honeymoon of <i>Sí</i> (look at the covers of these albums, people!). “Despedida” makes you tap your foot to a song about saying goodbye and respecting a relationship that ended. “Debajo De Mi Lengua” crystallizes the awkwardness of communicating what you need in a relationship, but it plays out like a sing-along with your governess over the Austrian mountains. Venegas’ witty humor is on full display throughout. I will also add that “Otra Cosa” is the most frustratingly short song of her catalog, because, musically, it’s one of her best. Perhaps this is true of the whole album, too? <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/7rrYlu3nL2ZfW7RR9tSDMO" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/otra-cosa-deluxe-version/355134601" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a b09eqtl4w0w="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" la="" lido="" papessa.jpg="" pimienta="" s320="" sl4l1ojt-usgqc-2c00je2yunjmspayaclcbgasyhq="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y-iwtmvi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBFvCmpLqoGamDv0iooy5lgeloIFaBcgaUQG4mpnNS4x-tLyYlpIMk6jaUxjtiKUhtcD5BNvH51rGHF-HnQLYzQihDALNb7kwjYbg7sh_pyqFdPnVeANgKMFoCSkta-KHMKNOr7770KE4/s320/lido+pimienta+-+la+papessa.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">25</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Lido Pimienta</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>La Papessa</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">ANTI-, 2016</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
For any casual Club Fonograma reader, seeing Lido Pimienta’s name on the credits was like a guarantee of quality. Whether on <a href="https://soundcloud.com/lido-pimienta/04-progreso" target="_blank">her own songs</a>, or as a <a href="https://youtu.be/uls0iMJ32zs" target="_blank">collaborator</a>, or even as a <a href="https://youtu.be/FNIe0WNjbI4" target="_blank">hook girl</a>, Lido’s signature vocals led a powerful, naturalistic element to almost anything that she graced with her presence. <i>La Papessa</i> is mostly remembered by mainstream music fans for her passionate <a href="https://youtu.be/UyUHnm4Pl04" target="_blank">acceptance speech at the 2017 Polaris Music Prize ceremony</a>, where she saliently called out racist attitudes in her adopted homeland of Ontario. But for those of us who’ve followed Lido’s journey for the past decade, <i>La Papessa </i>was a triumph – a wonderful symbiosis of soul and electronic sounds (“Agua” in particular continues to wreck your shit from the very first second). Lido Pimienta is essential to understanding Latinx pop of the 2010s, and <i>La Papessa</i> is her most essential work. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/12L7Zmipk8DEv6jNgsVUNl" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/la-papessa/1435072999" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://lidopimienta.bandcamp.com/album/la-papessa" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a americana.jpg="" ases="" bp.blogspot.com="" falsos="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" juventud="" n6tujasa="" nexte5gei="" qcaklcgthia9p9-jq4ngdj2fagansmcgclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrPg_OBTV9RAMPhvTyUJXFvidrTQYIkKGR5I5fdXyDs8P-BIZk_a4rd2Ar14AByJgAmdLK_PEibpI7MJC-FVfVqbTZ5Lv5EAWk39LtaXZXXm-72VjtUI1JLvpTlrS0Ty8K5zWZyojfx8/s320/ases+falsos+-+juventud+americana.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">24</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Ases Falsos</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Juventud Americana</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">ARCA Discos, 2012</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The transition of Fother Muckers into Ases Falsos brings forward some of the Chilean band’s most illustrious bridges. Ases Falsos embrace Juan Gabriel, the most beloved songwriter/performer of the Americas, through an original work bravely emerged from inspiration. But <i>Juventud Americana</i> is way beyond an appreciation album for the idol, it’s a work about América (the ONE continent), a climbing introspection on our continental idiosyncrasies, and an update to the “We are Sudamerican Rockers” maxim. “No soy y nunca seré un artista nacional.” This is one of many memorable roars in <i>Juventud Americana</i>, but the most significant in the band’s shot at reinvention.<br />
<br />
<i>Juventud Americana</i> isn’t a doorway to the renaissance of the Chilean band. Ases Falsos have crafted a roll-with-the-punches album that blooms in transitions – the end of conservatism and the rise of progressive ideals – specifically as faced by our increasingly nearer continental youth. And yet, there’s nothing technologically accommodated for a Generation X absorption. They’re still using rock instruments as mass-triggering vehicles for emotional discharge and thematic dispersion. Unlike any of their peers, Ases Falsos manage to sound more unapologetic than apocalyptic; they make songs that invite youth for coalition more than we have done in our past. A strong, long hug seems like the first step. Hugging Juan Gabriel = hugging América. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2012/09/ases-falsos-juventud-americana.html" target="_blank">Juventud Americana album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/5F39yg6zWo9806CA7gNa5l" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/ar/album/juventud-americana/1252021625" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/asesfalsos/sets/juventud-americana" target="_blank">SOUNDCLOUD</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" capullo="" del="" e_hsgm98nu9ukwc65csko_e7rfmalvngclcbgas="" fin="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" huvckxb_k="" imageanchor="1" mundo.jpg="" neyj9dugi="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" testigos=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBkz8hyfmBZ221ykknzHYASC3MjEbE5adTcr-btB9myIyFpFaMClnApddZ6TWDHLkNvdI5ByHoyU4PIPif-7QnQErcgcyW_jZ-ETD8TrtBszIRJEiQvCU9PlCygg70rwxrvXJqQcuM58/s320/capullo+-+testigos+del+fin+del+mundo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">23</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Capullo</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Testigos del Fin del Mundo</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Tropic-All, 2012</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Continuing their tradition for assembling catchy, infectious, synth-driven songs, <i>Testigos del Fin del Mundo</i> finds the Hidrocálidos notoriously improving and aggrandizing their songwriting skills, Isra through richer arrangements and catchier hooks and Cris and Sandunga with luscious vocal melodiousness. Their pop sensibilities have blossomed into smoother, rounder compositions, such as “La Marea” or “Quédate,” or should-be-smash-hits like flamboyant first single “Pretextos,” or “A quien amas en realidad es a mí,” a radiant, dynamic highlight where they team up with Colombian sweetheart Lido Pimienta for an outstanding collaboration. Capullo have developed a more electropoppy sound with this record without getting rid of the characteristic merengue, tropical, cumbia, and reggaetón rhythms that have been present through their previous tracks and made their framework distinctive from other artists with similar styles, like Maria Daniela y su Sonido Lasser, Quiero Club, or Javiera Mena. Even more admirable is the neat production level reached, which can be identified from the self-titled opener, a propulsive electronic rendition of Elmer Bernstein’s <i>The Magnificent Seven</i> theme (aka the infamous Marlboro commercials theme). Each track displays a more defined polished craftsmanship that results in a collection of sheer, gratifying, and finely accomplished pop tunes that, lyrically, don’t speak that much about the world’s destruction, but fuck it, this music makes it sound like Judgement Day would be a sweetly enjoyable event. <i>- Enrique Coyotzi (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2012/02/capullo-testigos-del-fin-del-mundo.html" target="_blank">Testigos del Fin del Mundo album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1dg8zQa2EQdRyxFzoH7SKU" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/mx/album/testigos-del-fin-del-mundo-feat-lido-pimienta-os-gru/1214226437" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://capullo.bandcamp.com/album/testigos-del-fin-del-mundo" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a alex="" amiga.jpg="" anwandter="" bp.blogspot.com="" dxj_bu7aatot2tbxsyhgizzibojaclcbgas="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" newzejrxi="" s320="" s="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" t6nlertqo=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHOqy4j_UtIGUok5MPuYYSGKS5i5jQe6RJUNpDV6V4rQ5yK10AT436o0Rgmt4kaHYP0AvQSBj_D2txPZ29CoX1eHhzr-xjrlBqGi7NfoGVZwwj3Qu8KoxyWY9w-_k4aEqkDWlrk2z1AqI/s320/alex+anwandter+-+amiga.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">22</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Alex Anwandter</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Amiga</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Nacional Records, 2016</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
From the very beginning of <i>Amiga</i>, “Siempre Es Viernes En Mi Corazón” recalls the grit and glory of <i>Odisea </i>and sets the tone for a symphony lamenting the state of the world and human relationships. “Cordillera” asks if this earth even wants/loves us, then “Traición” follows with “Si ya la vida es difícil / ¿Por qué hacerla peor? / Si donde sea que vayas / Te espera siempre una traición.” Bleak. But before you sink into despair, the steely synths of “Amiga” clang together with an almost-twang at a tempo so fast it’s nerve-wracking. “Manifiesto” is all piano and resilience, a show tune of a proclamation, determined to live in truth even if it kills.<br />
<br />
On the most vocally interesting track, “El Sonido de los Corazones Que Se Quiebran,” Anwandter unravels a tragedy, scooping and dragging his voice, then stretching it like a rubber band that collapses back on itself until it’s so soft it sounds trapped in a box before finally belting out “no te quise engañar.” But even more heartbreaking than that line is the song that follows. “Qué Será De Ti Mañana?” is a eulogy to relationships lost to the hustle and grind of capitalism that wears us out and leaves us empty. Even in the swirl of strings, synths, brass, and percussion, you can’t escape <i>Amiga</i>’s darkness. It’s an album that confronts you with all the cruelty of the world, which is equal parts exhausting and liberating. In the end, are you resigned to your grim fate, or will you fight it? <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1hWMZutJpm0afsshH6EQug" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/amiga/1087221044" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://alexanwandter.bandcamp.com/album/amiga" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a aqtldtdo8dc="" bp.blogspot.com="" club="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" ifv-0lyhi="" imageanchor="1" jose="" maria="" mt4vc7vhowqczerlwsptqpzd6ggzs7wclcbgas="" negro.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnxteeF31_7wRDA99uSzp0lzroMYIC9OAK3MPtatWhVCa7dpdRyO8nkfyHIqN8LGfCVIVJNW51y1rZ2TROeRq2biQl2doloevoAxA3uyIG1anY-Bp1tCgLBgQ-mfDah3A17gBcTaJfSOI/s320/maria+y+jose+-+club+negro.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">21</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">María y José</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Club Negro</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Casete, 2013</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
As the great 2 Chainz once said, “They ask me what I do and what I do it for, and how I come up with this shit up in the studio.” This is a fair approximation for most peoples’ reaction to the María y José oeuvre. Seriously, put on a María y José song for any “regular” person, and the typical reaction is generally, “Whoa, what the hell is this?” Let’s face it: Tony Gallardo’s ear is full of some pretty fucked up sounds. But they’re damn good sounds. And in the case of <i>Club Negro</i>, these sounds are downright masterful. Calling Gallardo’s María y José project “rudderless” would imply that his craft should contain a rudder in the first place. Gallardo runs his ship on much more rudimentary scale. His records don’t set up blocks for the purpose of knocking them down later; rather, his auteur approach to DJ music is free form and keeps any foundation to a minimum. Given these circumstances, it is no surprise that his prior music, under his real name and as María y José, is singular and highly acclaimed. But, with <i>Club Negro</i>, Tony Gallardo takes that next step: his music is important. He is no longer the resident weirdo at the Iberoamerican pop banquet table. He is the visionary. Albeit one who’s really good at Twitter. <i>- Andrew Casillas (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2013/04/maria-y-jose-c-l-u-b-n-e-g-r-o.html" target="_blank">Club Negro album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/3SC6yvVHh95pPHOCvST5pJ" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/mx/album/club-negro/634961293" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a ajsrk9hds0qqttcbd1hs4zbhyaw-gj-aclcbgas="" bp.blogspot.com="" constante.jpg="" diosque="" eyo26dn938="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" nezteljci="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq7Ban8coJvjhrnhJRd8Jmu2DeZ2Zuvu4K7NHj_TV2aQ9VZH1bSCLuKU6f11nNS3b7yPRw0sjneSn6SgwDShxkUA0qgoDgWL2ph8-GaCDb9yXOs_Et_q7JqRmMy9sIEUh6qZ-LYI9cab4/s320/diosque+-+constante.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">20</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Diosque</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Constante</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Quemasucabeza, 2014</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Since its birth, <i>Constante </i>aligned itself for a healthy, vibrant life. Whereas a title like <i>Constante </i>would make you think he would subscribe to form and shift toward more stable and digestible narratives, Diosque gold-brushes and shines his sequencing tools, placing a rare faith in the listener’s aural sense. From its very first track, <i>Constante </i>reveals itself as a puzzling work. Album opener “Fuego” is chopped and tormented – as if Diosque wanted us to see the unlikely construction of his composition (perhaps hoping for a deconstruction of our own). We may question his methods of storytelling, but it’s that progressive unlikeliness of Diosque’s melodies and hooks that brings it its appeal. That incessant search for a chorus and its half a dozen rhythm shifts make “La Cura” a marvel of a song. What’s truly interesting here is the almost anti-climactic approach on its fast-paced canvas. It’s beautiful to see the discourse of <i>Constante </i>unveil before our eyes. Diosque chooses its moments and chooses them well. Moments like the “papapahs” in “La Verdad Rota,” the disco rapture of “Soy Las Seis,” and the intoxicatingly beautiful elevation of a bridge cascading itself up to a climax in “Broncedado.” Perhaps what gets <i>Constante </i>further than other recent works from Diosque’s contemporaries [...] are its monumental pop pieces. “La Cura” and “Broncedado” are as grandiose as any single by Javiera Mena or Astro, and that makes <i>Constante </i>truly stunning to behold even during its uncanny moods and quietly gripping conclusion. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2014/07/diosque-constante.html" target="_blank">Constante album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1APOhARKwlVonSXez6nEc9" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/constante/972054326" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a aa2ihroqbyttwdsbgvbxutvtvh8s33zaclcbgasyhq="" bp.blogspot.com="" helado="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" invisible="" k7s-qpssyje="" life.jpg="" negro="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" w="" y8bccf4i=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_1IpprBje59uTBGzhoE9cq_YIYCW1N9r0z6FdhoUt1154N48nnRnitO82WT3f2WqTpgl93qa5tenbM38Cf-8Eg-SqzfXThdl5u55G_cF7ZsNYRPhTujtPi5ulqbRkYKrYlC8rsiGCn0/s320/helado+negro+-+invisible+life.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">19</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Helado Negro</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Invisible Life</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Asthmatic Kitty, 2013</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
<i>Invisible Life</i> is what trip hop would sound like if its genesis was in the Americas: a darker chillwave with more pronounced song structure. Unlike Roberto Carlos Lange’s more “accessible” recent work, the sounds on <i>Invisible Life</i> are more abstracted and repeated listens reveal hints of bird call and electronic chirping cicadas. But it’s all about the beats: the tribal in “Arboles”, the skittish in “Junes,” the claps in “Relatives,” the pistons in “Cuantas” and “Ilumina Vos.” Lange’s dreamy voice imperceptibly moves from English to Spanish throughout the album and even within songs, but in <i>Invisible Life </i>the lyrics aren’t front and center, they’re as abstract as the soundscape. Stand out track “Dance Ghost” evokes the late night/morning after without the need to understand every word, no matter what language Lange uses. <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/24b0eyCXsGn6TLaM0K3mGq" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/invisible-life/597754730" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://heladonegro.bandcamp.com/album/invisible-life-2" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" c="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" igauov1ci="" imageanchor="1" pagnfkml4tc="" pegasvs.jpg="" s320="" sdl8a1daoekdho7yxlpwjpc5uxfspuaclcbgas="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" svper=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQGRoOyKlqyEOpvn6D3bdijp2_DcVghrqwQtFmK2kf6NKhWuaSZ7qNhFaaF_IYlortGszI2KnIpmfjM8kPcMFqnaq-QLUYn_AKh24TXJTPShO4SCLxeErTsqwfAO30_gfrTJ1s5T-LufM/s320/svper+-+pegasvs.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">18</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">SVPER</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Pegasvs</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">CANADA Editorial, 2012</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Progressive rock lost its sanity during the aughts. After thirty years of the prog rock theorem, song structures devalued artistic credibility, and intricate compositions exceeded shock value. Like many other shifts in culture, the genre is moving into a more subtle golden wave of progressive pop, one that doesn’t need to push the boundaries of the genre to achieve artistic integrity (the grace of pop music). So much of this swing translates as glory in the Olympian debut album of Luciana and Sergio, two synth junkies that cultivate melodic splendor as the esoteric constellation. Although hardly conceptualized in its themes, the nine tracks that comprise the album circulate on a beautiful (yet heretical) landscape of shoegaze orchestration. The songs are rapturous and digressive to the zeitgest. <i>Pegasvs </i>keeps a minimalist aesthetic to rather point its exponential eye to a perpetual extent, and they’ve succeeded. For referential purposes, it wouldn’t be a surprise (or a blasphemy) to remember this album as a shrewdly mythological box of synth crescendos. But these crescendos are more than tools for melodic ascendance, they carry the emotional force needed for an album that travels on its own atmospheric drift. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2012/03/pegasvs-pegasvs.html" target="_blank">Pegasvs album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/7Glh6zTuFysTaB5NJ5JCcW" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/lu/album/pegasvs/501825499" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://canadaeditorial.bandcamp.com/album/pegasvs" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" c9ehb_txbgm4hpirta_8tai64troffgzqclcbgas="" el="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" if_zd_nxi="" imageanchor="1" indiana="" juidero.jpg="" rita="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" upvpfitb-bq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc00WHEF1enzt8G4y5BbViUBm24rYv-79woG7Bd08iu-4BVDCZKrKfQJPYC2pLHaGoOBo_RO-RS_DaOZy3vD5nqA3I0EeXZ2K2EYclIIcOT4Rlrs7Y2yJtHxUzBTjJW_OJKK-H1adQma0/s320/rita+indiana+-+el+juidero.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">17</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Rita Indiana y Los Misterios</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>El Juidero</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Premium Latin Music, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
<i>El Juidero</i> remains, to this date, the only full-length music album released by writer and singer-songwriter Rita Indiana. It is also one of the few records released this decade that greatly succeeded in striking a sentimental chord with what it means to be Latin American. Granted, the record is imbued with the local: the vivid imagery of life in the Caribbean islands forms the poetic backdrop, the Dominican slang and colloquialisms add a distinctive native charm to it, and merengue is the one sonic constant that holds it together. But a lot of it also inhabits the communal space defined by the shared experiences of a group of more than six hundred million people very loosely connected by language, culture, and geography. These are the lands where the influence of the U.S. permeates our language and culture (“Equeibol”), the impending possibility of emigrating to meet with relatives is ever present (“El Juidero”), the privileges inherited from past (or present) authoritative governments are still felt (“En el Mercedes de tu abuela / Se lo regalo Trujillo”), and colonial borders have created cultural and racial agitations between <i>pueblos hermanos</i> (“Da pa lo do” as a metaphor for Dominican Republic-Haiti relations). Already known as a master storyteller and poet, Rita Indiana found amazing new heights in the musical form with <i>El Juidero</i>, hitting the sweet spots that constitute Latin American joy and sorrow while keeping merengue moving forward. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4Rpdq5XtZniKOf1Bv8N4rj" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/el-juidero/393417905" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a arca.jp="" arca="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" llnjuii-nkq_xmrdwud73ovxqewxj8dsaclcbgas="" newh0nd_i="" qkzn2iwfmr4="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" w=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2BIZeAfFGMiLHkt1QOHWRh5rzEOddRUZy8bZOmbphGANKOyifdv1My57ecV0tU6nE583U0szkYbwD0DDruS8-k634rWl2MvWMRjdkApXwOHsVoTdTtfqh39DXklMoMCKSwgh6FwuYUQ/s320/arca+-+arca.jp" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">16</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Arca</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Arca</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">XL, 2017</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
I won’t even bother contextualizing Arca’s impact over the course of the decade (I'll <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/evj9k4/arca-is-the-artist-of-the-decade" target="_blank">leave that to the pros</a>), but Arca’s self-titled album is a seminal work of incomparable beauty. As the first vocalized Arca record, the Venezuela-born artist unlocked a new vulnerability that felt like meeting her for the first time. “Piel” is a fragile and dissonant opener expanding in solemn verses: <i>Quítame la piel de ayer / No sé caerme</i>. The angelic quality of Arca’s voice turns skin motifs into something spiritual. They resurface to confront all that has come to define her sound: unsettling contortions, atonal pulses, and opulent strings with organs.<br />
<br />
While Arca remains an experimental artist reimagining pop as formless, there are moments that evoke the pop ideal we have all been marked by. The propulsive melodrama on “Reverie” feels like a club banger draped in mournful chants. “Fugaces” unravels with the same carnal progression as some of Björk’s best ballads and the emotional release is twice as devastating (“¿Por qué me mentiste?”). Then there’s “Desafío,” which could rightly be claimed as the record’s centerpiece. The opening sirens are never abrasive, Arca’s words are alarming in themselves as they, ready or not, approach an abyss. These lyrics are pronounced with all the sensual energy of a pop diva aiming for glory, which only makes me think of the future legacy that Arca will birth with each new release. I’m ready. <i>- Giovanni Guillén</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1MQO4j8QExVgmnplbIodEU" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/arca/1203295856" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bam="" bp.blogspot.com="" c9otd-f5s04p0bazsc2ezauniaqggxtgclcbgas="" futura="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" isn-s9tti="" iycjxpvku="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" via.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCxa0W9XLA39n_hiUkgt0nHZZOt_jgUQE1SCSIu7cD7Xd2yfQKC6Eemlm5EbEzEoh1KX0viQesh7E94vnqNjZrqP0BPd_oDcsvqcBe9zYSSlZ6Kwbdm1G_nbkvRAl30bNi_gUHYHNRGSQ/s320/bam+bam+-+futura+via.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">15</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Bam Bam</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Futura Vía</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Arts & Crafts, 2011</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Voted as Club Fonograma’s Best Album of the Year in 2011, <i>Futura Vía</i> by Bam Bam continues to fulfill such truth. A psychedelic reverb-bathed pop album that opened the new decade with a powerhouse sound and shaped the journey of indie pop in Mexico, and consequently into spaces beyond its limitations. Bam Bam’s avant-garde and psychedelic pop masterpiece delivered tracks such as “Abismático” and “Extraña Coincidencia,” all experimenting the boundaries and capacity of sound. More than an album, <i>Futura Vía</i> is a mad scientist experiment with noble heart; surgical care with sincere values are intertwined in each song, resulting in a 10-track album produced by Bam Bam's Valis Ortiz & Martin Thulin. “Ragatrón” the leading single off the album was an experimental song in both sound and context, with dystopian undertone tapping into newfound capacities to imagine a utopian world, one where otherness and alienation are the new norm. <i>Futura Vía</i> continues to hold value and space in latin indie music history. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1kkv1Dovjee2qk7cGZdAlm" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/futura-v%C3%ADa/428402213" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a avf_vh8rjoee1powgqlboh9ehe7jgf7gclcbgasyhq="" bp.blogspot.com="" empress="" fnrdx_o74w="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" lpigzai="" me.jpg="" of="" s320="" s="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhILp-zQfpB7XRDK5KxOI7c5B0ZW9wlnJkADKkzK2E3S-KcGlvmK8IYcEFlFHtyn_mBvwmE_4zujUwPpz0t4qM9Euma-kUKlNlYE_yobaEUP00RtzPu7zxRedltTw-eeZizGkgQFzOmXCE/s320/empress+of+-+me.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">14</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Empress Of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Me</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Terrible, 2015</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The first and, perhaps best, revelation on <i>Me </i>is that Lorelly Rodríguez’s vocals are now front and centre, an assured decision, and logical considering the album’s title. However [...] Rodríguez’s voice swings between the bark of your best friend shouting at you from the swimming pool to eery-chanteuse-flexing-scales in a heartbeat: there’s little pretense to it. Given the costume of ‘Empress Of,’ it’s the lyrics of <i>Me </i>that save the project from residing in the pile of ‘just another...’ (while we’re using sentence fragments as nouns). Rodríguez thrusts her journal into your hands and says, “I'm going to sing this to you,” and starts without permission. But this is a carefully considered journal: lyrically, Rodríguez knows exactly how much she needs to obfuscate, retain, and push forward. The anatomy of a pop song centers around a basic theme, but better still, a signifier that presents each track as a stand alone: something Javiera Mena continued refining in an alternative technicolor world. <i>Me</i>, on the other hand, is much more monochromatic, like its cover photo; much more tactile, too. What makes this album more remarkable, though, is Rodriguez's claim that making the album was purely instinctual. To do it all oneself, and to then put yourself as the main subject matter without older professionals helping you edit that down to a listenable whole, is no mean feat. <i>- Sam Rodgers (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2015/09/empress-of-me.html" target="_blank">Me album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6Gr9l3W2dr8YZ1SzJwRRKE" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/me/1011033348" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://terriblerecords.bandcamp.com/album/me-2" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" era.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" ikm92p_pkrw="" imageanchor="1" javiera="" l2rwubgebnvgxow2anac3hcwfkjbwclcbgas="" mena="" neamruybi="" otra="" s320="" s="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7O9fRIq8IGrsfstEvWxz8QU43kLPWIEQ0XU__623MbsylY_1gaU8sPSN-e0cE2oN-g6Rd8VZ9PuGHYujcqp6ja13H0Ko5Ka6VvWgN8UB0Qyzi321jTBkwO12CsAXV6b6FOZbW2LPZhuY/s320/javiera+mena+-+otra+era.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">13</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Javiera Mena</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Otra Era</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Unión del Sur, 2014</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Maybe it’s not fair, but after the dazzling <i>Mena</i>, it was hard to imagine what could be next. How do you follow a masterpiece? Four years later Javiera Mena answered with <i>Otra Era</i>, and it turns out that the way you follow greatness is by letting go and going full throttle. <i>Otra Era</i> is a maximalist dream, layers and loops accelerating into a decadent density of sound. Effervescent as “Luz de Piedra de Luna,” album opener “Los Olores de Tu Alma” features dizzying synths and a relentless beat that explodes into wall-to-wall sound and literally leaves Mena (and listeners) short of breath. Similarly ambitious, “Esa Fuerza” spins into a dancefloor high with “que el ritmo no pare, no pare” and “Que Me Tome la Noche” relinquishes control to the beat and cover of night.<br />
<br />
The album’s title track scales back for a more restrained arrangement that could be at home on BFlecha’s <i>βeta</i>. Expansive, yet subtle, Mena also explores alternate dimensions and timelines. “La Joya” digs up a sweetness that recalls <i>Esquemas Juveniles</i> and “Pide” takes an unexpected, but pleasant, detour into tropical territory before Mena reaches her final form in “Espada” and goes full anime soundtrack. How gratifying to hear Mena in her element, giving nods to her past but not dwelling on it. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1Ag7xE38iyJ4NzzbRSpvah" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/es/album/otra-era/1438063994" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" campo.jpg="" de="" denver="" fuera="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j1n7ci8a6t4="" mrtinnxmtki7ibfb8wvw_ujsbczdq2mqwclcbgas="" nezhkimoi="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRK7LXZq19LzSVHxtESGRUxLaZT8fOwOckbz_dty1B0gIUyjYgvwS6iwYOFnJgW_X6Xjb0Wcel8rFrNW279TdVOODrqV7xmYztD46MlK2wXdMMQEClViw1qZSDpEYAzKDtOU_kuYJyXtI/s320/denver+-+fuera+de+campo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">12</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Dënver</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Fuera de Campo</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Feria Music, 2013</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Based on a story of a war, the conceptual <i>Fuera de Campo</i> involves the listener to fully catch the warlike storytelling, which makes itself first present on “Las fuerzas” and the line “No gana la guerra quien más soldados ni armas tenga.” This time they strive to put on a somewhat more serious suit, which could be a very unintelligent movement in any other band that shared the same features they do. However, this is not the case for Dënver, as <i>Fuera de Campo</i> sounds fresh, exactly like the Chilean project is identified. <i>Fuera de Campo</i>’s over-the-top production lines up the two poles of Dënver. On the one hand you have the sentimentality, and on the other the urge to turn everything into caricature to dump sentimentality away. The spirit has not changed, and <i>Fuera de Campo</i> offers the same glowing pop as we know it. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6nKXT4AXfZArSbCHje9j8i" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/mx/album/fuera-de-campo/883601089" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a album.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" hasta="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" iwt_sg9oi="" kxqe8jkmqjb5xegcpsibl9eqv1y1wclcbgas="" la="" lafourcade="" natalia="" raiz="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" z9gabq298w=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhibcoxWallNtJwdqV7ZJDH8WPBEYU7HAd3K9B9bDWw0wR8fWrSycP8gn9SQBUSnG8R0CYoHl4Yd8015DkTyi0QIx8NLmZW7bhKOe3byHfQHwUIPy-1OhfGN9L6G8KmLlHA4Arafg2b9j8/s320/natalia+lafourcade+-+hasta+la+raiz+album.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">11</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Natalia Lafourcade</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Hasta la Raíz</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Sony Music Latin, 2015</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
<i>Hasta la Raíz</i> is the culmination of years of sound and music in Natalia Lafourcade’s career. The sixth album in her career comes in 2015 after <i>Mujer Divina</i>, her tribute to Agustín Lara. However, it had been since 2009 with <i>Hu Hu Hu</i> that Lafourcade had not delivered original music. The standard edition of <i>Hasta la Raíz</i> delivers 12 songs, with delicate and meticulous composition and execution; doused in sounds oscillating from ballads to pop to folk and exploring a wrap around message of disillusionment and evolution. “Nunca es Suficiente,” “Hasta la Raíz,” “Lo Que Construimos,” and “Mi Lugar Favorito” are amongst the staple songs that deliver Lafourcarde’s perfect composite of her career-long sounds; she penned an album with honest approach about heartbreak but most importantly the process of healing, all while doing what she does best: pop music. Lafourcade is committed to her sound and growth, this is an album of letting go and growth; and without hesitating she placed herself in a vulnerable yet honest offering. <i>Hasta la Raíz</i> erased any invisible boundary in Natalia’s composition limitations, it draws the listener in with hypnotic swooning vocals and melodies; an album that strongly cements itself as an emblem of Lafourcade’s career. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/0Kww7Dpo0uSxtOiiFTvyCv" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/hasta-la-ra%C3%ADz-edici%C3%B3n-especial/1055384362" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a audiovision.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" g="" gepe="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" iz5r1zadrs8by0phjnj-pu1sfuyhw9ymgclcbgasyhq="" pjiofxi="" qunmxmssyg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh783w2kIdin2fxhN04qQZRtQnaL6oFTQuj5kYhFdglf9_1TRa8jdxIdWNzwWhDokjWiC_PA9VyukYF_9XjuYlO0QqkvQQ14V1EL4GMkAPSeY9bCkHbceqvqQ433EGT6ioM-0mvk7fPjBw/s320/gepe+-+audiovision.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">10</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Gepe</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Audiovisión</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Quemasucabeza, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
So many times regarded as a pupil of Chilean icons Víctor Jara and Jorge González, [Gepe] proves to be as essential for our generation in [...] <i>Audiovisión</i>, the work of genius. Starting his career with <i>Gepinto</i>, already a cult classic, means to have a massive weight under his shoulders, but Gepe’s miraculous abilities are subdued to his sensibilities, not only are his songs sincere, they speak about the man and the people and the land around him. If he had already shown flexibility in his two previous albums, his latest continues that breed of epic and sophisticated chants, those slices of intense rush that find themselves at a privileged spot in Gepe’s vision of high pop-art.<br />
<br />
Gepe exposed a whole new group of Latin-American youth to Chile’s folk by diligently embedding it to the sprawling songs in <i>Gepinto</i>, he later redefined his own notions (and nations) with the risky and ultimately brilliant <i>Hungría</i>. [<i>Audiovisión</i>] carries on with the two principles, balancing folk and dancehall in unspeakable manners, keeping the descriptive detail he is known for, the observational study of music form we’ve been celebrating about the new Chilean song. The way Gepe expresses affection by setting up a step-by-step structure is mind-blowing. <i>Audiovisión </i>isn’t much about finding space for exploration, it’s already there; it’s time for the songs, it’s about the songs and for the songs. It’s a splendid ride that feels so close from encountering true definition of the dimensional purpose of the song as a format. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2010/06/audiovision-gepe.html" target="_blank">Audiovisión album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/3gbz7K4IwEupgQ1ZgLhzNQ" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/audiovisi%C3%B3n/972053433" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/gepegepegepe-1/sets/gepe-audiovision" target="_blank">SOUNDCLOUD</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bad="" bp.blogspot.com="" bunny="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" nexqqskfi="" pre.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" utrifxio7w4qxag0erhbwr7trpdy3uc0qclcbgas="" x="" xurk0qnnp5e=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKl0Dx-YjWFpyVevhk6UEe9XqnQLbpRrtHctkqD18tv2rGXpl_L9LRzQVkZlZRbGMLR_7BR8QOaSDSZeJ4Q9X1-FmznfvZnK4vne-94s78nvL2CcHOfSZk_DDH4fY8TZZdxmDdD-4U-Lo/s320/bad+bunny+-+x+100pre.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">09</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Bad Bunny</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>X 100PRE</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Rimas, 2018</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
<i>X 100PRE</i> is not only the best Latin trap album of this era, it’s also one of the best rap albums and best emo albums of the entire decade (regardless of language). Bad Bunny’s genius comes in recognizing how to combine these disparate sounds into a cohesive persona. Sure, we can chuckle at the intro guitar lick in “Tenemos Que Hablar,” but when it’s quickly followed with “Odio tus mensajes, cuando dices que tenemos que hablar / Oh Dios, ¿qué yo hice?, ¿qué yo hice?, que tenemos que hablar,” you know that this dude can list his favorite Vagrant Records cuts off the top of his head. That 1-2-3 punch of “RLNDT,” “Estamos Bien,” and “MIA” not only coexist, but add to the consistency of the record, is a revelation. And we haven’t even touched the spellbinding “Caro,” swaggering “La Romana,” or the greatest Javiera Mena song that never was, “Otra Noche en Miami.” The best thing to come out of nochebuena since lechón, <a href="https://twitter.com/sanbenito/status/1076897015928377345" target="_blank"><i>X 100PRE</i> was announced to the world with a tweet</a> promising 15 fire hits. And, goddammit, has there never been a more truthful tweet since? <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/7CjJb2mikwAWA1V6kewFBF" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/x-100pre/1447554595" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" el="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" jh14sji2snkcafqnzry75ar69mdcpfhxwclcbgas="" mal="" nedz1veyi="" q9nxl4v6tle="" querer.jpg="" rosalia="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvNU1DCcYVJ1ErKAhP-MiCRVLtujV2hxfwxfRSGnJYaMSDfU_YB4EgvIX5zDtCbRj5Ti6zE60kEGbwBwwVGCGzLGR6wh8OsD2J4j-za5dVOeRX52yG_CsiRAzZYUBuGvpzdwfzW_TRBq0/s320/rosalia+-+el+mal+querer.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">08</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Rosalía</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>El Mal Querer</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Sony, 2018</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
When writing about Rosalía’s <i>El Mal Querer</i>, one can get lost in the exercise of describing its main aesthetical elements and stylistic choices, many of which are as fascinating as they are disconcerting. This is mostly because of how they emanate from such disparate worlds – flamenco and Spanish folk on one side, trap and electronic music on the other – even more so when one of these worlds is obsessed with tradition and the other one with novelty. <i>El Mal Querer</i> is a bullfighter fighting a motorcycle, it’s a <i>nazareno </i>skateboarding in the suburbs, it’s a song intro made of flamenco claps and trap synth chords, it’s flamenco in its institutional form (guitars, claps, <i>quejíos</i>) but also in its spiritual form (love, hardship, injustice), it’s based on an anonymous 13th century Occitan novel about a woman cloistered by her jealous husband, it’s a music school graduate thesis being experienced by millions of people on streaming platforms.<br />
<br />
Citing all of this makes music writing easier, but one can also end up feeling like writing a press release. Eventually you end up facing the painful abyss of rationalizing what makes a piece of art so capital-T Transcendent, because you cannot escape the fact that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Other albums more consistent, more in touch with our staff’s consensus musical taste, and (for now) more robust to the passage of time, ended up ranked higher than <i>El Mal Querer</i> here. But there was no other Spanish language album that stimulated the musical g-spot of people from different cultural backgrounds and disparate musical sensibilities as much as this one. As an exceptionally talented musician, Rosalía transcended musical, cultural, and generational borders like no other Iberoamerican artist did this decade. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/355bjCHzRJztCzaG5Za4gq" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/el-mal-querer/1436309944" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/rosaliaofficial/sets/el-mal-querer" target="_blank">SOUNDCLOUD</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a ano="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" if6kkpkji="" imageanchor="1" s320="" santo.jpg="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tab="" txcyfy="" yef5ooqn3meyk0ubs8zevsazxydpp-svaclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5ZCmlSI1izVUlsMb5YizedWExSq6TPZb_eLb5TesUSVGN_b2Vsr_SZWgPdaWXsmJtSmRLNApCO89iIkSDsri-NfLO0IA9hFCvs3s-92Lsl-njymsIdtfquOg3a8esg3wiHaeI633du0/s320/tab+-+ano+santo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">07</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Triángulo de Amor Bizarro</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Año Santo</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Mushroom Pillow, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
<i>Año Santo</i> is Triángulo de Amor Bizarro’s second album and the confirmation of the band being one of the most important Spanish acts at the time. TAB has ever since grown in popularity with every new release and they just announced a new album coming out in 2020. Club Fonograma’s founder Carlos Reyes considered <i>Año Santo</i> a masterpiece when the album came out in 2010, and it has aged incredibly well, as some of its songs have become generational hymns. Nine songs delivering 30 minutes of a very special mixture of frantic rock and noise pop, adorned with synthesizers and vocals that swim through the fuss. As for the lyrics, the songs deal with Spain’s very own religious and political idiosyncrasy in a clever poetical way. The album is fleshy and raw from every possible point of view, so energizing that its last song feels like a mandatory catharsis. <i>- Glòria Guso</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/4jC16srjYzrXrcP8GtXkxV" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/a%C3%B1o-santo/1273104436" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" espiritu="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" invisible.png="" jose="" maria="" necsx0jsi="" rspqxjd7frugodrfmgk8l6zt57apsg3hwclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" u-6dn2e81dg="" y=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjHdCR6ygQhYZQUjieZaWCr-45Z7VigUVNbOr-wtKthUzDCmJvJYSSStZ52p69gIk_P3C41CxNARmIGqRr8Qg2LpQa3TUhhSqjJK7VfSrot9klvPU_11bESpqhvSn60CZkNGipYruJuQs/s320/maria+y+jose+-+espiritu+invisible.png" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">06</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">María y José</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Espíritu Invisible</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Grabaciones Amor, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Religion and the heart, their juncture and fork should provide endless material for popcraft, yet there’s so little eloquent art taking notice. [Antonio Jiménez] employs the vernacular like few people in pop, transposing it to narrative and visual flare. Not so bad for an adolescent mindset using Audacity and Fruit Loops in his search for holy beats and tribal soundscape. In terms of musical ferocity; <i>Espíritu Invisible</i> stands at its core. His songs could be described as unparallel chthonic cuts that march between the transcendent and the forgotten (and the ghosts). María y José is simply, a chillwave and nostalgic installment of pop music. The kind of assorted dream that is warped and wrapped through personal approach; Jiménez’s vision is wonderfully conflictive, breezy, and affectionate. If you practice music form it will be as hard to enjoy as Neon Indian’s <i>Psychic Chasms</i>, but if you instead, feel the form, get ready for an extraordinary album. I can’t remember how many times I’ve used and read the description “for the soul and the mind,” but this is one time I can’t stop myself from using it. For the most part, <i>Espíritu Invisible</i> utilizes love for religious inquisition, negating as much as embracing the faith of the common Catholic believer. From the refreshing militant sound to its aesthetics, this is a tremendous achievement. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2010/03/espiritu-invisible-maria-y-jose.html" target="_blank">Espíritu Invisible album review</a>)</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtvN06HzQNQ" target="_blank">YOUTUBE</a></span></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" el="" guincho="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" ivyilyeui="" ixvunzib4wp65tvu_tnr1p7qwuawplqclcbgas="" negro.jpg="" pop="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" t_jrwd86lu=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR5lhuYxfAbrTIcT2SIkDoGiYQtPHFpAcCD3HjpobKQxV8c0Gs5CBYl4jUjRV4b68qXZ0aVsnpw0ZCVjXR-2o9cwkDaSFBxG3tjANCOnRuKHN3JSin9-tT_sDrZFSDtlJxtsCPhT8Hfk8/s320/el+guincho+-+pop+negro.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">05</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">El Guincho</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Pop Negro</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Young Turks, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
From the first clap and steel drum beat of opener and <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/songs-2010s.html" target="_blank">No. 3 song of the decade</a>, “Bombay,” <i>Pop Negro</i> doesn’t let up for the rest of its half hour run time. Pablo Díaz-Reixa’s follow-up to 2008’s<i> Alegranza!</i> sidesteps into pure pop territory, the predecessor’s looping Panda Bear-esque carnival replaced with bigger sounds and clearer song structures. It’s a heady celebratory album, best enjoyed moving your body, the tempo never relaxes. It’s youthful and glowing, a love letter to all of Spanish-born Díaz-Reixa’s influences from either side of the Atlantic. The first three tracks, “Bombay,” the Miami-tinged “Novias,” and exultant “Ghetto Fácil” come out the gates so strong, the album could have stopped there, but every track creates its own unique environment, regardless of the overarching electro-palm tree theme, to keep replaying this über-tropical masterpiece over again. <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/2oK8FaiHxryCv49WqzUtfR" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/pop-negro/386616294" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/elguinchoofficial/sets/pop-negro-1" target="_blank">SOUNDCLOUD</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a beta.jpg="" bflecha="" bp.blogspot.com="" hdkyfv317j4="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" if7weoy0i="" imageanchor="1" njpk4vjusvavhejolmhxck9ftadstgclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSclRl11J-VNKtbV91OYdaYsa0yK_d-Y1k2uzLjwJEEF7M9JO5LWuTy3sRVKb6YUrjw7SnWY-q0Ul0JYbV0M6r2WiK7kHnsrY-XKg8bvIQEzG2i87Ds7MoMpUAeil6CZGI9CXFyH3KMA0/s320/bflecha+-+beta.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">04</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">BFlecha</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>βeta</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Arkestra, 2013</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
If I can point to one flaw in this end of decade list, it’s the shortage of post-2014 releases from artists with under a million streams per song. There’s an obvious reason to it. We ceased to be an active music publication after 2016, and with that, it meant we were no longer indulging in the collective activity of sharing and discussing the rise of talented independent musicians. BFlecha’s <i>βeta</i> was one of the lesser-known rising artists whose discovery caused an excessive use of superlatives and exclamation points in our Club Fonograma email thread. It had everything that could fit into our consensus musical taste: pop bangers, club bangers, flirtations with hip-hop aesthetics, a charismatic singer/producer, grand maximalist production, blatant nerdism on some of the lyrics. In short, if I can paraphrase my <a href="http://oldfonograma.blogspot.com/2013/10/bflecha-eta.html" target="_blank">original review</a> of <i>βeta</i>, BFlecha got to us for how she was an internet-era nerd’s music wet dream, devouring many influences and scenes, but still building a craft that was populist enough as to not show any signs of underground snobbery.<br />
<br />
Six years later, the record is still a bomb that sounds both pristine and grandiose. Although <i>βeta</i> stands a few spots above Rosalía’s universally acclaimed <i>El Mal Querer</i> in this list, its popularity in the global (and even local) pop music landscape is minimal. Whether BFlecha will eventually gain mainstream recognition or remain an underground fave of music dorks is beside the point. The end of running a music publication such as this one was never to engage in the prediction of future popularity/influence, nor was it about one-upping weak-ass music fans with our knowledge of non-mainstream dope music. We were engaging in the very human experience of sharing our joy for the existence of music (good and bad, well-known and obscure), and our collective discovery and enjoyment of <i>βeta</i> will remain a major event in the history of the Fonograma family. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6mWLwbIPL0ppAbgOJf5RCO" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/es/album/beta/725318054" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://shop.arkestra.net/album/eta" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a alex="" anwandter="" bp.blogspot.com="" fiu0amhcmiytwq6ktdacehraclcbgas="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" newoo0y_i="" o44d_kshha="" rebeldes.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLKdeatD3xjqCs02Q9STGLESkwZ30XpaJf9MVtkdLQbi37eEKQUpYE__4Z9FpA2VjSB4qMzqY-u8rO0o6tjvrLYQP4H6bPpiEPqVNqXAzEZoYUCzI6CO0bCpTYxwcJTUblZCikng7k8eY/s320/alex+anwandter+-+rebeldes.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">03</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Alex Anwandter</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Rebeldes</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">5AM, 2011</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Alex Anwandter, beloved Teleradio Donoso frontman and dystopian soundscape sculptor Odisea, went back to pop basics with <i>Rebeldes</i>, and it’s precisely within that simple framework of lustful melodies, romantic strings, and direct lyrics that brilliance bloomed. “Tatuaje” captures the wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve spirit of the album – melancholy but relishing the memories, good and bad. “Como Una Estrella” is delicate and earnest, undulating synths like a lullaby and the twinkling of bells mirroring twinkling stars. When Anwandter sings “el pulso de tu corazón se acelera” in “Tormenta” and the instrumentation that follows mimics that pulse speeding up, it’s perfection. “Rebeldes,” sweet and idealistic, would fit nicely in today’s K-pop world, and I could see a group like Twice or TXT doing it justice. “Cómo Puedes Vivir Contigo Mismo?” is dark disco at its finest, and in “Que Se Acabe El Mundo, Por Favor” anguish fuels destruction and creation, a phoenix rising from the ashes in song. On <i>Rebeldes</i>, Anwandter feels it all and isn’t afraid of his feelings, inviting listeners to experience the catharsis with him. Pro tip: listen with Carly Rae Jepsen’s <i>Emotion </i>and prepare to ascend. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/6yETV3ze4vgnfajkefaIpE" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/us/album/rebeldes/530825510" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;">| </span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://alexanwandter.bandcamp.com/album/rebeldes" target="_blank">BANDCAMP</a></span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" enver-="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" idsqpcsqi="" imageanchor="1" imnasia.jpg="" khr2w8e-llk="" ramatica="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" usica="" xuyo8pgdirdgsanmoy64xbszem71gclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMkqI-FaFePReouoIKT2bUP_HWHl0E-RgaA_nQsq6-FIM1mFtaM3hprYFzPGERQEMhrXgCyQ9DSTwt7SHIZ8nYcmHQ4BPIyF9yiNUXm0xxI94NlOcsAs6hNFRt5zpj7AQZIwzSNWi7Zg/s320/Denver-+Musica+Gramatica+Gimnasia.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">02</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Dënver</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Música, Gramática, Gimnasia</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Cazador, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
It’s nearly 10 years old, but <i>Música, Gramática, Gimnasia</i> feels as fresh as when we first heard it. Dënver’s entire discography is a thing of splendor, but this album in particular is back-to-back shots to the heart. Early favorites that stood the test of time are “Los Adolescentes” and “Lo Que Quieras.” The bold guitar that opens “Los Adolescentes” epitomizes young rebellion. The layering of Mariana Montenegro singing “un día… al otro” over Milton Mahan singing “te queda mal ser tan fatal” is brilliant. “Lo Que Quieres” embodies the starcrossed lovers concept with our protagonist saying they’ll give their love whatever they want, whether that be the planets, wings, a <i>Romeo and Juliet</i>-esque double suicide, or nothing at all, if that’s what they really want. It’s a destructive devotion reminiscent of BTS’ breakthrough, “I Need U.”<br />
<br />
“Olas Gigantes,” starts by softly bubbling underwater then slaps you like a giant wave rushing to shore. The description of waves like explosions and antagonists paired with drums like gunshots and panic that melts into surrender is breathtaking. “En Medio de una Fiesta” similarly washes over you in waves of elegant, poignant strings. “Chicos que se estrellan como cometas,” evokes a lovely image of youth burning so bright it crash lands. Even the less-talked about tracks carry weight. There’s expansive “Feedback” with drums like a punch to the gut, glitchy “Litoral Central” like a sea of glowing neon, and the funereal “Segundas Destrezas” that, while just a minute long, stays with you for an eternity. Just like BTS did five years later with <i>The Most Beautiful Moment in Life</i>, Dënver gave us an opus on the beautiful pain of youth that’ll knock the wind out of you, no matter your age. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/0LMGokh0DVVeWTJT7D49Xp" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/do/album/musica-gramatica-gimnasia/574718589" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" ifzxqbuci="" imageanchor="1" javiera="" k1m1pq43we="" mena.jpg="" mena="" o="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" wgsfuhu045oddjfgnpa5wtsjtboqggclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCek4XC7h_j166xMgGOCPu_4WakakMikVz7nqeyNK1qK5XFXouOzn3a-Aa1Py_4SYdKHjCT-dJe9iKah50BPpvXrRIi5svUMmRkn_KT-yXqBj7gLAV8xaojKwE_tt0M7yN3VrCCz0YJ0/s320/javiera+mena+-+mena.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">01</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Javiera Mena</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>Mena</i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Unión del Sur, 2010</span></div>
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
It should come as no surprise that the only album to ever receive a perfect score in Club Fonograma history is our #1 album of the decade. Released only eight months into the 2010s, <i>Mena </i>appeared generation defining from the outset. Our beloved founder Carlos Reyes referred to it upon first listen as “a dance in love record.” Our chief editor, Blanca Méndez, raved and considered that <i>Mena </i>would be the site’s “Kid A moment.” My own initial reaction was “I've listened to this already a half-dozen times and I think it may be, pound for pound, BETTER than <i>Esquemas Juveniles</i>.” Such initial enthusiasm wasn’t limited to the staff either, as evidenced by the (wonderful) <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2010/09/javiera-mena-mena.html" target="_blank">comment thread</a> on our review.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, <i>Mena</i>’s place atop this list is not meant to vindicate that perfect score. <i>Mena </i>is Club Fonograma’s album of the 2010s because it remains one of the most singular records of its time. It represents the moment when Javiera Mena became <i>Javiera Mena</i>; when her alchemy of late 70s disco, early 80s Hi-NRG, and 90s electro and freestyle fused into a signature sound built for the 21st (if not the 31st) Century. Even the sequencing rips <span style="background-color: white; color: #3c4043; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">– </span>big beat bangers, disco stompers, eternal prom slow jams all sitting in perfect harmony. But behind the hi-hats and synthesizers also lies an album that’s tender and graceful and even inspiring. It’s an unabashed tribute to love: physical love (“Primera Estrella”), emotional love (“Ahondar En Ti”, “Sufrir”), even the <i>concept </i>of love (“Hasta la Verdad”). Ultimately, it’s that aspirational wonder which makes this album so powerful. As this decade closes on a harrowing note for many Latinxs, albums like <i>Mena </i>serve as an affirmation that there’s beauty in the world. That, even as the rest of the world may be going to hell, you can pick up your headphones and have a friend right next to you. <i>Un audífono tú, un audífono yo. - Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><b>♫ LISTEN:</b> <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1LDQBRg1tw5q87DUbAfLmI" target="_blank">SPOTIFY</a><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">|</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://music.apple.com/mx/album/mena/1438063578" target="_blank">APPLE MUSIC</a> </span></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-35859898311647165652019-11-26T09:35:00.000-06:002019-11-26T09:35:50.652-06:00K-Pop Goes West<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Blanca Méndez | Nov 26th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZoepJljaim0tC32IwvuZ6_VqfT-XkFz8ggd0bBknSHOVi7qaUUDq8lz5NUf5zTgPMCtMK0Scnb9B3SzpsV_Vw4eB8W8DWA5fhN5LruKPQuOaNW4-zMovt99Jyi-4A-P137FRXS2Oevyw/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-jhope.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZoepJljaim0tC32IwvuZ6_VqfT-XkFz8ggd0bBknSHOVi7qaUUDq8lz5NUf5zTgPMCtMK0Scnb9B3SzpsV_Vw4eB8W8DWA5fhN5LruKPQuOaNW4-zMovt99Jyi-4A-P137FRXS2Oevyw/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-jhope.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />I still remember that night three years ago, sitting on the floor of my Seoul apartment, eyes glued to the screen of my laptop, nervously waiting for the clock to strike midnight and for Big Hit to tweet out BTS’ new music video. The seven-member K-pop group had by that point been the center of my musical universe for more than two years, and the thrill of the midnight release was just part of the deal. BTS had just wrapped up their <i>The Most Beautiful Moment in Life</i> era and the teasers for the new <i>Wings </i>era promised drama and lots of it.<br />
<br />
When I followed the link to “Blood Sweat & Tears,” I was met with a cinematic intro that immediately signaled an ambitious undertaking. As soon as the music started, it was clear that BTS was determined to show a more mature side, and as it progressed it became evident that this didn’t just mean a sexier image but more experimentation with their sound and their storytelling. I emerged from that first viewing in awe and in tears.<br />
<br />
Then I took a breath and watched it again because was that moombahton I heard? In 2016 K-pop? K-pop has somehow always been both behind and ahead of musical trends in the way producers reimagine and repurpose popular Western music. But moombahton, as I remembered it, was a happy accident which quickly turned into a very niche and short-lived trend. How did it make its way to the producers at Big Hit?<br />
<br />
<div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hmE9f-TEutc" width="630"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
It turns out that, while I was pivoting completely to K-pop, moombahton, as a small part of the broader tropical house wave, had taken a hold on the West. Thanks to the likes of Major Lazer and DJ Snake (along with Danish singer MØ and everyone’s favorite culture vulture Diplo) and their hit “Lean On,” moombahton was scrubbed of its roots and repackaged as something ambiguously ethnic that white people could enjoy at a music festival. Then came the success of Justin Bieber’s foray into tropical house on 2015’s <i>Purpose </i>– which was wildly popular in Korea – and K-pop producers began injecting tropical rhythms into everything.<br />
<br />
Co-ed quartet <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPTcKSVAEvA" target="_blank">K.A.R.D.</a> debuted in 2016 with a reggaetón-leaning sound that they’ve since embraced as their signature, but everyone from <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5n8SuNZuDaElJQMt0ySzCf" target="_blank">Red Velvet</a> to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7rCyll5AeY" target="_blank">Twice</a> to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tBnF46ybZk" target="_blank">Winner</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tBnF46ybZk" target="_blank">Playback</a>, and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5N3rXELAY2c1UBgWlARBYY" target="_blank">CLC</a> has given the trend a go. Even rappers like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hYP4rmRVKE" target="_blank">Jay Park</a> and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/71gMoKnSLzKoM3KK1ds5NJ" target="_blank">Hash Swan</a> got in on it.<br />
<br />
And as these songs emerged, Latinx K-pop fans began to notice and to get excited about their worlds colliding. On the other end, K-pop execs took notice of Latinx fans a fairly untapped market. Huge and loyal fan bases had already allowed groups to tour in Latin America and special concert editions of countdown show Music Bank had been filmed in places like Mexico, where this cover of “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bi6ctgoe7w" target="_blank">Sabor a Mí</a>” had fans sobbing. But outside of these special concerts, there wasn’t a lot of effort given to catering to Latinx fans through music releases until more recently.<br />
<br />
Last year, industry vets Super Junior teamed up with Leslie Grace for “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbB4SYJNuTo" target="_blank">Lo Siento</a>” and later with Reik for “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GqYSbc1tsM" target="_blank">One More Time (Otra Vez)</a>.” The collaboration with Reik went for a more adult contemporary take on Latin pop that felt more natural and fitting. In the time between the two collaborations, K-pop producers have shifted away from tropical house and toward Latin pop.<br />
<br />
When BTS was making waves on the American entertainment news circuit around the time of the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, you couldn’t get them to stop <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAQw2w53IWg" target="_blank">singing “Despacito</a>.” Later that year, when they returned to the States for the American Music Awards, they had already fixated on Camila Cabello’s “Havana.” While absent from our Best Songs of the Decade list, both songs had undeniable impact and were largely responsible for K-pop’s shift to Latin pop. BTS even enlisted one of the “Havana” songwriters to help write “<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/1trFxVLL8WKhYap543e74l" target="_blank">Airplane Pt. 2</a>” for their 2018 album <i>Love Yourself: Tear</i>.<br />
<br />
<div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pHtxTSiPh5I" width="630"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
Mamamoo followed with sultry “Egotistic,” which, like “Despacito,” starts with guitar and builds into reggaetón rhythm (and sounds like something Shakira would have done circa <i>Sale el Sol</i>). Similarly sultry (G)I-DLE took a brassy approach with “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8APgeFfkAk" target="_blank">Senorita</a>” earlier this year. But the biggest surprise came just a few months ago with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUwbY84YKs0" target="_blank">De La Ghetto’s feature</a> on VAV’s “Give Me More (Un Poco Mas),” which I’m still recovering from.<br />
<br />
Just as the 2016 release of “Blood Sweat & Tears” was a turning point and a defining moment for BTS, this year marked a defining moment for the group’s rapper and dancer J-Hope. His remake of 2006’s “Chicken Noodle Soup” featuring Becky G, while not Latin music <i>per se</i>, is a cross-cultural triumph in three languages that, according to Becky G, proves that music is universal. Both K-pop and Latin music had a strong second half of the decade in terms of global reach, and as a fan of both, I can’t wait to hear what the next decade has in store. Maybe I’ll finally get the J-Hope x Bad Bunny collab I’ve been yelling about for the past two years.<br />
<br />
<div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i23NEQEFpgQ" width="630"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<i>Blanca Méndez is a writer and editor who contributed to Club Fonograma from 2010 to 2013. Her work has since appeared in Glamour, Rolling Stone, and Spin. Now she mostly cries over BTS. Follow her <a href="https://twitter.com/muyteli" target="_blank">on Twitter</a> if you’re into that.</i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-57043250456029200002019-11-22T00:12:00.000-06:002019-11-22T15:36:13.887-06:00Helado Negro and The Music That Let Us Exhale<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Julyssa Lopez | Nov 22nd, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG-oE8DlYUdEy68QTIKD3-IASkOF6nUgoOh5HnAjOdEagPM_nl1AqvetBzysZU5r1g4uqbqx9EpwYUwTcm3YZMl-gdamU2ipBiuCSLOX3qAul3msHdg4CxhskURk35FNovcQOEdwLUtFY/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-heladonegro+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG-oE8DlYUdEy68QTIKD3-IASkOF6nUgoOh5HnAjOdEagPM_nl1AqvetBzysZU5r1g4uqbqx9EpwYUwTcm3YZMl-gdamU2ipBiuCSLOX3qAul3msHdg4CxhskURk35FNovcQOEdwLUtFY/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-heladonegro+%25281%2529.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
When Helado Negro released his debut album <i>Awe Owe</i> in 2009, one of the project’s defining characteristics was its sense of space. The breezy opener “Venceremos” sounded like it had endless room to keep stretching out; languid ditties like “Ver a Ver” and “Deja” were short yet elastic. Helado Negro, an Ecuadorian-American producer and musician whose real name is Roberto Carlos Lange, revealed himself in the music’s dark expanses, half-singing and half-whispering in his beautifully intimate soundscapes that were both delicate and boundless.<br />
<br />
Away from the safe insularity of the record, the outside world was practically screaming with uncertainty. The U.S. was still reeling from the calamities of the financial crash and the rest of the globe had fallen into economic recession. If you were any kind of young person trying to plot a future, things looked about as promising as preparing to go out while watching a tornado form outside your window. Anxiety wasn’t just creeping in through the cracks of the zeitgeist; it blanketed everything. Over the next several years, that panic would intensify, exacerbated by the din of social media notifications and relentless news cycles that never blinked.<br />
<br />
However, Helado Negro would continue to make music that offered brief but necessary timeouts. Even when he indulged his experimental side, as he did on 2011’s <i>Canta Lechuza</i> and the<i> Island Universe</i> EPs, he never lost his sense of subtlety. He ventured further into electronic production on 2013’s <i>Invisible Life</i> and refined his skills on 2016’s stunningly complex <i>Double Youth</i>. What connected each release was tenderness and a quiet wisdom, as Helado Negro drew people further into the depths of his expansive imagination. His lyrics could be playful and his melodies often had the pulse of dance rhythms, but the subtext of his catalogue was clear: Pause, take a while.<br />
<br />
Despite the comforts we took in the music around us, for so many black and brown communities, the period leading up to 2016 felt like a particular kind of gut punch. In 2014, while Helado Negro was on tour, news erupted that there would be no indictment for Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who killed an 18-year-old black kid named Michael Brown. The scenario would play out over and over again as outcry grew over police brutality and violence against unarmed black individuals. Then, Donald Trump’s hateful rhetoric spewed out on the campaign trail and permeated most of the U.S. public discourse. He reduced immigrants from Latin America to criminals and rapists, words that seemed shocking but wouldn’t nearly capture the level of horror to come.<br />
<br />
Helado Negro changed his calculus ever so slightly to reflect what was happening externally. He reacted with an indomitable wave of soft power: On 2016’s <i>Private Energy</i>, he wrote songs that doubled as love letters to his skin color and his identity. “Young Latin and Proud” became an anthem among Latinx kids, while “It’s My Brown Skin” was a prompt to embrace the layers that make and protect you. “My skin glows in the dark shines in the light/It's the color that holds me tight,” he declared gently. It’s this album that turned work that had always been poignant and pretty into critical, forthright expressions of our tenacity as a community and the potency of our shared paths.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C6ul47p7NPI" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
By 2019, though, exhaustion had set in. It wasn’t uncommon to hear people share how tired and helpless news of the Trump administration made them; finding ways to recharge and stay in the fight became crucial for activists. While individuals tried not to let their spirits sputter out, Helado Negro had been discreetly tinkering away in his studio, working on <i>This Is How You Smile</i>, his latest project. Taking inspiration from the one-sentence short story “Girl” by the Antiguan writer Jamaica Kincaid, he wrote out his own course for self-preservation, drawing on past memories as well as the strength inherited from past generations.The standout is his stunning “Please Won’t Please,” where he lulls, “Lifelong history shows/That brown won't go brown just glows.” From beginning to end, the masterpiece feels like a boxer taking a gulp of water before stepping back in the ring. Helado Negro leveraged the space he had always built in his songs to give listeners a place to think, heal, and recharge.<br /><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HaOfenje23Y" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
In her brilliant book <i>How To Do Nothing</i>, the visual artist Jenny Odell makes an argument for finding space for oneself in an attention-driven economy. When the world around us is at its most cluttered and cacophonous, she believes a pause to take in our surroundings – particularly our environment – is one of the best ways to refocus our sense of time and place. “We know that we live in complex times that demand complex thoughts and conversations – and those, in turn, demand the very time and space that is nowhere to be found,” she writes. “In an endless cycle where communication is stunted and time is money, there are few moments to slip away and fewer ways to find each other.” Helado Negro has understood this deeply as a creator, and has believed in encouraging connection as much as he does free space. “Take care of people today/Hold their hand,” he sings on “Two Lucky.” “Call them up if you wanna say, ‘Hey, I miss the way we used to hug/We used to dance a tiny bit.’”<br />
<br />
This November, fewer than two months before the end of the decade, Helado Negro tweeted a couple thoughts to anyone whose attention he may have captured for a few minutes. “Take your time, my friend. Tell yourself to be quiet, and in the mornings, sit in your favorite room. Write down everything you hear,” he wrote. “Find yourself listening to everything from that place you are sitting, everything changes the longer you listen. Windows open. Leaves wiggling and rubbing against one another after the wind tickles them.”<br />
<br />
He continued, “The neighbors turn on their sink then off, and you can hear a slight drip at the faucet, then hear your bare feet rubbing on the floor while your hand has been holding your other hand and the folds of your skin make the slightest sound with the friction as you move them slowly concentrating on what you're hearing. It's your heart, and it's on time, and listen to it beating, and then tell yourself, MAKE SOMETHING.”<br />
<br />
The message is simple and parsimonious, and it encapsulates what Helado Negro has given listeners over the last ten years through his music. During an era of trauma, of tumult, of too many cell phone vibrations, of children in cages, of ICE agents breaking down doors, of ever-present ugliness rearing its head, of natural disasters, of ecological fears, of anxiety, of the kind of unbearable noise that promises to choke out your creativity, here is someone reminding us simply to breathe.<br />
<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Julyssa Lopez is a writer based in Brooklyn by way of Berlin, Managua, and Washington, D.C. She covers music, art, and culture. You can find her work at The Nation, where she is a frequent columnist, and the Nightlife section of The New Yorker, where she previews upcoming shows. Her writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, Billboard, the Guardian, GQ, NPR, Remezcla, the FADER, and more. She's on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/jooleesah" target="_blank">@jooleesah</a></i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-19335882050656399252019-11-21T09:13:00.000-06:002019-11-21T09:13:17.600-06:00The World According to Natalia Lafourcade<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Andrew Casillas | Nov 21st, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_xAByLcgbap9Wh3KhOmo9AisRPxi-0m014AHU7CfO39Mvra_IxKQg6zzdFMY_ITsBlOGg0lzBryDYtEVlP_wufXrYx5LjpA9DHdtzgtDhZT5kzNIGlqQ-pZ0fxQiOsZjikbrnVHNb4k/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-lafourcade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP_xAByLcgbap9Wh3KhOmo9AisRPxi-0m014AHU7CfO39Mvra_IxKQg6zzdFMY_ITsBlOGg0lzBryDYtEVlP_wufXrYx5LjpA9DHdtzgtDhZT5kzNIGlqQ-pZ0fxQiOsZjikbrnVHNb4k/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-lafourcade.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Only ten short years ago, <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2009/03/sxsw-entry-3-natalia-lafourcade-la.html" target="_blank">I interviewed Natalia Lafourcade on the balcony of the Austin Convention Center</a>; conducted during our annual SXSW coverage, it was the first interview ever published on Club Fonograma. In the decade that followed, Natalia:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Released the seminal indie album <i>Hu Hu Hu</i>;</li>
<li>Shot straight into the upper annals of Latinx pop stardom with <i>Mujer Divina</i> (which included a performance at the Latin GRAMMYs);</li>
<li>Released “Hasta La Raíz,” Club Fonograma’s #1 song of the 2010s;</li>
<li>Released an accompanying album by the same name – <i>Hasta la Raíz</i> – which won an <i>actual </i>Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative album and was nominated for Album of the Year by the Latin GRAMMYs (<a href="https://youtu.be/4WPA7-24KfM" target="_blank">and led to <i>another </i>performance on the telecast</a>);</li>
<li>Performed on the seminal American music series <a href="https://youtu.be/dWlvZXab9z4" target="_blank">Austin City Limits</a>;</li>
<li>Released her highly-successful <i>Musas </i>album series (which led to ANOTHER Latin GRAMMYs performance); and</li>
<li>Performed the Academy Award-winning theme from <i>Coco</i>, “Remember Me,” which included a <a href="https://youtu.be/9ebfKZSxAn0" target="_blank">performance on the telecast</a>.</li>
</ul>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Phew</i>. Seriously, that all happened within ten years of performing “No Viniste” before a <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2009/03/sxsw-entry-1-natalia-lafourcade-day-show.html" target="_blank">ballroom of laconic, half-bored music industry middle-managers (and one overeager blogger) in central Texas</a>. Even the Kim family in <i>Parasite </i>would impressed by that quick rise in stature.<br />
<br />
But this essay isn’t meant to contextualize Natalia’s music within the spectrum of the Latin American songbook. For anyone interested in that (and you damn well should be), I suggest reading <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/09/654828028/natalia-lafourcade-is-the-21st-centurys-guardian-of-cultural-memory" target="_blank">Julyssa Lopez’s excellent NPR essay</a> on the subject. Instead, as we close this chapter of Club Fonograma, it’s important to contextualize how one of this site's own achieved a level of canonical importance and what it potentially bodes for the next decade of Latinx pop.<br />
<br />
For the casual Latinx pop fan in March 2009, to see Natalia Lafourcade go from playing the token “Latin” SXSW showcase to <i>performing on the fucking Oscars</i> would have been unfathomable. But even the high of that creative peak was quickly diminished upon seeing many U.S. media outlets (including <a href="https://twitter.com/pitchfork/status/970485080014585857" target="_blank">one self-anointed “Most Trusted Voice in Music Criticism”</a>) not even reference Natalia Lafourcade by name in recapping the performance. That is to say: that for many Latinx musicians, even some of the most popular and critically acclaimed, public discourse is still prone to ignoring your achievements completely for . . . reasons.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ebfKZSxAn0" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
And Natalia Lafourcade is arguably one of the lucky ones, albeit with some built-in advantages. She started her career with a Sony recording deal and quickly developed a profile and marketing strategy worthy of the pop star 1%. And as Rosalía’s rise to global fame has shown, there remains whole segments of the media who will go to bat over lighter-skinned (if not literally white European) artists occupying the same space as Afro-Latinx or non-European, U.S., or Mexican-based artists. Even the most well-meaning outlets (including this one) could have done a better job at prioritizing non-white Latinxs in their coverage.<br />
<br />
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Latinx artists are greater able to seek success on their own terms – and in their own language – far more easily than in generations. Even ten years ago, it would not have been surprising to hear Bad Bunny drop an English-language verse on a Katy Perry track, or Cardi B playing hook girl for Usher, and everyone just accept it. But that’s no longer the case. The #1 song in the <i>United States of America</i> was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTlNMmZKwpA&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">a Latin trap song headlined by <i>three </i>Latinx artists</a>. And rather than have J Balvin in the studio for a remix, <i>Beyoncé </i>jumped on J Balvin’s own song and made him the <a href="https://youtu.be/fgBwi_o_tv8" target="_blank">special guest for her iconic 2018 Coachella performance</a>. Latinx artists can now suffice appealing for their own, predominantly Latinx audiences, and everyone else can jump into the line if they choose (looking at you, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/latin-music-2020-grammys-rosalia-bad-bunny-j-balvin-914642/" target="_blank">Grammy Awards</a>).<br />
<br />
Of course, there’s also the issue of “Despacito.” One of <i>the </i>global smashes of the decade, if not the century, came perilously close to becoming a novelty hit, resurging the talking point of “a new Latin boom.” Even “I Like It” and its boogaloo sample almost fell subject to the same trap. (For greater detail on that issue, I’d highly recommend <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pax5w8/cardi-b-bad-bunny-j-balvin-i-like-it-essay-cultura" target="_blank">Gary Suarez’s excellent Vice article</a>.) Ultimately, however, those tracks were able to avoid “cultural fad” status. And the fact that general music fans can look <i>beyond </i>the novelty, and Latinx audiences have a space to call out media bias in the promotion and promulgation of white artists over their Afro-Latinx precursors or contemporaries, is something to celebrate. It shows that these artists – <i>our </i>artists – are operating within something bigger than a movement. It’s something that’s growing to scale, and will survive into the next generation.<br />
<br />
And that brings us back to Natalia Lafourcade. To think that this generation – the oft-examined Millennials – has its first legacy artist . . . and that she was one of Club Fonograma’s seminal artists . . . and that such success was achieved without catering to a cynically created “Latin Explosion” or on the back of an English-language crossover (even her verse on “Remember Me” is in Spanish) is remarkable. Her decade of rapid success is unlikely to be repeated again any time soon, at least not while streaming media waits to fracture and consume us all. But to think that there’s a chance – an actual, plausible chance – that this level of acclaim and fame could happen to your own future favorite Latinx artist or band, that is what’s life affirming.<br />
<br />
Think about that the next time you read an interview taking place on a non-descript balcony. Club Fonograma forever.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Andrew Casillas is an attorney and former Club Fonograma writer from Texas. Today, you can find him writing about Latin music for Rolling Stone and on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/PincheAndrew" target="_blank">@PincheAndrew</a>. </i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-58462846831392967952019-11-20T10:30:00.000-06:002019-11-21T16:12:45.069-06:00Club Fonograma's Best Songs of the 2010s<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbaz-CjDWDSgVbw3GAa0NKxsRTdto9zKcta756NKgz68a2qitXzPxV2WPYFRZwvdMcbWB7LyIzLv2LWDLYLBqTn9_hXd98MAN8K6xiavI2Reaxe3pGIthZFUWiYkpZnIXM3hM8yb8QeZQ/s1600/ClubFonograma_dkda_bestsongs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbaz-CjDWDSgVbw3GAa0NKxsRTdto9zKcta756NKgz68a2qitXzPxV2WPYFRZwvdMcbWB7LyIzLv2LWDLYLBqTn9_hXd98MAN8K6xiavI2Reaxe3pGIthZFUWiYkpZnIXM3hM8yb8QeZQ/s1600/ClubFonograma_dkda_bestsongs.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"> Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The Club Fonograma staff have reunited to recap the Best Iberoamerican (Latin America + Iberian) music of the decade. This project consists of essays from ex-Club Fonograma writers and friends, along with a full list of our favorite songs and albums of the decade.
<br />
<br />
Here are Club Fonograma's top 100 songs of the decade. You can listen to songs featured in this list on our <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7zG7hCrsBjvVeF5Kgv5Api?si=EjMYWPEHSEi95XM-WA7rOQ" target="_blank">Spotify playlist</a>. And also check out all of Club Fonograma<span style="text-align: justify;">’</span>s best of the decade recap <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2019/11/best-of-2010s.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a aresta.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" granit="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kjsjowwi="" rljsargg-j8="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" w4dqqbaftnwiwq3_odnl2dwbdnbd1rz2gclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaSV0w9z0udt704sXW-B6LvTL1GV66_jR26jFcc5Li2bil9yx4h-6GyLLlhD8LPr8MayX_AE4BTJDgYJJxJxGKmYbNbfAsrcpwlcy28VyHY_b1J6RG3HkezXyCKxIoUJ2xjJOQM0dg3s4/s320/granit+-+aresta.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">100</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Granit</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Aresta”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://granit.bandcamp.com/track/aresta-2" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span>
<br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
A few years before small independent music blogs with defined tastes started disappearing and/or losing relevance, Alba Blasi (Extraperlo) and Cristina Checa (Desert) got together as Granit to give us one of the more beautiful, cryptic, and mythical releases from the beginning of the 2010s. Its opener and main piece “Aresta” stunned many music bloggers for its compositional quality, pristine production, and the sheer beauty that came from the communion of dream pop synth chords and Catalan singing. The band would release no more material after this and, considering how Barcelona record store clerks will tell you that getting your hands on their EP will cost a fortune, it has only contributed to increasing their already legendary status. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more--><br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" fg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" humedad.jpg="" imageanchor="1" l3h6vmz6i="" mkrni="" mrforkajv1uhrmwshp7otzj8ji8sxnbdgclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" zgbpb-mi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh62_QLu2oJTsmwI362bE9jnARV-iDBDcn_SP_4bKhyphenhyphenht-00vAhMZLSSjDFBdrK-d3xWrdzvEi6inN0ibgJTHrWkD6ntIpXTqup8zwflslDT6827ihlERnciYnJO8lJ-4DWbfCaJJ5I64g/s320/mkrni+humedad.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">099</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">MKRNI</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Humedad”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZUvAJKKkqQ" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span>
<br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Through Elisa Punto’s seductive yet disconcerting tonality and a dulcet beat bordering on cumbia, “Humedad” tastefully refashions tropical psicodélica sounds. The warm and almost whispered “hace calor sin sol, hace calor sensual” made those particularly execrable hot, sticky days in the city seem bearable. “Humedad” clearly demonstrates MKRNI’s ability to create music that will get you moving the coffee table out of the way, kicking up heels, and dancing ‘til dawn. <i>- Souad Martin-Saoudi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" cvmc.jpg="" fy="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3gcpimki="" magdalenca="" maria="" rsl2tvqgel0="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tdksf09f2gypumswz2l6q123dm1672kwclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5UwE3qUCsiLrPVIyo_XNNsEG7_ILCOn4xf8LM0e0ptgN-usYOQKye8MEJXKJN1aniIJX_7lPMX7VxTnfXTAJPlg2GhKVBpVt-h4wY4D0JfnFqeGBUl9vSU5_Ukjn-tel1927Et0X6jaY/s320/maria+magdalenca+cvmc.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">098</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Maria Magdalena </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“CVMC (Cada vez más cerca)”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfE1oMN0aOA" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span>
<br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
This is one of those bubbling hits (up there with Javiera Mena’s “Luz de Piedra de Luna” or Linda Mirada’s “Secundario”) you simply won’t be able to escape from. María Magdalena’s breakthrough single is pop confection mastery. Impossibly catchy, remarkably memorable and entrancingly addictive, “CVMC (Cada vez más cerca)” marks the Chilean disco diva’s peak. Through glossy synths and enduring hooks, the chanteuse rousingly conveys with her stirring voice the electrifying feeling of growing proximity to a lover. <i>- Enrique Coyotzi (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2013/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2013-25-01.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2013</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a atasco.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" ef7fzobos78="" fneetg6ltkqshd--esg3uny9fgxuwrhkwclcbgasyhq="" fq="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3fa7iooi="" la="" plata="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" un=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFRMIodR9uXNFQ3TkQla9etB_v0Ad5kd3ZS-rUgbsgH-wc1_hXUeUeFyb1q9EUgo_DSIsem0Wy_05_wRFPQqRpfj3WiIMTvkRFOq_R1MSplEGtmULveEGX0CVOQLgRcdjzgTdzeCG6fOo/s320/la+plata+un+atasco.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">097</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">La Plata</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Un Atasco”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l44ALRf8HdQ" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
If “Maps” holds the title of most <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FbNJWS0l4Q" target="_blank">transcendent song of the post-punk revival</a>, then I see “Un Atasco” holding up as a bold recalibration of the same wave. Not to call it a purist vision (that’s always boring) but as a standalone statement to a particular vulnerability, like anything that marked our preteen and/or adolescence back in the day. For La Plata’s first full length, <i>Desorden</i>, the song was re-recorded and polished off from their 2017 demo. Through these transformations, the song remains an incendiary hit. From the jump it sets off its chaotic moodiness, melded by hooks both clean and asymmetrical. Singer and founder Diego Escriche nails a generation’s failures through direct lines: “A nadie le importa / Son graciosas tus idas de olla / Tu tumba está en la pared” transforming it into a source of power. <i>- Giovanni Guillén</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" fk="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" jeeezmgdzv0="" l3h9sw4ai="" loca.jpg="" nhx5ylhisx-ybvz84fe5aw7j5qikf8qclcbgasyhq="" ozuna="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" vaina=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUetaf2ClcjGue56GE86dwBCiUrYXJWtLrgI_ER4L_NhKZsML4TS4aaW2zGzjOZTRR5J-nZDTNqdcy-vOOkSfTU5RfXNSvPTsHfcXAdcG-ksVmpW5HHvRW0vLeqo4qaCJtirmvpIGl_0E/s320/ozuna+vaina+loca.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">096</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Ozuna & Manuel Turizo</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Vaina Loca”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx-fuY7LpSU" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
It’s not hard to see Ozuna’s boyish charm fitting into any musical era. But using that wholesome persona to distinguish himself in música urbana’s global ascendance is savvy as shit. That’s not to say that his music lacks edge – if anything, it highlights the desperation behind many of his hits. “Vaina Loca,” a confessional on the dance floor, is no exception. Manuel Turizo adds some needed grizzle to Ozuna’s sweet heat, combining to make Ozuna’s finest pop moment. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a a="" amizade.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" cp0fur-gksut2bsscibor8bj4a-seaiogclcbgasyhq="" emilio="" ew="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" jose="" l3bupdrti="" o8e7gq4="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFPA6FBFeCXnWNOn0szAiDmiqn0T-MCi4GnlRugWOqK100jgULfbzLNX-YrQExfrLsmtK0OrWyxC9pa4wGJywshH_vjKIF__YnrA9bSgyUMjGn5gSRhTi87OzqIG_KA-wmV-o_w3WqiYI/s320/emilio+jose+a+amizade.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">095</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Emilio José</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“A amizade (B)”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://emiliojose.bandcamp.com/track/a-amizade-b" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
As left-field and indulgent as he gets, Emilio José is a pop musician deep down. Carlos Reyes saw this when he first came across <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2009/06/chorando-aprendese-emilio-jose.html" target="_blank"><i>Chorando Apréndese</i></a> back in 2009. But the trademark of any Emilio José song is the fluttering and weightless spirit that abounds all his compositions. Only now does it feel like the world has caught up. The latter half of the decade’s most acclaimed albums: <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp8z7pconzw" target="_blank">The Life of Pablo</a></i>, <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wePe-J8GrLM" target="_blank">Endless</a></i> and even <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFBrzAUlvjk" target="_blank"><i>When I Get Home</i></a> can be similarly described as divergent works of barely completed tracks mixed with purposeful interludes. “A amizade” is a sweeping and unforgettable song. It's bedroom pop by way of samba and folk naively recreated from a dreamscape. In the years since discovering, I would argue it’s the most realized song moment from Emilio José. When that midsection resets, there is a tense pause that suggests he’ll just move on – never to see it through. But it does find its way, and the lo-fi flutters of tambourine and woodwinds sound fucking massive. <i>- Giovanni Guillén</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" dg5flpigrtv6izaiacvnffgsrugzqclcbgasyhq="" fc="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3hlrk4fi="" marineros="" os.jpg="" rbufrcwix9a="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" sue=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMpq2Zep2m8-5jtk8hQ9VkZx6HsMgCsYSdckKHyb7uDfAg8OEL_HUFDLrYY1BQ6OCDLdZnQ1YkaeevtnxKoEJoCIcvRYA4LVbRaJyRAz6uWpFsQXam5Jy5fetFlhmtVhaj5K47wK5T7c/s320/marineros+sue%25C3%25B1os.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">094</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Marineros</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Sueños”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zmhYcLe_bY" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Whatever praises came their way, whatever they tried to evoke in earlier songs, “Sueños” is the apex of a brilliant vision, everything that Marineros was truly meant to accomplish on their long-awaited debut. Remember the first time you saw <i>Chungking Express</i>? Listening to “Sueños” is like witnessing an endless step printing sequence with Faye Wong and Tony Leung. It’s romantic as fuck. When that chorus swoops in it’s a sea breeze that pulls on all of our emotions. Elsewhere the composition treads gently, steadily adding guitars, shakers and claps while the vocals crave adrenaline. Think of the moody & goth turns of “Ciega, Sordomuda,” think of Faye Wong running on a Hong Kong street actively displaying her restlessness. El amor no es como dicen que el amor es. <i>- Giovanni Guillén (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2018/04/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2015-25-01.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2015</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a algodon="" bp.blogspot.com="" dia="" ec="" el="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3zafdnvi="" previo.jpg="" qunjfy="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" xeofninyybz_65hukeszh_pnuug7bvaclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiPyYbtJtxKRQUD-3ApCdXq40mCLrDTOu6RMuYwDDex190DBNjZhxgTc1X888lVzdUDWaLIhEc5uCM1BjUNZR_S6lMDgWIsixTvuyc3fRhfpvTTMcXxLcsTp8Lh8NjKCxbIC9mz3Fvx1Y/s320/algodon+el+dia+previo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">093</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Algodón Egipcio</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“El Día Previo”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCZIJcwE-yo" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“El Día Previo” hails from Ezequiel “Cheky” Berto’s 2011 album, <i>La Lucha Constante</i>. The Venezuelan artist delivers well-crafted heart-warming energy song with a subtle yet radical act of love, vulnerability and agency. The song is laced in lo-fi synth pop and dance fabric with layered soundscapes in ethereal melodies; Cheky’s pop aesthetic is experimental and an-all-encompassing kind of art form. The words to “El Día Previo” bridge ominous and jovial attitudes yet resolute of the uncertain yet hopeful future. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a awb0un9xvda="" bp.blogspot.com="" e0="" euv="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" hsn00oyg_ici4anl1orahccubznngclcbgasyhq="" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3bylrbci="" o="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" sue="" terrible.jpg="" un=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWogWoXd75E1r8fTpNvTqVA3-hK1ARsluYaVN6P1Fk9JGQ4dTko5dbFLmwe2XVsDQ15UPh2y7flDBwcRzoWaCKJ2ijwZWmbx0-35SRdt9HtxaLp9-bncMHF1cCFI8PW6-2c6Xc2KUGvhE/s320/euv+un+sue%25C3%25B1o+terrible.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">092</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">El Último Vecino</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Un Sueño Terrible”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNJlYZwviqw" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Spain’s techno-pop sensation El Último Vecino rose to fame in 2013 with this song about desire and expectation. Included in their homonymous debut album, “Un Sueño Terrible” is a declaration of absolute dependence masked in a light synth pop sound mix: fast, brilliant and revolving. If not innovative, at least evocative of past decades, a music that proves itself capable of transporting us back to the eighties through the low, dark voice of Gerard Dòria over the sound of a bright bassline and dreamy synth vibes. <i>- Glòria Guso</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" eres="" fm="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" iegrliwgpc4ivm7d-ffwtve556osrr6saclcbgasyhq="" imageanchor="1" kinski="" klaus="" l3e3cc_ji="" mupsyrby8m4="" s320="" sinver.jpg="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" un="" y=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYBuLkb0LHXgLxoswooTr1wjt8DlPVYJLC2r4NB5WME1HhEWqlKQHYzVTQYYUA2fgeUV36Fj5p2_hrnDpRJPx0f0a_Ajvar-wyCLSFZJ-mCfW-kMzUyZ5Y7CBIE1zOORTxkdn-3m57VSo/s320/klaus+y+kinski+eres+un+sinver.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">091</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Klaus & Kinski</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Eres un sinvergüenza”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9yL6sPGVqQ" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
A very serious candidate for best band name of the decade, Klaus & Kinski explored many sounds and emotions these past ten years, but despite the constant dilettantism they never betrayed their very ingrained Spaniard indie pop roots. In “Eres un sinvergüenza,” the centerpiece for their very accomplished 2010 release <i>Tierra, trágalos</i>, a traditionally blissful indie pop track hides something darker. Although its title suggests this is yet another song for spewing targeted resentment, it might also seem like they’re addressing the haters who didn’t believe they could pull off the solid records that they did: “Viva el odio que es mi tierra / Sabrás que me has infravalorado.” <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" eras.jpg="" fe="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" juana="" l3d1qdqni="" ls28iyjl-a="" molina="" otxfz6z_ekoshsrci_rhwfka4kfqem0wclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMkOYlJZZjYj2UvdRWbA1aYQdFO-Xv34TMmShY-j4g7lSWSrn7pKfJvQqK53GgoJoZc6JgWZqYPm_fd9kSGQV9N0iNeTs4EuXSXv00a3FA91dKZAB9JSVLk_fob2B9Lk9xQp5OghbkCGY/s320/juana+molina+eras.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">090</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Juana Molina</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Eras”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl7h3KDMJFU" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
<i>Wed 21</i> is arguably Juana Molina’s most accessible pop album, while still retaining her essential Molina-isms: from the preciseness of every beat and flutter and looping vocal to the grim, absurd humor showcased in her videos. The unsettling nature of Molina’s visions is just an expression of the surprising turns her songs take. Lead single “Eras” takes the listener on several journeys in the first minute alone, layering the incessant bassline with electronic horror and folk guitar before gasping a demonic chant. This is musical melodrama in septuple meter, presided over by El Bichapong. <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" cocoon.jpg="" fw="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" il2yqcrqmcwmivm9m2hefottlqyh-_wclcbgasyhq="" imageanchor="1" l3jb1r3ji="" like="" ninja="" s320="" sounds="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" v2c_jwa="" white=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYTSrQeb4sJ-hGvzQXKpVxyAXDopwBQKVMwCXtX0cLObYgRrluHc30q3uJ5gt-6lP6yJllFdgHUKnxOmcwHbjrb-hbAoBuKbCBfPMQouP3NB3vILEQPLeC_bUCj6YphWXGeaqrK5bNYwo/s320/white+ninja+sounds+like+cocoon.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">089</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">White Ninja</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“El Alfa”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntOGUoFBuq8" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Ever wondered what a glute bridge sounded like? This bouncy track by Monterrey artists Leo Marz and Octavio Figueroa landed in our top 10 for 2011 and still holds up as a psychedelic synthpop cheerleader – if the cheers were slurs midway through a pleasant drunken evening. “Fuck it up, come again,” he sing-speaks, arm around your shoulder, urging you to get out there and dance a little less concerned about your moves. <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a akjtruw7numvtmzeecwskehhqb82_00zaclcbgasyhq="" armar="" bp.blogspot.com="" desarmar.jpg="" e4="" fakuta="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3cmxxomi="" msmo1wzvuaa="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAP0XLMLaWO7YnjqACIhygCqaQv1gd00sDepVjscJ5mO_HYUVjimIxNZEHyN-lRrM7oeUxvqyBhdWKISaTc5SFZvJ17QiQ9CrcIk07FW81HUfF421MbdAiNzdOgG2h_3UGOhH6CwXfsfI/s320/fakuta+armar+y+desarmar.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">088</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Fakuta</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Armar y Desarmar”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6U9AudX61I" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
It isn’t until nearly the halfway mark that staggered claps and snaps add some clumsy warmth to “Armar y Desarmar.” Before that point, it’s as if Fakuta is singing in a snow covered field empty of everything but her voice. You can almost see the cloud of her breath bloom into the void. The slightly off-beat hand percussion mimics the nervous tendency revealed in “es mi costumbre analizar los detalles en detalles, las acciones por detrás.” And who hasn’t fallen into this trap of overthinking, overanalyzing, dwelling on the details of the past? In the end, the repetition of the song becomes comfortable, even comforting, and Fakuta resigns herself to this cycle of taking apart what she has built, only to rebuild it and take it apart again. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a a1kq4ixiai="" bp.blogspot.com="" e8="" fauna="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3cw8jxmi="" manshines.jpg="" r9djbgfyzoo7-qrxcdu9g2rfy9-uxr2wclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPsbni9dR96BmgbzqL5eRoqTZS6GwaIoXGuNx12Rp6IqjsHPFQlfTBKSUcQLB4Ch3HBfrujrqxtrlTki6GzjQVvVevqASQxnwAFEJ8N_mmkPA5TL9_exQFIK5FyFUKzR2urttowQZ6fyQ/s320/fauna+manshines.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">087</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Fauna</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Para Mí”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47RZ7CsEcBk" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
While attending an exhibition on the history of electronic music in the summer of 2019, a very pleasant surprise lies at the end of its introductory timeline: a nod to ZZK Records as a pioneering label of electronic cumbia. It’s official, digital cumbia has earned its rightful place among the pantheon of electronic music. Although a lot more dembow than cumbia, Fauna’s “Para Mí” is the most infectious and lyrically inventive single to come out of ZZK. A balls-out banger entirely aimed at the dancefloor, it forgoes the somewhat tiring tendency some electro cumbia had in being more fit for ethnomusicological dissertation. But the real treasure lies behind the ragga-style vocals, as Color Kit and Catar_sys (RIP) give an absolute master class in rhyming. The song was “un golazo de la mitad de cancha,” while playing as the visiting team, followed by a full naked torso celebration. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" fs="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3ii7qxei="" lkivbadq60j_fi5b4pyid9rbth3p22pgclcbgasyhq="" odiypwrgs="" rabiosa.png="" s320="" shakira="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGlc_ChvnnILNnhZyx9gRjs74iGGoV_de159Ao-8Pxh_FCWwsSCzGZYDpdeKbJj4FqLThlBUn1z0QcxqDKiDvbqfHHxQQPNkSJswYgKqeAA_GnOpG_7bM3xsRKxsd0npDAbK5fvv5u8O8/s320/shakira+rabiosa.png" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">086</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Shakira</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Rabiosa” [ft. El Cata]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OO1pOqRJkA" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
In the last decade we thank God for <i>Sale El Sol</i>, Shakira’s bright spot in what was otherwise a sometimes cynical chase for the most YouTube views. “Rabiosa” with El Cata (not the English version with Pitbull) was the sweetest, swift take from that album. At under 3 minutes, the song lets Shakira flaunt her charming brand of unhinged, cheeky sex nymph with lyrics such as “Oye papi, vuélveme loca / Arúñame la espalda y muérdeme la boca” that by far out-strip the English version’s tame counterparts. Rrratata! <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" delorean="" es="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3a4_nkni="" oybv84sp_dm="" p3c1hu7sgziqhe_ayhwxiyfxy05aclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" subiza.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrf_wGh6Z0FEGXyke7YzHRpd_1IiPQGVZc2s6-tVlq_3PVdDKw04APrYNG2A-P4o73mXQzDPa7ejMV16T41r6a0tgNJsPa_wXyyyqI9JNV6_25LlBO_zz7Trk8ctdsydzMU7s_3vO-o7A/s320/delorean+subiza.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">085</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Delorean</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Stay Close”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55wlNgFTDR0" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Delorean said goodbye earlier this year but they will be remembered for their unique, at least in the Spanish context, chillwave-blisscore-house-pop sound. “Stay Close” opens the band’s critically acclaimed third album <i>Subiza</i> and talks about the distance between two people over frantic, sunny beats that never drop. The voice is heavily autotuned and, unlike in previous albums, it doesn’t prevail over the rest of the instruments or vocal samples. Even if the lyrics suggest a relationship reaching its end, the rhythm is steady and upbeat, colorful with vocals, samples and effects, never letting the vibe fall into melancholy or sadness. <i>- Glòria Guso</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" eyym4jnmotsost-o51fdgtsog2qznkqclcbgasyhq="" fi="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kali="" l3evw82wi="" nuestro="" planet.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" uchis="" wxddpacc=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEdp1G83acSjDNCCfE8_qv9izJ7b-MXIcHM03449vaZcIXkvkHkHDSUsuvjdYU14hNn7CKFvW3FlLXO96uoOzv7hqQggBHgCXBrsIdkaV-dVtXZtHgUluV0ZBcW6qtlFJYrHdrGHyXjk/s320/kali+uchis+nuestro+planet.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">084</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Kali Uchis</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Nuestro Planeta” [ft. Reykon]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvYbR0mr0mk" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Kali Uchis produced her good amount of catchier, weirder, and more inventive songs than “Nuestro Planeta” in her solid debut album <i>Isolation</i>, so an explanation is needed as to why we’ve chosen to highlight its most chart-friendly and only Spanish language song here. Recruiting both Colombian production duo The Rudeboyz and reggaetón star Reykon, it’s a testament that we’re suckers for emigrants who connect back with their roots in such a big way. Yet the grandest gesture in “Nuestro Planeta” comes from the tension built between the rhythmical backdrop (dembow as 21st century quintessential party music) and the lyrical forefront (the sorrowful disintegration of a relationship), where Kali Uchis’ always deeply intimate lyrics and sensuous vocals find sentiment in a reggaetón lento. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" bp3lr6m_we8xxicjvbrg4n8bbnjrp6emwclcbgasyhq="" cuco="" dm3mjhl3rxm="" eo="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3aqwcfbi="" lo="" que="" s320="" siento.jpg="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2KgH0weA33SW6kCzz6hO1n0uOXpv9mRpcw0tHtRH5tuYzF6zifLwatdBAPAvbfqsMcnsstwLk35-qFFD0iasmhuRYJfgBuigiOR2RmFYJJxQmvg_j98_U7ocKpPzG8cHfXTXcYhSzelw/s320/cuco+lo+que+siento.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">083</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Cuco</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Lo Que Siento”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi9IhqY_Iv0" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The Latinx pop wave from the end of decade circa 2016-2019 was in part directly related to the foundation carved and established by Latinx indie pop acts from the first half of the decade. We understand a phenomenon as Cuco is rare but not new, and undoubtedly holds pivotal space in music history of Latinx indie. Cuco, Los Angeles’ romantic balladeer, first emerged in backyard parties, with lo-fi dream pop to rapidly and rightfully achieve monumental recognition by community, and eventually holding world tours, headlining festivals and signing a seven-figure record deal. Yet Cuco kept the love and commitment towards his sound and identity: a proud chicano representing his community and its cultural elements in his sound and visual aesthetics. “Lo Que Siento” a layered lo-fi bedroom pop song is the composite of sound of Cuco: vulnerability, honest lyrics, heart-warming and synth-laden beats. Oscillating between English and Spanish, this hallmark track explores heartache from a youthful yet mature and earnest approach; a true anthem of love and emotional distress. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bahia.jpg="" bocci="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" luca="" n6lzkc7ti="" rkcaos51c="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" twthm8pikuzqzdqz9u2nq_wkbikayfcaclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDojfiLxa2d_kNlZTTwG1dGnXOVf4-D31Qw0WDudVwU0tIDrgnEsHmNDY1Kz45ayo8a658x99LjoVB0PBCzRFDOHWBSGPsQdPiDq5cx5Hjpr1wCRx7I4QHyThKTKpmceRhGu95iqJ4o0/s320/luca+bocci+-+bahia.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">082</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Luca Bocci</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Bahía”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://lucabocci.bandcamp.com/track/bah-a" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Luca Bocci did not discover gunpowder in his home recorded album <i>Ahora</i>, but with singles such as “Bahía” he reached a level of sensitivity and simplicity that leads you to reconcile with Argentine music of the past, even if you are not a fan. Spinetta, Fito Páez, Charly García, among others are present in his compositions. Nevertheless, Bocci goes further and in “Bahía” he manages to exploit the nostalgic pop idol image that he has been accurately associated with. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bandera="" bp.blogspot.com="" cruz.png="" fu="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3f9ol6ai="" macuanos="" qdsegonby2wwydreaxjtbtbmjtfdszeuqclcbgasyhq="" s320="" sangre="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" yn7z4vstg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQZu-uFEmd5Bhl1do0sKyb45ygWZfsM9AkyYpjDTxTEMwPbL6ohnDBUoQG82vX4H10-KbgPnWdzvHYMSGfw9HpyNYRRAVogiVznmGGIKRzahdn1hqTU58weScrsq-q7L8ILVHr-7Zqm0/s320/macuanos+sangre+bandera+cruz.png" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">081</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Los Macuanos</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Sangre, Bandera, Cruz”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9GUImXBUJc" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Can music take part in social resistance? An evocative title can raise awareness and create discussion among listeners. The music itself can stir rebellion and provide courage to those who are directly involved, a sign that the response must be global. “☠ / ⚑ / ✞,” a weave of dismal sounds, violent tribal percussions and rare but oh so relevant words, succeeds in all aspects. In the face of a corrupt political system and a failed war on drugs, Tijuana’s ruidosón forerunners, Los Macuanos, have created an immediate anthem. <i>- Souad Martin-Saoudi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a aguayo="" bp.blogspot.com="" el="" fo="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3ioqhiti="" matias="" orrs1spbdgcoyofudr5-lxvic4gfdobgclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" sucu="" tbmr-pw="" tucu.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWAlmhDPiohyUviRDe2k95VEy2lKY6uHSgjVLPJTJURrPY2UjJyM25XTGUzljGqL6lep6rCZgto-o_aQgPZdNK4FhAhGmLo98vt97HohRGBNs0lQ-WAPjYkG3PEaa25SkXL3UZvM8e4Y/s320/matias+aguayo+el+sucu+tucu.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">080</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Matías Aguayo</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“El Sucu Tucu”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jnpLNGAm1M" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The obvious must be stressed, Matías Aguayo alone with his syncopated and converging intonations and hypnotic loops generates the atmosphere of a pagan celebration where the influence of rhythms from all parts of the world can be sensed. “El Sucu Tucu,” hard-hitting and intoxicating, makes one slide into a discoid trance of drumbeats and incantations. A pure moment of total upheaval of the senses triggered by the producers barely controlled madness. The kind of haunting track that continues to haunt us years after. <i>- Souad Martin-Saoudi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a alejandro="" beq0nyekejellvpaxwcsgxwil4utriaclcbgasyhq="" bp.blogspot.com="" eg="" el="" house.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kel8rlhvl8="" l3zbgxy9i="" paz="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGKvM1SJro_pBA0M79eQGJDi8CODMogMtLpuNbHjNTzSdbuXnQvTKzFQVU3R6m-p9TvYvseWJQP5YxhcNNtdaOuV9egRKA48FiUxah-J9vzL_ghKAfHHxAu2eulMH_w7zlwI6VOpNUC5M/s320/alejandro+paz+el+house.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">079</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Alejandro Paz</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“El House”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crdGFz_l_pg" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Straight out of Cómeme’s playbook, “El House” is a life-affirming slice of Latin American-infused electronica that’s driven by a slick liquid house bass line. In it, Alejandro Paz’s desire to keep on dancing to house music with all his descendants until the end of his days, eschews desires of immortality through artistic output and instead embraces the enjoyment of the pleasures of life while we’re still alive and breathing. Although Paz is writing a love letter to a musical genre that’s been generally uninterested with verbal dexterity, “El House” is yet another example of an electronic producer skilled enough in his rhetoric as to elegantly add emotional and humorous layers to his beats. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a belinda="" bp.blogspot.com="" en="" ey="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3zqv-qoi="" la="" obscuridad.jpg="" qcxfjj_zn8ux7yc9dlghaik5avhwr2ygclcbgasyhq="" qviwaftik5k="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPSpvvkCb6XCJiqOxuZumcJxFMiQjCYiwm_bE03vRX34VB8pVpQ7NgXonpYozDGo1bvpRShFFKfB3fxgR-Qm-Yj4Ps4OIYvNIZKyriDK7reUtIAGkIvwDwhebyvERMsTHiHZdYS7CKuhg/s320/belinda+en+la+obscuridad.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">078</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Belinda</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“En la Obscuridad”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeLI1gkJV3Y" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“En la Obscuridad” immediately transports you to a trendy nightclub, laser lights criss-crossing the darkness and sequined dresses shimmering in every direction, the pulsing beat and echoing ohs pushing you onto the dancefloor. In spite of the ecstatic energy of the chorus, in the languid verses that accelerate into desperation, Belinda tells a different story. The story is of a breakup that feels like death, and suddenly the club is straight out of a dystopian fantasy and you’re dancing to welcome the end of the world. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a b="" be="" bp.blogspot.com="" cardi="" careful.jpg="" ek="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3amysiwi="" n1-q-rppc="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" unhss_ifq1igq8prakqgg9yg2pun4ujcgclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB8XiIy57GB3zS9rlNbbdUFZanPbWRb3oKkqlMyFQTKa58Z_98U1qkZWhlFDkNQtPoQHAnx84kR3x7EehhDCYDGEPLx3e_wTaGVl81ulJJhVxdKsJmsTCOa8pzxYiBmEz3Lop3NT80keU/s320/cardi+b+be+careful.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">077</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Cardi B</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Be Careful”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zSRkr1nQNw" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Be Careful” finds Cardi B at her most singular, breaking through her well-fashioned template of brash rap anthems. And while Cardi threatening to cut her partner’s dick off if he dares cheat on her is pretty on-brand, “Be Careful” keeps the aggression mostly on the sidelines. Instead, Cardi’s anxiety and neurosis subsume the track, to the point that the refrain of “it’s not a threat, it’s a warning” seems more pointed at the shooter than the target. She’s definitely not afraid to make you bleed – what’s scarier is thinking how much it’ll hurt her instead. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" fa="" has="" hello="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" l3dfurtbi="" me="" olvidado.jpg="" q_s6tqchsvscu0rg661xhmbrfsapyxwclcbgasyhq="" s320="" seahorse="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" yyh-6ggbhty=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIURZ-AVldXOMaHgbHBJwYzzrQQDQK3ccoRzIM6CydH-Ukod3qc92fhj50dFWqPgExXLaSSXjWCYLFO6LwWNYK8BJ1n2E4FiXIA4UecrRpLwgwsEt8Iwj9TubIfz2ocYSjTa20MGiLkM4/s320/hello+seahorse+me+has+olvidado.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">076</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Hello Seahorse!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Me Has Olvidado”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpvZ6JuBChs" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
At the end of 2009, Hello Seahorse! were the hottest thing in Latin American indie, they rightfully crashed the top spots of Club Fonograma’s best of the 2000s lists, and LoBlondo’s voice was captivating the ears and souls of hipster Latino internet kids. Although their subsequent records were not met with the same enthusiasm as 2009’s <i>Bestia</i>, Hello Seahorse! maintain an aura of mysticism and “Me Has Olvidado” has grown to be the most enduring work of their post-<i>Bestia </i>era. As she laments about the inevitability of being forgotten, LoBlondo’s always astonishing vocals become another instrument in the mix, and the track excels as an epic build up tailor made for arena and festival crowds. It’s 2019, and no, we haven’t forgotten about you. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" clx1l6hbwhun0r-rb-0oxt2psgo7rityaclcbgasyhq="" ds="" estrellas="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kiqzvvmri="" misticas.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tab="" zeoigk9y=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5-C5IBgG3cQUqiQr08C1gIrKylTPhBUYZmaiC1k_xrGEAnYVTn0gUEy9jHyECrYQJsv6LjYwXjg0lrVwgcd7kv1FIoyyHEnDak5_3Rm78qtrw9rk0SITkSokDxzHB2Mkbeo_rrrd9XOQ/s320/tab+estrellas+misticas.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">075</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Triángulo de Amor Bizarro</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Estrellas Místicas”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM6wtFWBqUE" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Hay tantas cosas que contar tan pocas las que quiero escuchar.” TAB starts “Estrellas Místicas” with the chiming of the jangly guitar and aggressive drums; it’s like a sack of wet bricks hitting the ground. A total jarring experience even after hundreds of listens that get you excited every time. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" dg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kipdmkv5i="" mula="" nunca="" paran.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" w8iyjtdhk9u="" ym8vqpfchm4wxdlaijsil2kvhhgd31vgclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh953JCf2i62MCaiMSepWbrUzO9najc1CZod6hP7ab73_HXFJekymIy7LsF2Ffg64Bidpwut8VqXFpRMXmYqtnmXqdJ7S0rkaTiudDWyaoqFpH3F1wDNCZ2uoammivcopvH5zPAh2obafY/s320/mula+nunca+paran.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">074</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Mula</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Nunca Paran”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efdV69FLxfg" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Nunca Paran” [was] billed as utopian, a celebration of perfect moments. Even with the best intentions that kind of party music will overindulge in too many ideas while forcing joy down our ears. But here those elements come together and play out as natural as watching a sunset. What begins submerged in heavy, chopped and screwed soundbites breaks through and turns weightless. There’s merengue that sneaks up and entices, there’s Marta Sánchez’s “Desesperada” vibes that want more than a simple 90’s flashback. On the chorus the low-key vocals cling to a light reggaetón, celebrating both the past and the future. A future that clearly belongs to MULA. <i>- Giovanni Guillén (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2016/08/mula-paran.html" target="_blank">“Nunca Paran” track review</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bart="" bp.blogspot.com="" de="" gianluca.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kinfryyxi="" lvja_d5yvgkrb8nnvsb8anpf18nse6-9qclcbgasyhq="" qwyrqxqsog="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPyXGZhx2L3XzELGPE3SiCR1G8XNhhxvw1hZMj7IMJfDlJQSJ-gjdwgNNFnPTclfuaUWZL_O0XSLVS2f001tO4Jn0zTbSCZuQxDtsV0kWlY_XE8LX2a9-1UW7VR5oarN0sYS72DsG1ixc/s320/bart+gianluca.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">073</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Gianluca</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Bart”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://gxxnluca.bandcamp.com/track/bart" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Longtime readers of Fonograma already understand our devotion to Chilean indie – but one thing that was unexpected was how this would converge with trap music’s meteoric rise. Gianluca’s earlier mixtapes and singles hit all the checkpoints of cloud rap and sad eboy music – something that signaled potential but was just short of greatness. “Bart” marked a turning point in the 22-year-old’s artistic evolution. Stripped of digital excess, anything that could be confused as run-of-the-mill, Gianluca gave us his most cutting and vulnerable song to date. Take the opening line, “Me siento como Bart cuando vende su alma,” the sentiment never reaches a beat drop and the lyrics carry on against limited fragments of R&B, guitar, and autotune. The drums do hit but only after the midway mark, slow and subdued. The depression fog doesn’t lift, not completely, but that was never the point. Gianluca sounds free. Sometimes that’s enough. <i>- Giovanni Guillén</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bajo.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" davila="" dq="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" hzhlhugwous="" imageanchor="1" k7trhttbco0poycol6lj9dlcxootx_tiaclcbgasyhq="" kin3hqjzi="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tan=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRoOKIpJp_DZJoxqVoQ6gGq1PWnpDSTELC0A2XSapyaKu4d8aEYaBGAyZ1J_kmMBQDc6_DSnnRJnrTgmGOuKW7HuYe88_dlGwXTQsqru0lX0sHV84ts7Q_Hc6-AQvossdbgANkpnFdt2A/s320/davila+666+tan+bajo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">072</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Dávila 666</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Esa Nena Nunca Regresó”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I9xZXc5218" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Any song that causes your mom to sing the chorus within 30 seconds of playing it must contain some inkling of genius. Either that or it’s just really damn catchy. Somehow I suspect that “Esa Nena Nunca Regresó” is both. While I admit that the whole sunny, 60s garage rock revival mostly eluded me, there’s no denying that Dávila 666 rocked the [start of the decade] like no other Iberoamerican act, delivering an excellent album that is all but devoid of fillers. Also, Scarlett Johansson was at their Cinco de Mayo party in New York. Probably. Maybe. <i>- Reuben Torres (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2011-20-1.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2011</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bflecha="" bp.blogspot.com="" di="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kinehb4mi="" ktffpgwrn4aws15_hg2omjcxsqsqiurwclcbgasyhq="" kwalia.jpg="" qzuzjaemmto="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRnWjg2A4Abtl1iajmHx0p55yAqtCHlFoRQ7IEnYlPY5fqWk2-nixHao1-OaOHKdVMXq2y90AUygN3mCm6NlxYHkoVrfLkzuOEoSimyddz_NAh7h-1dtlHZ7r-8fXFxOny2XKeTIbslF4/s320/bflecha+kwalia.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">071</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">BFlecha</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Rutas Circulares”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPVxJqTRBQw" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
In “Rutas Circulares” Belén Vidal tackles R&B, house, and even hip hop, but although the formula is a little less danceable and euphoric than what we enjoyed on her debut album, it continues to be effective. Her voice and the way in which she told us about interstellar trips already had us in love. Now, by magic, or rather, with the art of doing magic that this woman possesses, we have encountered the voice of a BFlecha with many more nuances, one that allows us to believe in the possibility of pop music that is both idiosyncratic and contemporary. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bad="" bp.blogspot.com="" ceps45qqaw0mfafjaghmxbeabwkkmfyeaclcbgasyhq="" dk="" gomez="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kipo0cm9i="" liar.png="" s320="" selena="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tawc-q=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXwqyIXDMY-N4nlIT6beehCW5peG4MEdcG4wGm92ES4yvalZJYFvkBbASP3x5gKRMeOyXSozRrybE4Y2x7Ll5eU2Bj4UK8_safHDmlEr-fxKnevq7BxLae2-9iAmf1lS11yOX7x6vRoHA/s320/selena+gomez+bad+liar.png" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">070</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Selena Gomez</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Bad Liar”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZKXkD6EgBk" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Bad Liar” starts with Selena Gomez’s signature talk-singing – soft, static, and unbothered. The muffled claps in the background are even less bothered, but the low thrum of bass holding it all together hints at disaster. Then the chorus kicks in and we hear what Gomez is really thinking (or trying not to think about). As blasé as she tries to sound in the verses, she knows she’s a bad liar. The breakdown (breakthrough?) at 2:37 is exquisite in its rawness, a beautifully acted unmasking that’s more performance art than revelation, as she knows we all saw past the mask from the start. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a asesino="" bp.blogspot.com="" columpio="" du="" el="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kin1nnnri="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" toro.jpg="" vdpfickbscqjdyzmncb1ku-cgvq43mkxwclcbgasyhq="" wkh9iytwtuq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EliChpCxsPNi76szRLLwDAZmhajkHEnWqg_YDv2-ywa69Tfjh1RQ7XTqQXuwAPRaXMbGBpxsVNWVN_-Y_k7r3ppCB2kWsO3NaMADaOeM1-FvPfiJb4M1TC0bEy1-JJFRNMQgp9fLqVo/s320/el+columpio+asesino+toro.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">069</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">El Columpio Asesino</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Toro”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XphGlc8anHM" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Toro” was an instant hit and remains El Columpio Asesino’s best-known song to date. It even has a tribute remix album featuring contributions by Dënver, Algodón Egipcio, Balún and others. Included in the band’s fourth album, released in 2011, the song recalls decadent, dark and fuelled by drugs, sexual encounters over a simple bassline. The lyrics are sung alternately by both male and female lead singers, almost as two parallel soliloquies, in a style close to spoken word recitation. Synthesizers, motorik drum beats and a strummed guitar line drive the monotonous debut melody to an epic climax embellished with heavy moaning. <i>- Glòria Guso</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" d40b5wyv3i8xtmt-d5omlofxfokr2v1owclcbgasyhq="" dy="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kali="" kioay-bzi="" kte07dhx7w="" mutsa="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tunupa.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyO4wjVxZA4YqpwbBkPeIB0sWe5GxJODtLuZ58mq2-jIVgZ0eCeGbJ5IM7iDG5rWdCjrM2ztgnVWlOJ0t96ayXclXw1DdDE2h8woNp2_Z383YprtcXC6N7CcZPerRxFRTAr8vK2yS1Tqo/s320/kali+mutsa+tunupa.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">068</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Kali Mutsa</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Tunupa”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL6C9LwWC30" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Diving into the majestic depths of Kali Mutsa means to give three-fourths of yourself away to a world of crafty rituals, afflicting gastronomical feasts, and powerhouse operas. In its demo version “Tunupa” was already a standout, but its finished edit substitutes the demo’s program-based skeleton and reconditions the adventure with the warmth and romanticism of woodwind instruments. This healing piece achieves the sort of celestial plethora that can only be experienced by immersing your soul into the fragmented pupils of a black cat. A boundless, irresistible, and velvety single that placed Celine Reymond on our list of platform-hopping visionaries. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2011-40-21.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2011</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" de="" el="" final="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" hty7qnei="" imageanchor="1" la="" noche.jpg="" qh8hw54on1y="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" svper="" udrd8izlzucnjfhurttundewl7gclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrey8fKUEhAm8c_MSzqFtItappgjLI1rOy-p0d17yaqAxwqLKaCoezA7u2eGT6NW3mfsR3MTO_TTM1-HoAVz8z3eWW6-35rNGokgB4inQ_B4VR6Ah0LgYnNszMb96vq5blgvyZo_ogVc0/s320/svper+-+el+final+de+la+noche.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">067</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">SVPER</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“El final de la noche”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2oJzuwSqBk" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
What to make of SVPER’s still relative obscurity? They had the bangers, they had CANADA directing their videos, and they had the support of the most relevant Iberoamerican music blog (it’s worth noting the band did have a much better name back then). Although their penchant for krautrock-like repetition and textures set them apart from most artists aligning themselves with global pop sounds, their craft was a brand of hook-centric pop that was as highbrow as it was accessible. Their biggest and catchiest hook formed the base for “El Final de la Noche,” which was curiously released the same year that the hook from M83’s “Midnight City” invaded every disco in Europe and beyond. SVPER still remains the obscure favorite of a few music nerds, and “El Final de la Noche” their most accomplished track to date, admirable for its melodic ascendance, and memorable for its colossal catchiness. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" dw="" f02c0ibcsq8="" gallardo="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" juvenil.jpg="" kire_baci="" lider="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tmg5lghszzworcxrgy22rfwxnuvf_qclcbgasyhq="" tony=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2vnl0skxhcCD9WRLc7VPuA509Xkdz69A9US3i2Iz-k92dSWXLzqPYaDVXv2y3t4DDiQL3kPPA8L6C8yfaNMyvdCJz64vKZRwxr1wLOmLPeHxkUzJi2XKPVksvPBoQchdaJvQXOvH7V58/s320/tony+gallardo+lider+juvenil.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">066</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Tony Gallardo II</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Líder Juvenil”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://discossentimiento.bandcamp.com/track/l-der-juvenil" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
2010 Latinx pop’s most resonant weirdo, Tony Gallardo spent the bulk of the decade specializing in unapologetic dissonant decadence. While his María y José project is the crystallization of his <i>modus operandi</i>, the tracks under his own name are where one can unpack his sound. “Líder Juvenil” is the moment where all the plumbing is exposed – where Gallardo’s ear for melodies best married concentrated cacophony. House, disco, new wave, hip-hop all simmering until they overtake everything else in your ear holes. It’s audacious in its self-consciousness – and it’s fantastic. One day we’ll all remark how only a small number of people got to hear Tony Gallardo in his heyday, but all of them ended up being able to bend metal with their minds. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a a9sfr4wfesuazylrxvlclwnz63g3kjxigclcbgasyhq="" bp.blogspot.com="" dc="" entenderte.jpg="" gznzsu59xc="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kiozmvsxi="" louta="" s320="" sigo="" sin="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEACjTBnwpo3hDKyzs-634XuSiWouhyphenhyphen6hn46BwJeijRcK3Tq3ClOr9-ZqqLSfUL67jZ687SYsvJE6ZICyO9wzT119yOnLi8xR3-1FX-9HwqjlIEtVtthMcun_UNKNiXEygo48ZlbODd_A/s320/louta+sigo+sin+entenderte.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">065</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Louta</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Sigo Sin Entenderte”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABpqN-DPPCk" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Among crispy beats, Jamie James, better known as Louta, takes us beyond time, to a place where catchy melodies and lyrics touch the bittersweet irony and impact at first sight. “Sigo Sin Entenderte” releases a new kind of sound party, loaded with keyboards, synthetic sounds and everyday reflections where dance and synergistic energies intermingle. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" bulbo="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" jessy="" nebou_1oi="" r_fi251upe="" s320="" sezw84ijc0pltnqan6m8l_cj5gclcbgas="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" telememe.jpg="" w=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQv2qaEL5siXiD6TuyA1WsK-EOEt9f3iM-b2hc0rx-xse9GSXI5vjQlgf8LNPigiC02flbKiFEqZ0LWNa7Si3KJxWCQqdnPuOcSvmiX2hVhjYhYyv6abH3TYJOvexoVXNF0SWjv7hccpE/s320/jessy+bulbo+-+telememe.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">064</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Jessy Bulbo</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Belzebú”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AimYsgosOXo" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Equal parts songstress and sorceress, Jessy Bulbo might be the most powerful rocker in Mexico. Bulbo's “Belzebú” can be heard as a downtempo and delirious inversion of M.I.A's “Paper Planes.” At the same time, the track’s hypnotic spells of piano breaks serves as a reference point to White Magic, among other analog dissensions in the mapping of the witch house field. Throughout her dark prayer to Belzebú (or Lucifer), Bulbo medidates on the poetic journey of the diabolic figure. Ultimately, I am left wondering when will we see the immersion of a new Mexico City banda dedicated to the realization of the Cult of Bulbo. <i>- Adrian Mata Anaya (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2011-20-1.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2011</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a antes="" bp.blogspot.com="" buukwvfv22c="" c="" de="" dm="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kinvbzcni="" morirme.png="" panikk36se3mpwoszdvhp9h4jwaclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tangana=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLuEjr8cE7zT4sd8rIN81mWDBIPvfaUyd-vh2SdSjnjjlROHZc9zZt1e5w48f4qUg6uzvc7EBa7_QXgglIp6nCEYR858vrot4n2y6nICiqlzXWPHuzjXS-RqBkm_z6J9y8jVumKB37uj4/s320/c+tangana+antes+de+morirme.png" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">063</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">C. Tangana</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Antes de morirme” [ft. Rosalía]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxKVWs_qYBk" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
With the aid of producer Alizzz, El Madrileño embraces life in an almost hedonistic, rebellious manner in one of the many highlights of his short career. The precise inclusion of “Antes de Morirme” in the teen show <i>Elite</i>, in addition to the unforgettable contribution of a then soon-to-be-global Rosalía, complement Tangana’s vision of a resonant, universal feeling. What would you do before your life is over? In the Spanish rapper’s playground, this means going against social expectations while fulfilling personal desires and out of reach dreams. “Antes de Morirme” is a catalyst, a millennial anthem that’s as empowering as vulnerable. <i>- Enrique Coyotzi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" catorce="" de="" do="" flor="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" i5ivfa5bfz83tc9rwmb9yozx6vclcvj_gclcbgasyhq="" imageanchor="1" kiquizcdi="" lirio.jpg="" s320="" siete="" sphioan_odi="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpXaK8H0J18_wvhlzDDMXwzM-T-mmXSRVqkCTykCixAxK0OKKYftGzB2tKHmyQ48OtRiQKOU9F6PZlD0hcZkIN8CkxvszoyUJNGVzeexHiDImIe8gf_5FevsV3iOMxI8DuXtBVi7K5-0E/s320/siete+catorce+-+flor+de+lirio.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">062</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Siete Catorce</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Flor de Lirio”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5aUthFUxOA" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Deliriously entrancing and structurally unnerving, the hard-hitting opening track of Siete Catorce’s <i>EP2</i> exalts the Mexicali producer’s innate talents. He juxtaposes bleak sentiments with feverish cumbia, plus an auterish stamp equally influential and difficult to be surpassed. The ruidosón movement may have been ephemeral, but “Flor de Lirio” encapsulates the ambitious peak of its sound and serves as a testament of the genre’s peculiar craftsmanship. <i>- Enrique Coyotzi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" btsv_lev2pc="" casa="" cg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j-koglr9i="" kidd_bvmzp4fcghae8ezid3thifymdy8wclcbgasyhq="" latina.jpg="" odisea="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4tyx9CLLn6C27Xd8iS3BnMdi_yKOky9LJDN8FIC6FA_FDLNDxcNvGM47HhTe6dk11dDuVwK5lmedXVYXStGWO5APyIsCm-HkP4Vfvg-tZQNunUBhB4gjGo40sZg3os-fbHPF-gheYs90/s320/odisea+casa+latina.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">061</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Odisea</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Casa Latina”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz0AXTwL3s8" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Just like P.D. James’ <i>Children of Men</i>, “Casa Latina” imagines a dystopian era where dehumanization is almost inevitable. It has the aesthetics of Javiera Mena’s “Luz de Piedra de Luna” but turned into a horror scene: “Bebe, has sido un amigo fiel, no me fragmentes yéndote.” The end of the world is a pessimistic thought with endless possibilities to reflect on, Anwandter comes out as a digitalized (but very human) Brian De Palma in his narrative methods of questioning life’s artificial nature through text, and practicing an unrestrained-resolving mode of the medium. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2010/09/odisea-odisea.html" target="_blank">Odisea album review</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a aguwunbwtbevlnmq4si0_7oyajgscaclcbgasyhq="" atlantico.jpg="" bl6tmsajbk4="" bp.blogspot.com="" cy="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j-jgjefdi="" losespiritus="" pacifico="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihzfZdxSIvuwewduIR6UK1gsMnkBPNX28keBXrfeGmrxhfT7KanGGwpHkcQ5Hpvh0Gje3UZKSyqKd6qMm8EWX0W_T_oeOz6dB7VwCiWrkDa_98yurKjlEZXSsztHzgZOnHpD8o-Y3av7g/s320/losespiritus+pacifico+atlantico.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">060</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Los Espíritus</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Pacífico-Atlántico”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61OvexBQ4eM" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Back when the dream duo of Lido Pimienta and María y José first got together for their Los Espíritus project, we all had a proper freakout. Now, after some time away, revisiting their work still evokes the same magic. “Pacifico-Atlantico” is a stream of consciousness love letter, narrated by the lovely and achingly earnest voice of Pimienta. The steady drum and resolute synths sail with determination across the seas – of societal expectations, prejudice, and closed-mindedness – that separate lovers. The twang of strings buoys the melody and punctuates the messy rhythm – and what an honest, beautiful mess it is. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a arcangel="" bp.blogspot.com="" ci="" hace="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j-hq_kazi="" mucho="" rcpl03c9na="" rfducsk2qbybxhjd-m2vbte4dsr7qclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tiempo.png=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhugaRGCA3YzEz5pkeaQ6Q_nMCjghYHBE9LOwPQqI9vbyBg3ko1rcbbrFdzFH9nL5Y9SV7RHKQcW5oTb9oJjrhTcGwA-1Wbb3rLglu9FSCZihkRDInqDOYnfmskjymNiatjSdloTVKOzLc/s320/arcangel+hace+mucho+tiempo.png" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">059</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Arcángel</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Hace Mucho Tiempo”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TImHWyOyok0" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The flute flashes a warning in the beginning of “Hace Mucho Tiempo,” and the otherwise leisurely pace of the song is hastened by the urgency of the trills in a morse code pattern of sorts that pierces through, almost as a caution to the object of Arcángel’s affections. His nasal tone riding the relaxed cadence of the drums lulls you into swaying along and getting lost in the cozy rhythm and cursi verses. Nevermind that what he’s saying in the hook is creepy af because, in the end, it seems like the woman he’s singing to doesn’t exist outside of his dreams. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a blenders="" bp.blogspot.com="" cu="" dinero.jpg="" hgzfragc="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j-isthbai="" los="" meta="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" xl3turdznowxipapus294xo95hsvtj5aclcbgasyhq="" y=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib6iibYuD6ovWtKEa7V1RUORvIPecmVLEg0kayPM1JmzhxaM_K8Xp1_IFzyPqrBDprg0CT_Aw7baa4nIpcsPpLGDC91Z2deaMBHr88tQkRD2U5ZWaXG0ixYLCEkEvYOAqumdDjoMTmucU/s320/los+blenders+meta+y+dinero.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">058</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Los Blenders</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Meta y Dinero”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE8gdTIZERQ" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Los Blenders’ title track is the earnest shout of sun-kissed euphoria. The perfect soundtrack to being lovesick. “Meta y Dinero” is bathed in surf rock and skate-punk intertwined with lyrics about youthful summer love. Loaded in dissonant guitar riffs and catchy melodies, the song captures Los Blenders’ sound identity. Hailing from Coapa in Mexico City, Los Blenders, more than music, served as a space of expression and gathering for youth seeking a space of belonging. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" dquw-cjl-vc="" en="" gepe="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" is-cgszqi="" la="" naturaleza.jpg="" rw1iz7y8vxu0d2yfkqwclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7dC-gEBl_RrDTv64C6WjGnVL-NsAseZmMr3UFCICT2Ve5YITyJcTeO3sfssGNCRhCei6JeZPBAEU8O8J9E3zro2JVxZOfhYMTpO8PG4Mvb2FUa__Dh1wNqooYiwpwiQqBGxinTRe6p5s/s320/gepe+-+en+la+naturaleza.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">057</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Gepe</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“En la Naturaleza (4-3-2-1-0)” [ft. Pedropiedra]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KStOCdZABg" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
When Gepe’s “En la Naturaleza” was released some seven years ago, reggaetón and música urbana were in a very different place than what they’re in right now. So much, that my <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2012/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2012-25-01.html" target="_blank">Best of 2012</a> blurb for this song praised its ability to bring together the disparate worlds of Latin indie and reggaetón, two camps that never even used to flirt with each other back then. Things have changed. Like Gepe, many of your underground artists have since then toyed with dembow and reggaetón, and a few novel mainstream urbano artists have even been praised by Pitchfork. Which means that, although Gepe’s <i>conquista experimental</i> feels a lot less edgy and distinctive in 2019 than it did in 2012, it also paved the way for what eventually turned out to be an inevitable trend: that reggaetón was ready to infuse all corners of the Latin pop music landscape. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a aguita.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" cq="" danna="" dwu1mme2ke="" fpldbl1dracli3_vdvu7wuogaldx8hx9qclcbgasyhq="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j-ixrfygi="" paola="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNTMLrMm_fX8gSNhaWmYekxtzad7lglv14okgsGuJAT7q-o3INHeStPTJiqKo6laU3x3W3BlUOZ-WOEOvhEns-dXcvre3mZo_gFhvgZRyOwR_r1Aa7Y46BPL4eQGt8ERiuPmHDRohmOAQ/s320/danna+paola+aguita.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">056</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Danna Paola</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Agüita”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd7qLXya_V4" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Agüita” is like the Newport ad of pop, a brilliant and luminous invention that assures the listener total bliss. Written and co-produced by Javiera Mena (alongside Cristian Heyne), the song delivers all the trademarks of Javiera's best singles but with a notable hint of excess, embracing Paola’s higher-pitched vocal range to display an even wider range of feelings: vulnerable and suggestive, fun yet resolute. Don't even bother thinking of a genre for it, just file under “alive with pleasure.” <i>- Giovanni Guillén (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2013/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2013-50-26.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2013</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a axenjrfnpuk1yefrsmhddxiceyvy2iyaclcbgasyhq="" bp.blogspot.com="" buscabulla="" dt3sz7w1fq="" ep.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y6id9l_i=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPpKU8vcBP8cQmYha-tHq5u0dwbPUKIpwX20JPQjfbWeVw02ctx70yTUeeBTwRXXFSoOxjtX4uccTa_TzJkXVmtd8Ev6Ls6KaElVGZC2FxXjkPnFL1bOGJsOglbQyGCfQVJdtJWbZkIuI/s320/buscabulla+ep.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">055</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Buscabulla</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Caer”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_HIEQRp_ZI" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Until late 2019, it looked like Buscabulla were going to leave us with only scraps of their hushed brilliance. While it appears that they’re heading into the next decade where they left off, it’s helpful to remember why they were so beloved in the first place. And “Caer” is their clear high-water mark. Raquel Berrios’s vocals remain a wonder, melting into the track as the groove kicks into gear at the end of the first minute. Those vocals remain at the forefront as the track winds and turns through tempo changes and ethereal guitar noises, but Berrios stares it all down with power and precision. A powerhouse vocal performance for a powerhouse song. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" enver-="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" idsqpcsqi="" imageanchor="1" imnasia.jpg="" khr2w8e-llk="" ramatica="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" usica="" xuyo8pgdirdgsanmoy64xbszem71gclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXMkqI-FaFePReouoIKT2bUP_HWHl0E-RgaA_nQsq6-FIM1mFtaM3hprYFzPGERQEMhrXgCyQ9DSTwt7SHIZ8nYcmHQ4BPIyF9yiNUXm0xxI94NlOcsAs6hNFRt5zpj7AQZIwzSNWi7Zg/s320/Denver-+Musica+Gramatica+Gimnasia.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">054</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Dënver</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“En Medio de una Fiesta”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKvEr7dCWjQ" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“En medio de una fiesta” is one of Dënver´s filthier tunes – a late seduction night scene set to a pulsing disco beat. The song flows slowly, picking up rattling hi-hats and strobing synthesizer as it oozes along the dancefloor. Meanwhile, Milton Mahan allows plenty of space for us to set images in our heads. But the band´s message is so clear there’s no need to imagine it: Dënver took the euphoric ache of classic disco, spiked it with their own obsessive brand of romanticism and teenage angst, and set a blueprint for everyone to worshipfully follow. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a balvin="" bp.blogspot.com="" caurvndpwrg="" ginza.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j="" n6kvoipui="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tjkr5fsslomicp9j48lceqhsiqqsj5yjqclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJHCUvrj05CNAGyOZfiN3X_fovdK3TxscxyeWlRNGHdQSx3_6ljKjDBCk831LQhw2Od8pq7rG5J4qIXfuSbpsEKhwe9x9uTZPI3ZOP9N-lWlkdhaM9QWXBpfnHVJ4jSRiYFdd7TSMCu6s/s320/j+balvin+-+ginza.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">053</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">J Balvin</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Ginza”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZjSX01P5dE" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
If I can brag for a moment: when this song came out, I wrote on this site that “what J Balvin’s doing is changing the game,” and that he was “like Bosé with bottle service.” First of all, I did not mean to disrespect Miguel Bosé like that, as surely that man has a taste for the finest liqueurs that the rest of us could barely comprehend. But otherwise, “Ginza” remains a revelation four years later. Música urbana didn’t need J Balvin in order to thrive, but there’s no argument that he didn’t make it a better world. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bhua_yp9b4="" bo="" bote="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" hrg1ez6oi="" https:="" imageanchor="1" remix.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" te="" zhdt7dsdqmoqnupowtu5zzkhhz-w19uqaclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8aFSzVyPhnpsLhcbGf4sfMUvn2XSirN8FyuCpXXt4w-mJzgbORDOo2ThZhFXfZmK-5T3MwjZ43jMQ72a28x34hRET6Q3VJA8Bse_5wqmzrxPj990R7A47On09cULGZVmL9Ny91Vlm9Ms/s320/te+bote+remix.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">052</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 24px; font-weight: bold;">Casper Mágico, Nio García & Darell</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 24px;"><i>“Te Boté (Remix)” [ft. Nicky Jam, Ozuna & Bad Bunny]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jI-z9QN6g8" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Amid all the celebration of overcoming a bad breakup and satisfaction of kicking someone to the curb, “Te Boté” remains deliciously somber. Even as these men, one after the other, brag about all the women they’ve been with since, how much better off they are now, there’s an underlying sadness to it all. And it’s these melancholy undertones that hold all the power. Sure, it’s easy to latch onto the braggadocio as a big “fuck you” to the one who did you wrong, easy to run with the anthemic hook that makes sure everyone knows you won the breakup, but the song is most honest in lines like “no te voy a negar que te sufrí y la pasé mal” because it’s the suffering that birthed the song, not the triumph of overcoming it. That part’s clearly still in progress. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a balun="" bp.blogspot.com="" ce="" ciudad.jpg="" ez370cw1wzcn2zeqcu2vfllwxa2aclcbgasyhq="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j-hqijaki="" la="" nueva="" s320="" sbwpclbbrq="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFmPTqrJQDB0hF1azMg6KyJU5yRNogH-b08mAV7srvSq11TQ30JXKsCAzWRv80prXLbjCuC6TodAMXx3EoM1BEJ7IzQ5A-zHl-hC2nabGulCNI3S2gAb_aKsYFKG1OcpzQTaPdupdwo0/s320/balun+la+nueva+ciudad.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">051</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Balún</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“La Nueva Ciudad”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xb61jOiq_0" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Let’s start by privileging the facts: Balún, without a doubt, is a gold standard of dream pop music of the 2010s. “La Nueva Ciudad,” Balún’s display of virtuosity, is framed with synth-laden beats weaved with pounding bass drums while showcasing Angélica Negrón’s textured angelical voice. Balún intentionally and beautifully intersects dream pop and dembow resulting in ‘dreambow’; showcasing not only sound hybridity but the idiosyncrasy of diverse intercultural mixtures. The syncretism of Balún’s dreambow sound is synthesized in “La Nueva Ciudad,” a monumental song perfectly displaying lyrical capacity paired with range of breath; stretching the boundaries of both its own sound and form. Balún achieves sound versatility, lyrical potency and music impact in such a meticulous and elegant manner; one of the best acts in this decade. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" cjqxehyswvsambznlgyej5jdjdugoj1_wclcbgas="" e3ewtcdmo="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" linda="" mirada="" n6larbfmi="" s320="" secundario.png="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifz_luESlpx1sUS2FYQsvbPRORX3TakuCLDr-GQbv9hSadCGozgv6-gtV3xe-5kbp5poPJgUAre0i6jLDgWnWPcDCQ0yaUJWzx4hN31NKBOx8EV9GqtMIkiWBKwp5YHr9TZASeIYk5Xwo/s320/linda+mirada+-+secundario.png" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">050</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Linda Mirada</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Secundario”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_j6WkOb6sw" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Let’s get this out of the way: this is the best bass line of the decade, full stop. Build a statue for it and place it in St. Peter’s Square with all of the other beatified. Sacrilege aside, this remains a remarkable slice of slithering sophisti-pop. Grooves for days, yes, but it’s all about the execution: Linda Mirada channeling her inner Daniela Romo while Tangerine Dream-like ecstasy envelops the walls in fire and glitter. That Linda Mirada didn’t blow up is a crime. But in “Secundario,” we stan. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a arca.jp="" arca="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" llnjuii-nkq_xmrdwud73ovxqewxj8dsaclcbgas="" newh0nd_i="" qkzn2iwfmr4="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" w=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL2BIZeAfFGMiLHkt1QOHWRh5rzEOddRUZy8bZOmbphGANKOyifdv1My57ecV0tU6nE583U0szkYbwD0DDruS8-k634rWl2MvWMRjdkApXwOHsVoTdTtfqh39DXklMoMCKSwgh6FwuYUQ/s320/arca+-+arca.jp" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">049</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Arca</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Desafío”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwXOgzmTbVU" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The evolution of Arca as an artist has been a fascinating process that has developed in the eyes of the music industry. The Venezuelan artist captivated her own and strangers with her industrial production in <i>Yeezus </i>and FKA Twigs’ <i>EP2</i>, and then consolidated her sound in the mixtape <i>&&&&&</i>, where she exhibited her hybrid envelope between dissonance and hip-hop. But it was in the 2016 mixtape <i>Entrañas </i>where Arca anticipated the deconstruction of the vocal ballads in Spanish that would define her self-titled album. “Desafío” is a perfect example of the novel launch experience. As one of the most powerful moments of Arca, the distraught vocals of Ghersi repeat the phrase “Hay un abismo dentro de mí” in a painful way. The different layers of synthesizers come together to forge a feeling of catharsis and transcendence that perfectly complements the conceptual approach to sexuality and sadomasochism present in the video. Cathartic, provocative and sensual in equal measures “Desafío” showcases how unique of an experimental artist Arca is. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a amansara.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" chancha="" cm="" hfmdwfqpla="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j-il_2gli="" ropsgxawalbho2xb9eij9braqstq46aclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYab9JzCQjh6c5iTuWkT2N6cG5lA-GTuW-YP_Z0i5vpNEus5RLySMx7PjQPAYaz1jO2CLwBybK5Er8bLDOMQj2MmYESSN29EYLFAzxDEe5oFte4ZWRnDy2fIiQ6nt0c_PL8pp6NnhCqqY/s320/chancha+amansara.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">048</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Chancha Vía Circuito</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Jardines” [ft. Lido Pimienta]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNIe0WNjbI4" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The music of Pedro Canale is the sound of an archivist / producer with an ear to the gods and a heart that vibrates to the frequency of a seductive, enigmatic Earth. His ecological soundscapes are teeming with life: they are all mutating landscapes, fertile jungles and tropical, avian trills. The rhizomatic power of “Jardines” is both astral and tectonic, meditative and transportive. It feels rooted in the land and suspended in ethereal, cosmic fantasy. This is also the sorcery of Lido Pimienta whose multidimensional imagery transports us to a place in space and time where Colombianos and ancestros converge, weaving their memories in a cosmic pilgrimage to mark the end of linear thinking. “Jardines” is a metaphysical epiphany: an interruption to the logic (and the illusion) of time itself. By the end of the track, we like Lido, are begging (“¡Quiero ir!”) to be let in. <i>- Zé Puga</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" ifzxqbuci="" imageanchor="1" javiera="" k1m1pq43we="" mena.jpg="" mena="" o="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" wgsfuhu045oddjfgnpa5wtsjtboqggclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYCek4XC7h_j166xMgGOCPu_4WakakMikVz7nqeyNK1qK5XFXouOzn3a-Aa1Py_4SYdKHjCT-dJe9iKah50BPpvXrRIi5svUMmRkn_KT-yXqBj7gLAV8xaojKwE_tt0M7yN3VrCCz0YJ0/s320/javiera+mena+-+mena.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">047</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Javiera Mena</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Ahondar En Ti”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFXFXeXGu-g" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Album opener of one of the seminal pop albums of this century, “Ahondar En Ti” initiates with a heavy beat and spacey sound effects, asserting disco as a foundation before giving way to Javiera’s emotional inflections. Her phrasing, both percussive and delicate, is especially heartbreaking when she sings “tú no me des la espalda, no, no me des la espalda / Me enamoré también de cuando me das la espalda.” <i>- Souad Martin-Saoudi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" cc="" fjqedrx0o="" girl.png="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" indian="" j-jxl84gi="" neon="" polish="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" zqeg25rzois5bnfb53seq31qbbjefyy2wclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-zNrzxfUnOuzhmUT2Uw4sf8Bybr6OQnoRToH-Z9uQMqKsKpzwWpESIj8s7DXC906NxOJwU6tQI0uyL_8AYejNrYgvKYrVjZpcXXo86lBDcvSXAImfVMhc79e61Sdgpf9VATjJ72tFj2M/s320/neon+indian+polish+girl.png" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">046</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Neon Indian</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Polish Girl”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuPGZZgNFsU" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Polish Girl” may be Neon Indian's most straightforward pop statement to date, a song that infects every indulgent nerve in whatever part of the brain processes music. But that’s no reason to accuse the song of being some kind of red herring, everything about “Polish Girl” matches the dense sci-fi aesthetics of <i>Era Extraña</i>. Just as classical works go through dynamic changes, this is an allegro movement bursting in chillwave crescendos and a brilliant trip into a grooving territory that Alan Palomo is in full control of. <i>- Giovanni Guillén (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2011-20-1.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2011</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" ck="" g2="" guerrera.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j-kqrlmgi="" juventud="" lbws-k__mb4fglfsnx4rbcj-af_ppnaclcbgasyhq="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tony="" xfkqrzzlduu=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFKKYQoyAdpXNUci1AKVEU7dn6y-asD0NnW63PezJ2wDYWtJIgjzc9AiVTmMKxBLU7fZhOuM4ASQkNd6yqe0wv8HVBO-ORBKM2eNbrv__o2Eb1pLYSx17xmDb9vktc8j9Y3xQ7PXXu9Q4/s320/tony+g2+juventud+guerrera.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">045</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Tony Gallardo II</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Juventud Guerrera”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://discossentimiento.bandcamp.com/track/juventud-guerrera" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Another cannon in the arsenal of the #PopInsurrection of 2015 came from the prince of irony, cynicism, (and ruidosón) himself – Tony Gallardo. Sculpted as 80s New Wave, “Juventud Guerrera” was a “call to arms” but also the sublime recognition that we are already here. We have always been here. From the Young Combatants of Chile (contemporary Chilean pop being one of the catalysts that differentiate María y José from his Tony Gallardo II moniker), to the Indigenous / Anarchist youth of Mexico and the Black Militants of Baltimore, Ferguson, and Chicago – Tony’s declaration of anti racism and militancy feels timely but not tawdry. Far from being some cornball ass number, “Juventud Guerrera” acknowledges that we will die in wartime. Your proximity to the battlefield itself is subjective – the psychological and material realm of genocide and trauma is all encompassing. <i>- Zé Puga (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2018/04/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2015-25-01.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2015</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a astro="" bp.blogspot.com="" ca="" ciervos.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" hzr4xa60qco="" imageanchor="1" j-hspju4i="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" wybizshebaqjeqeqhvqjw9bwvp8mvwclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO-7gs61vVqcBHOEX9vx3qtfZaWukjFzhYw0F4jmH2uMh4iM5jXGtgafCsqUfU3l_rgNlVU60YfmdDoJwZ0G6IIjH5ijThEZZKjjqGxE26kIUudr-_TKI5RDqGg7WYIb6h927_k7FSbR8/s320/astro+ciervos.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">044</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Astro</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Ciervos”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQQsB7SI7tQ" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Astro’s first long-winded single “Ciervos” simulates the spacing, elevation, and movement of a post-industrial world where the variables of a natural environment and a human-built environment are still struggling to find order. And just like that, frontman Andrés Nusser and his Astro clan make it really clear that they’ll use every technique they know (even if they turn out excessive) to force you to puke all logical narratives and all your city demons. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2011-40-21.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2011</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a ajsrk9hds0qqttcbd1hs4zbhyaw-gj-aclcbgas="" bp.blogspot.com="" constante.jpg="" diosque="" eyo26dn938="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" nezteljci="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq7Ban8coJvjhrnhJRd8Jmu2DeZ2Zuvu4K7NHj_TV2aQ9VZH1bSCLuKU6f11nNS3b7yPRw0sjneSn6SgwDShxkUA0qgoDgWL2ph8-GaCDb9yXOs_Et_q7JqRmMy9sIEUh6qZ-LYI9cab4/s320/diosque+-+constante.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">043</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Diosque</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Una Naranja”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhyt03-WIe8" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
How Diosque went from a decent singer-songwriter crafting romantic acoustic tunes to a fascinating synthpop maestro dropping dancefloor poetry is best represented in “Una Naranja,” the second track in <i>Constante</i>. From the instant the groove from the synth progression kicks in, it’s clear that this is a special song by an artist that was finally breaking out of a self-imposed shell of secure folk melodies. Working with members from the very underrated synthpop band Michael Mike must have surely helped unleash the pop prodigy that Diosque had only previously teased. But at a time when being labeled as an Argentine indie folk singer-songwriter made you seem awfully predictable and safe, “Una Naranja” and its perplexing accompanying video, made clear how much Diosque was ready to take aesthetic and melodic risks. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a beta.jpg="" bflecha="" bp.blogspot.com="" hdkyfv317j4="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" if7weoy0i="" imageanchor="1" njpk4vjusvavhejolmhxck9ftadstgclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSclRl11J-VNKtbV91OYdaYsa0yK_d-Y1k2uzLjwJEEF7M9JO5LWuTy3sRVKb6YUrjw7SnWY-q0Ul0JYbV0M6r2WiK7kHnsrY-XKg8bvIQEzG2i87Ds7MoMpUAeil6CZGI9CXFyH3KMA0/s320/bflecha+-+beta.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">042</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">BFlecha</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“A Marte”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv89Prsq4lw" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Voy a Marte, a buscarte...” Being an English-language blog, it's kind of a built-in belief that listeners from anywhere can appreciate the music we cover. “A Marte” is no exception; the second we hear that rapturous fanfare transform into symphonic R&B, all concerns on translation disappear. And yet, the narrative Belén Vidal describes is a whole different matter. Confronting such a simple play on words (amarte vs. a Marte) has never felt so intense; loving someone, after all, is a scary thing. BFlecha understands there’s no going back, the journey’s already begun. All she asks from us is that we root for her. <i>- Giovani Guillén (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2013/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2013-25-01.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2013</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" c9ehb_txbgm4hpirta_8tai64troffgzqclcbgas="" el="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" if_zd_nxi="" imageanchor="1" indiana="" juidero.jpg="" rita="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" upvpfitb-bq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc00WHEF1enzt8G4y5BbViUBm24rYv-79woG7Bd08iu-4BVDCZKrKfQJPYC2pLHaGoOBo_RO-RS_DaOZy3vD5nqA3I0EeXZ2K2EYclIIcOT4Rlrs7Y2yJtHxUzBTjJW_OJKK-H1adQma0/s320/rita+indiana+-+el+juidero.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">041</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Rita Indiana y Los Misterios</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“El Juidero”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBVLvIjBFko" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
We can’t put a definition to this music, but for the moment, let’s call it Música Dominicana with universal eye. “El Juidero” is a juggernaut, a truly unstoppable scary force, it’s a horrific depiction of justice negotiated “a lo Jack Veneno.” Think of Omega and Eryka Badu as Bonnie & Clyde, “ni con bengay se mejora.” Blaxploitation. The ‘undocumented history’ of politicial and civilian assassinations in the Dominican Republic during the 70’s. “El Juidero” is the scene of a nation impacted by “el Trujillismo y el Balaguerato.” <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2010/10/rita-indiana-y-los-misterios-el-juidero.html" target="_blank">El Juidero album review</a>, and <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2010/10/video-rita-indiana-y-los-misterios.html" target="_blank">“El Juidero” video review</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a al="" bp.blogspot.com="" fakuta="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" npgicazxgt4nuju6i_tuqz4w9hnitnwgqclcbgasyhq="" o="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tm5wmxyopso="" vuelo.jpg="" y7kfygmi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb6LXYalQfsVCdp3IYMA5bEoi6s9FaHNATEq2U2uy0nnlehBJtFuhqsOdw50h0iDiriqCgnAmlQEEDLe9EehNB3nBmLXLojM54DTfBvRdGz78Hk05tI1UXk4OWwCZDOKcGi1wgT0fq9kY/s320/fakuta+-+al+vuelo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">040</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Fakuta</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Aeropuerto”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6j_iGAnvQ" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
It’s hard to digest that it has been 8 years since Fakuta released this gem, the second single from the album <i>Al Vuelo</i>. Airy and sprawling, “Aeropuerto” is exposed through a romantic open-heartedness that is all Pamela Sepúlveda. In 2011, this pro forma pop song intimidated us, and it keeps doing the damage, as it coasts on gentle programmed drums and synths as sharp as gasps. However, it’s Sepúlveda’s wistful, memorable hook, journeying through a series of gates to someone forever on the other side that pushes “Aeropuerto” to its peak. Collapsing into an agile vocal solo, “Aeropuerto” ends on an ethereal and emotive note, introducing the beloved era of Fakuta’s spare pop music. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a baby="" bp.blogspot.com="" eih1vuud0zwr6ekotercu4u5evbi-bgclcbgas="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" mananeros="" mdms="" n6mx9poci="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tropical.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_wn72xphelynv6lpaN0GVK9gtL-8KASuPM4KPj9oc5O1vOl0-iUg1-mXuE6KcNUpv4RuE8ACaTmTDJrq4ArNb51isKW2Z2cV79MrzObLmwlt8Y11n5SJTrkrTF-G6Rk32fSmxAE5fEQ4/s320/mananeros+-+baby+tropical.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">039</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Mañaneros</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Baby Tropical”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh-ZE07h8yA" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Like the 2014 NBA Finals, I still can’t believe that “Baby Tropical” happened – that this feral, oscillating, whirlwind of digital sounds actually came together out of the human brain. It remains not only one of the most difficult electronic-pop songs from the Latinx world, but its unapologetic Latinx-ness was ahead of its time. Filtering sounds from across the diaspora, from cumbia to bachata to ruidosón, “Baby Tropical” makes no compromises in its sound. This is to Iberoamerican music what Boris Diaw was to the stretch 5: underrated but essential. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bam="" bp.blogspot.com="" c9otd-f5s04p0bazsc2ezauniaqggxtgclcbgas="" futura="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" isn-s9tti="" iycjxpvku="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" via.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCxa0W9XLA39n_hiUkgt0nHZZOt_jgUQE1SCSIu7cD7Xd2yfQKC6Eemlm5EbEzEoh1KX0viQesh7E94vnqNjZrqP0BPd_oDcsvqcBe9zYSSlZ6Kwbdm1G_nbkvRAl30bNi_gUHYHNRGSQ/s320/bam+bam+-+futura+via.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">038</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Bam Bam</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Abismático”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7DHf7YjlJ8" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
One of Mexican rock’s shining lights this decade, Bam Bam never put it all together better than on this indie anthem. Few bands exploited tension better than they did, and “Abismático,” with its maniacal chants and booming percussion, wanted nothing more than to rip the guts out of all that anxiety. But this is also a band with a flair for the dramatic, and they knew exactly when to kick that guitar solo into high gear. If indie rock is a genre in decline, “Abismático” gave it one of its last moments of absolute triumph. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" eres="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" iyzgrrrwb5maqzwu6tuh2u-jp65qkn0vgclcbgas="" mamacita="" n3opiqyxq8u="" n6mexjlfi="" no="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tu.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie9D1LWWWgNi7eoTRRGBah40bI0bUQfGBpBNDgwq3aKvh3X-KVTdTrJT8UYSMMJ95kDv114X_DZb-vi7EAmwlLOZrs2WCoJdDCeYrVV_BeA7q5kKOeauD-CGwJ6yfdCf2pUshqJbMBYmw/s320/mamacita+-+no+eres+tu.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">037</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Mamacita</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“No Eres Tú”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hKg7aHX_0A" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“No Eres Tú” presents itself with a disembodied armor of disco sequences, and a whispering disco string announcing a hurtful realization: “Te he conocido todo este tiempo / me he dado cuenta quien eres tú.” Vocally, Mamacita could be described as an encounter between “upside-down” Diana Ross and Las Chicas del Can, occasionally exploding into the fetishism of Mariah Carey’s songbird abilities. A consumption song had rarely been this introspective. To feel like you’re not yourself once in a while is a beautiful and thrilling thought. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2011-20-1.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2011</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" en="" hkyrsoyvyi58-ayux2hany_gyfvdh-wclcbgas="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" mira.jpg="" n6nvuqgti="" pienso="" rosalia="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tu="" xvwb6kvofe0=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLQ0nyscqmhYzz7S4zg196DLG-PvSm_SeiM1XS86zq75poJvbRGGQGoT3uyLtm0FUfkrIzt7M-QPfQLbFV_rRaooBM87XlsS6RxisyEn6_iriqZHt1S0_zcijHwKFHq0ggbGhPRy9fw6Y/s320/rosalia+-+pienso+en+tu+mira.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">036</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Rosalía</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Pienso en tu mirá (Cap.3: Celos)”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_4coiRG_BI" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Rewinding to Ceremonia 2019, I find myself lost in the crowd by myself, anxious for Diosalía’s performance. Without any further notice, I had the flamenco diva at my sight, astonishing red dress; I did not notice how sexy she could be in real life. With the help of El Guincho and the crowd palms, the backbone of “Pienso en tu mirá” started to form. I couldn’t think of a better opener. The third chapter from <i>El Mal Querer</i> receives the nickname ‘Jealousy’ and speaks precisely about a toxic relationship in which men exert violence against women, in this case through intimidation. Rosalía sings “Pienso en tu mirá, tu mirá, clavá, es una bala en el pecho,” through warm electronic sonorities with an “alternative” character. After my trip to Ceremonia, I will remember Rosalía as one of those artists with a unique personality, unmistakable. A remarkable achievement, at this point in her life. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a a8="" balvin="" bp.blogspot.com="" eemnfti="" gente.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" j="" lnpcza-e="" mi="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" u8r_lczoffj8kkxoiehftcgrymxrvqclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAhQ2j2_zsaaWUyuEioM78B7mhlQ06mR3pqkiFb5ifKRAc_5WBna7eX4Y57ALq8GC5A2DHr0osMkdCqFdAM7cXz3OdX3c7viL-_m2-kVoxDzmL85Rq8fV_GnEryomdL-WhLbRFbeNGXjs/s320/j+balvin+mi+gente.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">035</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">J Balvin & Willy William</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Mi Gente”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnJ6LuUFpMo" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Hearing the words “Mi Gente” will always make me think of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixy7uxMjbDs" target="_blank">“My People... Hold On”</a> by Alabama’s soul / disco dream Eddie Kendrick. <i>My People</i> was a prayer for Black resilience in the early 1970s, a time period in America defined by the post counter culture, the Civil Rights movement, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkW4eW7TMvM" target="_blank">Cold War 1.0</a>. It was the <a href="http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/articles/afro-pessimism-and-unlogic-anti-blackness" target="_blank">dawn of urban guerrilla</a> warfare and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-pessimism" target="_blank">Black militant</a> insurrection. “Mi Gente” sounds nothing like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ZqR3tU-fc" target="_blank">“My People...”</a> but it does embody its populist spirit: dance floor unity in the face of anthropocentric annihilation. J Balvin shouts out “Colombia” and Willy William stands in for “Francia.” Beyonce? ....she manages to stay true to herself while shading America: “<i>Houston” –</i> to the applause of anti-nationalist hearts worldwide. The gang donated “Mi Gente” proceeds to people across the Caribbean and Mexico whose lives were devastated by catastrophic storms, earthquakes and indifference. So when J Balvin claims <i>“mi música no discrimina”</i> and Beyonce answers <i>“lift up your people from Texas, Puerto Rico, dem islands and Mexico”</i> the words just hit harder. <i>- Zé Puga</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a ball="" bp.blogspot.com="" gyew7h2b9m="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" intentalo.jpg="" mty="" n6hoiosyi="" rt_jpks-j4qo-uafylvdb-iq5kvqclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkJ7SCvkY_cMqjojtfjXQnsiDZ4jUsGdCte0axBey7ggzCPOpvzvJ4ZNKEdpwZuMQ0wco3RTgqULJd25530j-9LO64iABeJZtKV-D5-tDefBVZ9XdOnHhZdj4XCwp9Lkj7Bz-pq7r1E7E/s320/3ball+mty+-+intentalo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">034</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">3BallMTY</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Inténtalo” [ft. América Sierra & El Bebeto]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRYNWfJzfVE" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Perhaps the most dated-sounding song on this list, “Inténtalo” brings with it a flood of nostalgia for all the wonderful kitsch that came with the emergence of tribal and its short-lived residency on every quinceañera DJ’s playlist. The young trio from Monterrey pulled out all the digital bells and whistles for this surprising megahit that either awakens in you the desire to stomp around a dancefloor or to shut down the party altogether. Polarizing as the song was in its prime, it marked a cultural triumph that I’m surprised I haven’t yet seen resurface in meme form on TikTok, where it appears that Mexican American teens like to congregate and commiserate over how Mexican they are. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a a0="" bp.blogspot.com="" cklm0ykxl20ifeprv1vsdsyljokboil0gclcbgasyhq="" do="" empress="" ewtrdgi="" how="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" ihut_hgtewi="" imageanchor="1" it.jpg="" of="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" you=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAdftYsG36sqXdQFzOhQhyphenhyphenJhKl5sUYPmFtcRASIldAAmaiHGfjeOFkOFyfYKY2j9cDv_lHj3xuYNMwy_NLcBQeHSPQvyf-Hag5Bly2SRei15tod4GwzU8OChi_i3ggSREqxULloxwTjBU/s320/empress+of+how+do+you+do+it.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">033</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Empress Of</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“How Do You Do It”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLDCjV5TsYc" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Sensorially lush and structurally intuitive, the astounding “How Do You Do It” is the indispensable core to <i>Me</i>, Lorely Rodriguez’s first LP – and the materialization of her process of identity building. Essentially intimate, her lyrics move and transform, refusing the false clarity of orderly language, adjusting her writing to her subject. Her vocals, pure and exuding confidence and energy are haloed by the pulsing bouncy sound generated by xylo sounding synths that electrify dance floors. “How Do You Do It” carries in itself the marginal mystic of everydayness human relations. <i>- Souad Martin-Saoudi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a b="" ba="" bp.blogspot.com="" contesto.png="" e260uzi="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kz5uplu_jjs="" le="" no="" plan="" s320="" si="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tkm1bgo8melv6mow5remciyf0xolyqclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit4QHMSfcouxQhL6-1ZgZQzk669CQFavHgJQ55sUmoj8GxcNwNXEM1Y_Td6JghcerZJ0jO3g6lKHjyZx-DnmCtxyE-Wg6D1u3LIQGny56D93j7R6xMF8W_zZJwqS970tWjyG84D06FvxI/s320/plan+b+si+no+le+contesto.png" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">032</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Plan B</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Si No Le Contesto”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adyZO3E63Gg" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The early decade single from the Puerto Rican duo was far from indicative of the current Latin urban explosion. But it’s one of those early examples of reggaetón going full pop while maintaining certain quirkiness to resound in the underground (take for instance Flyback’s <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/05/mp3-flyback-no-le-contesto-plan-b-cover.html" target="_blank">woozy tropical take</a>). An ex’s post-breakup jealousy is described with relatable precision and almost <i>comedic </i>swag by cousins Chencho and Maldy. Their chemistry is furtherly elevated by the avant-garde production of Haze, which transforms “Si No Le Contesto” into one of the decade’s ultimate anthem. <i>- Enrique Coyotzi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a amparito="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" hryaa4zgi78yyikrmd4pjgolvpexjmmigclcbgasyhq="" https:="" imageanchor="1" los="" millones.jpg="" o6b1i="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" w="" xbg4q3j5q=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiurGE0bKi7Jy3o8Y2GS99WLnaB55BvXdBwVhCcF18sLyCFeWkloVy-JoJQDhVVANTJk-HVzaEXHHOHVR-Alaj7QZE5uiUaUpcG80YGTIoYFNVEg24Dc2OWCFSQZESbhKWKSgvEkkSoyJg/s320/los+amparito+-+4500+millones.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">031</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Los Amparito</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“4500 millones de años de soledad”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIWvumK2w3U" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Built on flourishing vocals, layers of traditional Mexican music and kaleidoscopic sequences, “4500 millones de años de soledad” emerged as a succession of consistently mastered sonic explosions. If the track was mind-blowing back in 2011, it feels even more transcending over time. The project led by Carlos Pesina had managed to give regional folkloric sounds a digital fix up, creating an ethereal moment, a state of floating. <i>- Souad Martin-Saoudi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" julieta="" n6leqzjhi="" qemtxznw_iyfcssnxipthrgbogppgaclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" te="" v3m42cssw="" venegas="" vi.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-Fmnd5HDKtGndwxXNfw13sqNnONIxIZDRhp8PTfW7q85-ArI9sO6eQzgyrAV2Ro6U-Y_n6VxxqWqpKMSP3cRYTMk295vzb8F6pZzbelXfhk91Entsc4attodHAUD-1XorE5W01OklwA/s320/julieta+venegas+te+vi.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">030</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Julieta Venegas</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Te Vi”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNLX69npTwA" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Te Vi” begins with a big beat and off-kilter keyboard and ends with a spacey dissolve, but its brightest moments are less flashy. Venegas’ vocals are wide-eyed and soulful, while never revealing too much about the relationship at hand. Because it’s not important what happened, what’s important is what’s happening. “Te Vi” isn’t merely about unrequited love, it’s about the small moments when even a distant glance consumes your life to seemingly no end. And how you can’t do anything about it. And how that feeling sucks. But it’s also a tender, complex human emotion. That’s what this song is about, and it’s as weird and beautiful as anything that Julieta Venegas has ever put to tape. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a abrazame.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" cfc9boo-obsm97zwyyynhuj_h5k_wclcbgasyhq="" dbgcbs64="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" los="" rakas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" ve52d9lai=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsKUx758uV8PCmJp_dc6ruqvIR5fXjGcA5aTqRIQ69BE_9oOe-q0jxsnkm2kqSFRrraBqPyHawbPvH6URt8b-7XPu81S_PwM7gvSF5x0IUmQhnPETacqDYUXfvwpqUyvLcq36vFamC3a4/s320/los+rakas+-+abrazame.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">029</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Los Rakas</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Abrázame (Uproot Andy Remix)” [ft. La Favi]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLfNTztmSXU" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
How in the hell is this song only nine years old? The texture of this now classic feels timeless – well, at least as old as 1992. “Abrázame” is Los Rakas’ trademark hip-hop meeting homeland reggaetón and Uproot Andy’s Casio chords (via the “Hold Yuh” riddim). It’s an upbeat sing-along that captures a summer of passion meeting its end: “Mira como tú me tienes / borracho y arrepentido.” Oh, to be young and in lust, dewy-eyed and heartbroken. <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a arca="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kt-7f2ynev0="" n6inju2zi="" s320="" spira.jpg="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" zl17wwqu7myyvcxjptbt2bphymyaagmkaclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim4sCkDtOB3vD6SKOSN992Q_RQIk8nletWe0YE29RDjjQnSAyaDt7n18OhxOuAMGiAWfLMoXBDmss-vF7ldH2mD-BWGv8uxnfO1psoPt9NlE6JSO7Vks0fLAygHIZXt1rp1fXPL6CDBDI/s320/arca+-+spira.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">028</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Arca</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Spira”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/unonycmusic/arca-spira" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Several years before we had Arca the transgressive non-binary <i>conceptronica </i>music icon, we had Arca the hard-to-categorize anonymous musical project of a Venezuelan prodigy. Her body of work since then has been consistently shapeshifting, always giving the middle finger to anyone who has ever attempted to classify her music. Arca’s largely unnoticed 2012 debut EP <i>Barón Libre</i>, closed out with “Spira,” a 7-minute dumbfounding upsurge of slick R&B melodies, chopped and screwed-style vocals, and a hallowed choir epilogue, that still constitutes one of her finest tracks to date. It belonged in its own universe of holy-fucking-shitdom, as it both alienated and fascinated almost all our staff, something that Arca has continuously kept doing throughout her career. As we look back at all the crowning successes she has accumulated since then, we’re swelling with pride from having been advocates from the very beginning. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a be="" bp.blogspot.com="" fts7bui="" gotica="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" m4zygir33yo="" playa="" reptil.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" vi01j46g-ncaeyziv0yx_x3psghelaclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPQZUxZgdAN3HHZpO-ra0W0vOS5rYz5lJr4V1676NQrXmL_vYcqo1k5GWGjvcNh5Sdx32Kzs_-QSLii7inAylV5r_OsQtpaprzQWq5ylRqLnF_N78IB7CpvLJYowvYs6kJD3tJv-lSh78/s320/playa+gotica+reptil.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">027</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Playa Gótica</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Reptil No Gentil”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la4MPSL19Ww" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
It’s been a few years since the rapture of “Reptil No Gentil,” a thunderous record with enough dynamite to make its auteurs – Playa Gótica – one of the breakthrough powerhouses of the last decade. Simply put, “Reptil No Gentil” is a pop jewel in an album the band once described as “rotten,” full of “darkness.” The rotten darkness of the album and its revelatory first single was actually just a panoramic take on hallucinatory dream pop lambasted against melodic feedback, and cascading synths. The cinematography of Playa Gótica is a blazing portrait of cathartic heartbreak that stands naked & raw against the backbone of funky baselines and twangy, sparkling guitars. The susurrant voice of Fanny Leona sings in a soft melancholy but she also speaks riot girl and 80s <a href="https://soundcloud.com/playagotica/darkbalada" target="_blank">(dark) balladry</a>. Based on the quiet despair of the track’s lyrics, our protagonist won’t be escaping the purgatory of heartbreak anytime soon but the repetitive escape mantra of “alejarme de ti / olvidarme de ti” arrives just in time for the rapture: cascading noise and coruscating synths. <i>- Zé Puga</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" de="" denver="" gimnasia.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" ius7vmy9i="" revista="" s320="" s="" si6retj0t-qnsoueswsjtpx7ybnldcp_gclcbgas="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" z-zykn_ink0=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7lZqmoKsn6qNJdYDasl9ZdNiFrkCcyTIVioDwqltTjlNkfNHs5QTclrPPATYmc8mO1URU0T3OiQFxUwgA3I0cFSvUKu9rxp8RM2hkYWAvMqmeSQYTuWOAh5a3HKC_h0Hf2AS9X2rkwT4/s320/denver+-+revista+de+gimnasia.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">026</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Dënver</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Revista de Gimnasia”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH0AJJ3CPu0" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Thank God that Dënver were (*sniff*) a duo, because we can definitively say they are our favorite Chilean band of the decade. Among their top tracks (No. 2 in our 2013 list) is this ode to disco strings and unnerving storytelling. With pounding bass and dance floor-ready melody “Revista de Gimnasia” aims for both triumph and coquettishness, revealing a worrisome undercurrent of power play and exploitation. Who in the narrative is really saying “No entiendes nada?” <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" donde="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" iuwxugmli="" jugaran.jpg="" k="" o0r_eswcg4="" rhmmndhfqmo6csnxj-h0aljg31haf-qclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" taino="" whitest=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrAxeBLmoIak3RJmUV8SPcmP0p2XYNcKnkB5nque-ZdLCnRKIUld5A3gx5jlbVSeU77cP-1l68BZ_KNG5Z-LLNMH0bsTRkrnaXf531m_SRsoTI-A3siMDwI2qzvL0pR-epeWy0oBzrw70/s320/whitest+taino+-+donde+jugaran.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">025</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Whitest Taino Alive</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Mi Bandera”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dd4DQWVesw" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Immersing yourself in the deep waters of Latin rap can be an intimidating endeavor, in that a lot of it is coded in local slang and outlined by specific socio-political contexts you might not be familiar with. Which is why, whenever something from the underground of Latin rap music managed to tilt our heads, it was either because the rhyming aimed for broader themes or because the beats weren’t lagging too far behind the more progressive trends set by the U.S. industry. In the case of Whitest Taino Alive, it was both, and nowhere was this more evident than in their 2014 hit “Mi Bandera.” For starters, the beat is absolutely massive. Sampling the horn section of merengue star Fernando Villalona, the shit is hip-hop as party music in its finest version. And although WTA’s rhymes had Dominican slang everywhere, their relentless and witty pop culture references welcomed everyone into their own idiosyncrasies. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" carmen="" edad.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" joven="" s-38z0xbhvc="" s320="" sandiego="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" trfdbi="" uby0j8xosmz4oux01frrnol_1xrjlwxqclcbgasyhq=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLcc2cQ8CIq2OhFTeDBnkCws17GR1VclScS7dIapwGAQJ17HEaq6o4S4pOxyvhVCMoJrv9GG3wO64C5S2GyHWi5DJ5_kwWle9sbD5GjUCyCs8dGWG1M-s_WwhXGKJA0VPULiXjigapIlQ/s320/carmen+sandiego+-+joven+edad.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">024</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Carmen Sandiego</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Mi Novio Gremlin”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1tWV7EqHkw" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
This understated song could be classified as mumblecore folk-rock. It’s like a student film that gets picked up at a film festival. Flavio Lira’s distinct vocals evoke thoughts muttered under breath, jotted down in a diary. Every descending phrase finishes with an ascending enunciation as the narrator bittersweetly signs off on hope. The accompanying video of a shirtless thot underscores the tricky balancing act of lusting after and knowing better. <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" emoibjbdyju12qnmjrnfroux_63f2ewzqclcbgasyhq="" helado="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" is.jpg="" negro="" owhhrpuali="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" this="" y86xsiwi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_T5jRCwo2i0fu0GTvCGXejz2V8QQbeVtWnem9aMr0x48C-rd1r9JCzpCBvHVLrafftfWb_gPZdXJa6keYWhcGkrtgLRQuAcgxk1UMEaSHatISXsWnv0IyNtnOyX8zPtRpo9oFd5GPZVw/s320/helado+negro+-+this+is.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">023</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Helado Negro</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Running”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4mof-W6ggI" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
After a decade of assertive experiments and a profound exploration of his compositional skills, Roberto Carlos Lange delivers <i>This Is How You Smile</i>, his most refined work to date. The LP’s centerpiece, the exceptionally beautiful “Running,” is a hypnotic meditation led by unadorned piano chords and the singer’s heartfelt coos. “You got me running on my mind” is a sweet revelation, a direct mantra that envelops Helado Negro’s simple but enthralling message. <i>- Enrique Coyotzi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a ano="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" if6kkpkji="" imageanchor="1" s320="" santo.jpg="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tab="" txcyfy="" yef5ooqn3meyk0ubs8zevsazxydpp-svaclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL5ZCmlSI1izVUlsMb5YizedWExSq6TPZb_eLb5TesUSVGN_b2Vsr_SZWgPdaWXsmJtSmRLNApCO89iIkSDsri-NfLO0IA9hFCvs3s-92Lsl-njymsIdtfquOg3a8esg3wiHaeI633du0/s320/tab+-+ano+santo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">022</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Triángulo de Amor Bizarro</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“De la monarquía a la criptocracia”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k45WRjCxiD4" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The guitar in “De la Monarquía a la Criptocracia” crowds the soundscape, emanating from the center, colliding with the walls, and bouncing back on itself, like cigarette smoke and the heat of too many bodies fogging up a poorly-ventilated basement bar. Isabel Cea singing sweetly in the midst of it all sounds submerged, yet her cool composure conceals the sinister ticking of a time bomb, the rattle of the last screw coming loose. In the end, through a crack in her composure, Cea implores “arréglame, arréglame, arréglame,” but it’s hard to believe that’s what she really wants. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" claveles="" d3bus2srugocfnjnich2ehhwdsz9kldhwclcbgas="" dty0xg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" jpg="" los="" n6lkjvbxi="" nacional="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6OCvvShNQA4Q2s5RKG9cE3gXnYgXDR3trtr1QV5tXgZUWx-Is_3F886Ufn97ee30jjB-SjIKE-QFlHwTN_8fwuZKXGx51wjmgldCev9oxTXqMlbw7PLbi2EaJ4avKTfDtyqzE0Nyv94s/s320/los+claveles+-+nacional+42.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">021</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Los Claveles</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Nacional 42”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://gramacionesgrabofonicas.bandcamp.com/track/nacional-42" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Nacional 42” is a dissertation of Spain’s highway A42, described by Los Claveles, as the horrific intersection where ruin and routine meet. Like some classic road songs (AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” The B-52’s’ “Roam,” etc.), this is not the most optimistic song out there. On the contrary, it’s an emotional tragic squash that at times feels profane and brutally disenchanting. The dexterity of guitar riffs outlines a doodle that feels humid, harmonic, and hazard. The band sings about a road without a landscape and sing-prays they don’t die among the dried flowers that populate a road God seems to have stopped watching over. A man’s confrontation to the road parallels with that of his love life; it haunts him in triumph and hardship, and it keeps him away. Guilt and redemption flirt with the track’s hooks, even saving some room for irony as they claim that love is to be afforded. A42, where religious entity is put into question and nostalgia reaches its saddest course. This is carved to-the-bone harmonious poetry, so austere and so achingly human. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2011-20-1.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2011</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a a4="" b="" bodak="" bp.blogspot.com="" cardi="" er-wgki="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" p3b6rfddg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" tkv6atc7etwmducoaalmd1wjktjucap9qclcbgasyhq="" yellow.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrz5J8Lw6Zym5hZa9ev4QhN8PAHnhMypVE7Yhrmr_p9tDV3GYkooiXYn1Ik9ryjWDHCjTbP9hksT1ICjcaORk3ZAauG8rHOsVsu0w_aIuZmNKmNGAtRr0Fy54zKj1P3veRVUZJEvgiOqE/s320/cardi+b+bodak+yellow.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">020</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Cardi B</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Bodak Yellow”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEGccV-NOm8" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
A menacing and insurgent energy surges through the genetic structure of “Bodak Yellow,” one of the most iconic and essential tracks of our bloody, <a href="https://www.insidescience.org/news/popular-music-getting-sadder-and-angrier-new-study-finds" target="_blank">restless, and brooding decade</a>. “Bodak” is a whole mood: tempestuous, warlike, and steeping in an ominous, sinister cauldron. Anarchy is the appropriate signifier – not only does Cardi <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/COMPLETEANARCHY/comments/7q1uvz/is_cardi_b_an_anarchist/?sort=top" target="_blank">sport it</a> on her shoulder, she embodies its iconoclastic, restless spirit. Inspired (and vetted) by the notorious Kodak Black, “Bodak” was the Trojan horse for an album that cemented Cardi’s legacy and posture as a world class pop star, one of hip-hop’s most essential (and discerning) voices. Hate it or love it, the energetic rupture of Cardi B’s debut at the top of the pops was a pivotal moment within <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/grammys-2019-cardi-b-makes-history-best-rap-album-win-1185185" target="_blank">music history</a>. Cardi’s position as a Black Caribbean woman and a (former) sex worker are essential compounds of Cardi’s already iconic legacy. Her assault upon the respectability politics matrix has already advanced the mainstream’s conversation around issues of criminality, sex, gender and work. Young, Black, gifted and conflictual, Cardi don’t need more press but certainly deserves all the praise. <i>- Zé Puga</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a b09eqtl4w0w="" bp.blogspot.com="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" la="" lido="" papessa.jpg="" pimienta="" s320="" sl4l1ojt-usgqc-2c00je2yunjmspayaclcbgasyhq="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" y-iwtmvi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBFvCmpLqoGamDv0iooy5lgeloIFaBcgaUQG4mpnNS4x-tLyYlpIMk6jaUxjtiKUhtcD5BNvH51rGHF-HnQLYzQihDALNb7kwjYbg7sh_pyqFdPnVeANgKMFoCSkta-KHMKNOr7770KE4/s320/lido+pimienta+-+la+papessa.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">019</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Lido Pimienta</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“La Capacidad” [ft. Las Acevedo & Diana Pereira]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VY5rhe_jcc" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Listening to Lido Pimienta’s work and any other contribution she’s turned to gold is such a salve. It’s unrepentantly her own creation and vision, unlike anything else out there and unphased by those who don’t want to get it. “La Capacidad” speaks directly to an individual’s sense of agency and to a woman’s right not to put up with the patriarchy, even if it’s couched within a loving heterosexual relationship. Sonically, Pimienta makes the woke mission statement “No nací para retrasar el feminismo mundial” triumphant and transcending. <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" d2dlak83aygxqe7aeog1vrzm-l5pgclcbgas="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" it-8wci-i="" malamente.jpg="" qhvg="" rosalia="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQYO8uYRGwWwl0lBOxqYxb8047kUSUVXyAhJ2hgnRTBG30y_45OaEAoFucl9yOm109I-5DSuS22IMSNJsl6Z04_fDm1LHzpfkOI8irLf48-SLjAFJLN3WTzotUyPu9QO_exRn6ZJjwgqg/s320/rosalia+-+malamente.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">018</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Rosalía</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Malamente (Cap.1: Augurio)”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rht7rBHuXW8" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The first single out of Rosalía’s second album <i>El Mal Querer</i>, “Malamente” announced what was yet to come: a diversion from the more traditional flamenco sound of her debut album <i>Los Angeles</i> in the direction of a melting pot of musical references including pop and reggaetón, and a big step towards her international recognition. The videoclip for the song caused sensation by mixing iconography related to religion and old Spanish traditions (such as bullfighting) in a peri-urban truck and car tuning setting, Rosalía being also accused of cultural appropriation. Almost whispering, the singer’s voice alternates with the sound of flamenco inspired, syncopated handclapping, telling a story about love and despair. Although quite different from the rest of the tracks in the album, “Malamente” has had its stylistic continuation in further singles released by Rosalía, often featuring other musicians, in 2019. <i>- Glòria Guso</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" da="" do.jpg="" h8o55gm8hsljvk_8h7xvm6_lmtmmegclcbgasyhq="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" indiana="" lo="" pa="" rita="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" vgx9htlei="" ztlgfqabi=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfEvKZDSvgmkZ7IKoMyp5CFGxPDAUGd5v4bm_CM4g-05V-Kpl4IHi48DgBYEG7yP6o8aBdU80fQVDgKQ_CIwzi41R28spmHUpF7A8hQH983yP0x54H_9Gx3dVXge75cQNcHnvt74gIC4/s320/rita+indiana+-+da+pa+lo+do.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">017</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Rita Indiana y Los Misterios</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Da pa lo do”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y72XAybPTnU" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Every hipster listening to Vampire Weekend should feel fooled after listening to “Da pa lo do,” this is bona fide tropical bravura. This is Rita’s most heartrending moment in [<i>El Juidero</i>]. The story of two motherless brothers sharing a small bite of food and singing “Da pa lo do” brought me to tears. The kinetic powers of the lyrics are sustained by a strong muscle of drums and electronic pastiche, adding up to a song that transcends all walls of global pop. The stunning track with the stunning strings and the wounding <i>palos </i>has a wonderful video helmed by Engel Leonardo. This time around we’re taken to a land of faith, borders, and brotherhood, where the roads are redirected by the wind itself, and Rita Indiana makes a Marian apparition as a Blessed Virgin Mary. A video that excels in proportions, colors, and especially in the narrative of its rhythm. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2010/10/rita-indiana-y-los-misterios-el-juidero.html" target="_blank">El Juidero album review</a>, and </i><span style="color: #0000ee;"></span><i><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/10/video-rita-indiana-y-los-misterios-pa.html" target="_blank">“Da pa lo do”</a></i><i><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/10/video-rita-indiana-y-los-misterios-pa.html" target="_blank"> video review</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a americana.jpg="" ases="" bp.blogspot.com="" falsos="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" juventud="" n6tujasa="" nexte5gei="" qcaklcgthia9p9-jq4ngdj2fagansmcgclcbgas="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrPg_OBTV9RAMPhvTyUJXFvidrTQYIkKGR5I5fdXyDs8P-BIZk_a4rd2Ar14AByJgAmdLK_PEibpI7MJC-FVfVqbTZ5Lv5EAWk39LtaXZXXm-72VjtUI1JLvpTlrS0Ty8K5zWZyojfx8/s320/ases+falsos+-+juventud+americana.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">016</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Ases Falsos</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Venir Es Fácil”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRsps8bGYFo" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The astonishing single that distanced Ases Falsos from Fother Muckers involves a startlingly detailed narrative about the migration of an African man into the American continent. In its narrative and tone, Cristobal Briceño´s delivery gives the whole thing a nail-biting and hostile intensity. In reality, the song is about the history of Occupé Bayenga, a Congolese striker playing for Chilean soccer club Deportes Copiapó at the time the song was released. Bayenga woke up the curiosity of Briceño to write confrontative lyrics that sound cheerful during the entire song: “Dime africano, ¿qué estás haciendo por acá? ¿Qué te parece el español? ¿Fue drama la alimentación? […] Te vi mirando a esa mujer, anda y ocupa tu poder.” Soccer and talent, in one song. There are many more and others will come. <i>- Pablo Acuña</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a alex="" anwandter="" bp.blogspot.com="" es="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" kkcdu2m1arovrjmazoszstawwclcbgas="" n6ietn7gi="" s320="" siempre="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" viernes.jpg=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpXE5qQtqxl1TBMmFMjgCPWvcsFsfLU0B5KqDThphiBQGVw32Ckq8GajRSSIZz1CTuCe3QJ6K1NeEw_D8hwmV9tAxB930qfvJ_QWp0hPsql8a-CNFZuvd1X6GtFaG-cztcNy59dB_VN2M/s320/alex+anwandter+-+siempre+es+viernes.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">015</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Alex Anwandter</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Siempre Es Viernes En Mi Corazón”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecC-HMZPPMs" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Is there a way to break free from the constraints imposed on us by political, religious, and economic institutions? Alex Anwandter has a few answers to this question, but we must warn you, they are as jubilant as they are nihilistic. “Siempre Es Viernes En Mi Corazón” is first and foremost a celebration of escapism, very much in the vein of the disco and house bangers that defined gay culture in the 1970s and ‘80s. But as Anwandter made the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights one of the central components to his art, “Siempre Es Viernes” is also his nihilistic call for the destruction of this world and its oppressive institutions. Bringing together the liberation of disco with the nihilism of punk, the success of the track ultimately lies in the elegant communion of these two cultures that often clashed with each other in the late 1970s. This song ultimately asks if there can really be any liberation without destruction. <i>- Pierre Lestruhaut</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bad="" bp.blogspot.com="" bunny="" de="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" k="" ke8leyi="" mi.jpg="" s320="" solo="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" wotlnzwdq_8ctdb-oraxh-zwpwbphdlcaclcbgasyhq="" ya5buwt3hsa=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBiwqhimXyKKNiEr5Liao3M6D6JDbTDbfX_MUB1wQRAk62IPET0i8VQW_ZDJ7vOxcDZoS8cr91LuLRFVbfR29rDsKJCy3-ABrP_lqRCJX-GuTdQ-crJV0p57sYA4012mGD9qktcMAJnQ/s320/bad+bunny+-+solo+de+mi.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">014</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Bad Bunny</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Solo de Mí”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rbprAR_Reg" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Released in December 2018, as a prelude to <i>X 100PRE</i> – Bad Bunny’s album debut – “Solo de Mí” shifted Benito’s sound and soften the textures of his previously released tracks. “Solo de Mí,” produced by Tainy and La Paciencia, stands as a manifestation to Benito’s eclectic approach to morph and shape sound. This trap pop-infused ballad with gradual transformation into a heavy sub-bass energy served as a powerful message of self-determination, agency and respect; all these values clearly represented in the visual delivery of this track. The video stars a woman portraying a domestic-abuse survivor lip-syncing the lyrics as an anthem of empowerment and resolute standing towards her desires. A ballad about self-love and determination, el Conejo Malo delivered one of the most earnest and heart-warming songs of his musical journey that spearheaded one of the most important and valuable albums of latinx music history. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a billete="" bp.blogspot.com="" fuete="" hdx8z-ooc0="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" la="" n6j983zai="" s320="" s="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" trilla.jpg="" w1-e3wtzcvhikpqtifk0knjpnhdupraclcbgas=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjVLUT42LgDHG7Wxp1-cwW6i14qcHIc3Uw7g9AiJxxRjdlDftEeXXUdIyFM1lDcIyaNDvm9U59A9HfxTZa3nOMN9hXw7ER-UYWApzoe7SomAbInYV_GBR3DzD-wfvao05wmuwJeOm9q7k/s320/fuete+billete+-+la+trilla.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">013</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Füete Billēte </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“La Trilla”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37sauZhMJrM" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Füete Billēte’s function to “bring explicit rap back to Puerto Rico” encountered a feverish, grandeur scope with “La Trilla.” More than the quintessential pussy-popping hit and bro anthem of the year, “La Trilla” is a triumph of whimsical invention. Rendered in sun-kissed drops, Füete Billēte is alternately sympathetic and critical of the fantasy realm of hip-hop music. They subscribe to compact, weirdly witty transactions that embrace and humanize the continual thought of rappers as social fuck-ups. Instead, they unveil their urges into the foreground, breaking any lyrical and medium confinement on their way. “Mami móntate aquí / vamo a doblar trilla,” croons the chorus as they sanctify a night of drugs, sex, and chamomile. More than a remedied, sentimental track to fill the vacancy of quality urban music in the region, “La Trilla” is a provocation turned <i>tour-de-force</i>. An eventful track that excels in scope, structure, and execution – songcraft that’s defiant of the zeitgeist, disproportionately yearning, and devastatingly beautiful. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2013/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2013-25-01.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2013</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" capullo="" del="" e_hsgm98nu9ukwc65csko_e7rfmalvngclcbgas="" fin="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" huvckxb_k="" imageanchor="1" mundo.jpg="" neyj9dugi="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" testigos=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoBkz8hyfmBZ221ykknzHYASC3MjEbE5adTcr-btB9myIyFpFaMClnApddZ6TWDHLkNvdI5ByHoyU4PIPif-7QnQErcgcyW_jZ-ETD8TrtBszIRJEiQvCU9PlCygg70rwxrvXJqQcuM58/s320/capullo+-+testigos+del+fin+del+mundo.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">012</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Capullo </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“A quien amas en realidad es a mí” [ft. Lido Pimienta]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/capulloband/a-quien-amas-en-realidad-es-a" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
What makes “A quien amas en realidad es a mí” so compelling is the way in which it brilliantly accomplishes to combine heavy tropical percussion and ardent synth progressions with Lido Pimienta’s raw, funny and witty account of teenage love and lust (“todo lo que tenía puesto era de segunda, pero mi ropa interior sí era nueva”). Encapsulating the band’s web-configured vision, the track showed how loneliness, heartbreak and angst can also fit with catchy playful electro-pop. <i>- Souad Martin-Saoudi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a a="" bp.blogspot.com="" ffpi-ottqmkeahwzzy8xz2db9ld6_6hpqclcbgas="" granada.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" htxwwrgi="" imageanchor="1" jos="" mar="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" vre9u="" y=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj23WEGf_mr1xO6dVLzSHyLYu9VrUYuzjYfkp1EgwT8e4rocLg7IsE73FipexF_KHKHUaoTzuQj-R-nkbMzcSg-w0aMMqO4Be3GdV3OIj27OUikaFg2vHN-ki_DLn7khRU0pUdKAnMjnQI/s320/mar%25C3%25ADa+y+jos%25C3%25A9+-+granada.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">011</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">María y José</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Granada”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgKlK8IZylY&t=153s" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Fuck Bruno Mars. Tony Gallardo made the best song about a grenade in 2011. Remember that ending scene in Reygadas’ <i>Batalla en el Cielo</i> when a Mexican army retrieved a colossally large Mexican flag from Mexico City’s Plaza de la Constitución to the wounding drums of an infantry band? Well, “Granada” is the song that should’ve followed during the ending credits. This visceral piece starts on the edge of redemption and marches its way into a baroque, step-by-step danced tragedy about losing sanity. Gallardo is not looking to catch a grenade, he’s searching for the peace that will make his body and torn-to-pieces heart even. <i>- Carlos Reyes (from <a href="http://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/12/club-fonograma-best-songs-of-2011-20-1.html" target="_blank">Best Songs of 2011</a>)</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a altura.jpg="" balvin="" bp.blogspot.com="" con="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" mbx4bbmdulmo5j04lk8eoymmseqzffrvwclcbgas="" n6n7s9n9i="" o_8b4mctnti="" rosalia="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1IYasN2StjRE-dfvY1jCX19cQHjAwGugB1RiVxCpCrtQay0IZelYOp2Nl_aSNrWYVrufYyal__E9UDZ93c0GfJSJp4i0Zkmd3aiqlNLs9d016w1LPNIk_CJiGbclzBvFY8PUTr8uhzhs/s320/rosalia+balvin+-+con+altura.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">010</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Rosalía & J Balvin</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Con Altura” [ft. El Guincho]</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7bfOZek9t4" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Con Altura” led Rosalía into a foreign terrain: an urbano soundscape. Borrowing from dembow and reggaetón, Rosalía delivers one of the most celebrated tracks post-<i>El Mal Querer</i>. Bathed in deep old school reggaetón rendition and Rosalía’s lyrical and dance manifestation of flamenco; “Con Altura” provides one of the most beloved <i>jaleos </i>– ¡La Rosalía! – J Balvin’s straightforward infectious chorus, and a looped hypnotic sample by Frank Dukes accompanied by producer’s El Guincho intensified kick drums. The 2019 summer hit is the composite of El Guincho’s vision and support to Rosalía, “Con Altura” mirrors El Guincho’s nuanced approach to genre-bending, a meticulous care of sound and storytelling that we have been exposed to since El Guincho’s earlier musical days. Rosalía and El Guincho continue to be a winning team, and with J Balvin on this track, it only positioned the trinity at a higher level. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" era.jpg="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" ikm92p_pkrw="" imageanchor="1" javiera="" l2rwubgebnvgxow2anac3hcwfkjbwclcbgas="" mena="" neamruybi="" otra="" s320="" s="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7O9fRIq8IGrsfstEvWxz8QU43kLPWIEQ0XU__623MbsylY_1gaU8sPSN-e0cE2oN-g6Rd8VZ9PuGHYujcqp6ja13H0Ko5Ka6VvWgN8UB0Qyzi321jTBkwO12CsAXV6b6FOZbW2LPZhuY/s320/javiera+mena+-+otra+era.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">009</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Javiera Mena</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Otra Era”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUCZG09ehLM" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Javiera Mena’s third album approaches a glossier production through club bangers that expanded on her already impressive sonic palette. However, the title track “Otra Era,” is as affecting as her own classic body of work – ballads where words are cautiously chosen and melodies punch with meaningful impact. “Y llévame a otra era,” the singer pleads in the climax. Yet she <i>was </i>in that new era, one that she built with chameleonic grace and visionary instincts. <i>- Enrique Coyotzi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a audiovision.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" g="" gepe="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" iz5r1zadrs8by0phjnj-pu1sfuyhw9ymgclcbgasyhq="" pjiofxi="" qunmxmssyg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh783w2kIdin2fxhN04qQZRtQnaL6oFTQuj5kYhFdglf9_1TRa8jdxIdWNzwWhDokjWiC_PA9VyukYF_9XjuYlO0QqkvQQ14V1EL4GMkAPSeY9bCkHbceqvqQ433EGT6ioM-0mvk7fPjBw/s320/gepe+-+audiovision.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">008</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Gepe</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Por la Ventana”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_mseuOctZI" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
Music’s impact alters our relationship to the past; there’s the reality of our true experience and the past we wished we had lived through. Look under any YouTube music video and you’ll more than likely spot that obligatory sentiment that goes like: <i>I was born in the wrong year</i>. We should all count ourselves blessed to live in the age of Gepe. In 2010 there was no song as infectious and simultaneously heartfelt as “Por la Ventana.” It was the kind of song that abounded in charm and confidence, unbothered to perhaps be misunderstood (those <i>YO</i>’s left people quite shook) or be written off as corny. This was Gepe’s first pure pop moment – battling charges of too singular for mainstream, too darling to fit in with real indie (this was 2010 and the cynicism that gave us Hipster Runoff was still long felt). But if you were open to the <i>YO</i>’s, if you submitted to the acoustic guitar, and eventually let the break down of electronic textures and handclaps just do their damn thing then it hooked you and nothing else mattered after. A star was born. <i>- Giovanni Guillén</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a adrianigual="" bp.blogspot.com="" gag9rxxgjelbe4l2a_ctorpro6nw-9hqclcbgas="" gusta="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" it2ok_uhi="" kdk6xzwsio="" la="" me="" noche.jpg="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1tbVKkIwCls4-WsBCeBoVNs1WdKBVhEUFD5kH1Qub3ugR6SV-XqTcuo8-tjVI1arQ-BlxtxNuDb55z1sUqoPNcqqoqsM8d-9wulzQqsV-B7aAqoNrPRI3VzzpYBbCgbE9Ly3LZ27Qb6g/s320/adrianigual+-+me+gusta+la+noche.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">007</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Adrianigual</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Me Gusta la Noche”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyihtrcr3Xk" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Me Gusta la Noche” is the sound of 2011 condensed into six minutes of sweaty, wide-eyed euphoria. But behind the beatz lies a heart about message about “dancing your dreams,” where big hearts give way to big dreams – an optimism that could have only felt right at the turn of the decade. It’s a testament to a time, early in this century, when pop music looked ready to give in to big, glittery dance-punk (think “House of Jealous Lovers”). That period quickly died for a number of reasons (best recapped in Lizzy Goodman’s excellent book <i>Meet Me in the Bathroom</i>), but “Me Gusta la Noche” exists as a reminder of the madcap glory of when indie rock bands rejected lo-fi skuzz in favor of chaotic and glittery pop wonder. <i>- Andrew Casillas</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a adolescentes.jpg="" bjbt4ssksfhgkvqsgo3bx83bpb5u8wclcbgas="" bp.blogspot.com="" denver="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" hs-zv0gi="" https:="" imageanchor="1" los="" ptwlgydewm="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_JXtixoaxZAEJZXuM1XlaBAluPriFs-Fl4vpdE0MaF5bIeKz2qdaFeXaYKWL2QqYP6n9Zt5R0r_X0wE9KZdtOAz4ApvfZUL-fiqOMkYuLjgM0ADw8jCGnaIpVD_M6LsmitnnOhElC-Qc/s320/denver+-+los+adolescentes.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">006</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Dënver</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Los Adolescentes”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhj7V1QtGE" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
“Los Adolescentes” consolidated itself as Dënver’s mainstay track and mirrored the composite sound of the duo, Mariana Montenegro and Milton Mahan. The heavy-drenched synth band front loaded Chile’s indie pop re-emergence in the early 2010s, rightfully accompanied by acts such as Gepe and Javiera Mena. “Los Adolescentes” encapsulates mesmerizing harmonies and forthright lyrics that twirl with few words yet orchestrates a towering sound of lush dream pop, a staple sound of the early 2010s decade. The song layers reverb, punctuated synth arrangements and soothing melodies, all embalmed in the upbeat electronic energy. “Un día me dices quiero, al otro me dices tal vez.” “Los Adolescentes” enshrined the anxieties and dreams of whirling thoughts of love and euphoria; released by Cazador in 2010, the second single to offspring from <i>Música, Gramática, Gimnasia</i>, its soaring melodies served more than a song; but the anthem of an unclenched-jaw generation doused in hopes about a new decade. <i>- Marty Preciado</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a b33.jpg="" bflecha="" bp.blogspot.com="" g="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" n6jg6b1pi="" p0ewgumkimaretu4ky3gfqe_jhmupaclcbgas="" qtbqnuvu="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt0f7VXKRgNlrFogS8iuXHF5k3461XQ4Yygrr_ZAF-M8ifMTvVLTToxM5_mkvBcf4jdqANR3r3_RhWdqfveGatuRPm4YmrgT2CFtRwiUPKNqk2qi6cA3xOTSpHNW_brEXhVrE8Qm_Ajx0/s320/bflecha+-+b33.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">005</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">BFlecha</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“B33”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGAZ_RDg2a8" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
For both mathematicians and the math-averse, “B33” presents a reason to get excited about physics. The precision of the production alone is exhilarating – clean synths, sharp beats, pristine vocals, all in meticulous layers. When BFlecha in the chorus sings about ecuaciones and vectores and la cuarta dimensión, it’s like looking at the glittering command center of a spaceship, as sensual as it is mechanical. Her focus propels her into space and beyond, taking you with her. In the beginning of the video for WJSN’s “Secret” (one of the best K-pop songs of the decade), the group asks: Have you ever felt the cosmos inside of you? BFlecha certainly has, and listening to “B33,” you can too. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a alex="" anwandter="" bp.blogspot.com="" como="" dkwktvfwmjsxjno9olqgacku_8dudjm_aclcbgas="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" n6hqsclui="" puedes="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;" vivir.jpg="" zc9uyjkau6q=""><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEHn8nOzVfnCRr9vLvIBKqEuCp7pHGCjeTv5GxnHUDHnAruC-2JrI8D44aNHJX-ybWZ4wDQzhMLxbOdxOLT5KGAXNYTr1R2gRAtnmA_s1QhGPFxMZB3leTYYntcP4v28pfnFyzi_S9Yg/s320/alex+anwandter+-+como+puedes+vivir.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">004</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Alex Anwandter</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Cómo puedes vivir contigo mismo?”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWaf8Ndcr18" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
In May 2012, when the video for this track came out, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 4 was airing, the season that found the critical mass of its LGBTQIA+ audience, long before the mainstream started watching or being interested in drag and long before the critical acclaim of <i>Pose</i>. The video honors the same early ’90s ball culture of the latter, transporting <i>Paris Is Burning</i> to Santiago, Chile – the perfect imagery for the high melodrama of the song. Imagine not being moved to vogue at 2:45. Yas, gay anthem: “Siendo solo lo que soy / Es que entiendo lo que es real.” Yas, queer hipster king! <i>- Sam Rodgers</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bombay.jpg="" bp.blogspot.com="" bq7cs3s0jb00p-ypjtzk4hhcusexdrc2wclcbgas="" el="" guincho="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" hsxaql5i="" https:="" imageanchor="1" q7xlgt50="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCPktP0IS6WGdwCW_oNm2oNS3Su6FGk1XWP4mYieZ66AjJf70gTYQk7IPZInHo-9r28NfgASstgFFNn5BL-cvsTJ8Hi0Rs0J07QYsR9JP6E7LzXqS86DDsJgxtvO1wM_GO-aNQUuYkBro/s320/el+guincho+-+bombay.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">003</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">El Guincho</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Bombay”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIdUBVjyY5A" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
The sonar echoes opening makes you feel like an underwater exploration and then finding a gap, a free space through which you can get in deeper: a soundscape fueled with steel drum patterns and syncopated waves of handclap beat. The audacious tropical collage leaves you with a surrealist impression of insular isolation and freedom. As if he was letting us resurface to catch our breath, El Guincho then breaks the melody to claim “Solo yo te pido que te quedes en donde puedas alcanzar lo que quieras conseguir. Y en cambio tú me pides que me quede donde puedas vigilarme hasta que te canses de buscar” before diving again into the waves. As the song comes to an end, you find yourself longing to revel once more in those rapid waves of rhythm. <i>- Souad Martin-Saoudi</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" de="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" ivw81_mgi="" javiera="" jvgq7zwqy6k="" luna.jpg="" luz="" mena="" nfsvlbayr3iiybr6gpgvhxwxl38sqxstaclcbgas="" piedra="" s320="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijqUIXZX9eA2UTHJcBZvhLFUIPFY0Plm_8J20NpXBDpaRWXZ0Xbxfv28dEegjgMrlbR1Dj2OPxqjMNqYq0KrE15BspHUHDGnfjqRcbBXsPvu-l1wUkmMEPaEAhfHIg3mblYuMXGFHAb9g/s320/javiera+mena+-+luz+de+piedra+de+luna.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">002</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Javiera Mena</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Luz de Piedra de Luna”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atjmVa8k-vc" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
There is a special, unmatched joy that comes from adding songs to the canon as soon as they are released. The minute “Dancing On My Own” debuted was there ever a doubt it would go down in history? <i>Mena </i>arrived, <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2010/09/javiera-mena-mena.html" target="_blank">took home the perfect score</a>, and the single to ensure that legitimacy was “Luz de Piedra de Luna.” The track is disco ascension at its finest. Javiera unravels it all with precision and restraint. The ballroom excess is filtered through pulsating synths, Lido Pimienta’s coos are enchanting, and the chorus descends with the full force of decades of queer music behind it. Category is: Legendaric. <i>- Giovani Guillén</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
<hr />
<br />
<a bp.blogspot.com="" cvmwysn2w1g="" hasta="" href="https://www.blogger.com/" https:="" imageanchor="1" iwhloctji="" la="" lafourcade="" natalia="" qize-rdw7o82mbf0c5plwiuektae5d5ngclcbgas="" raiz="" s320="" song.jpg="" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNQJSBVC7-Ee4KVFDYMCiur2dgnrF-Z8mDTzDqvHMXr4JCQMCTSNJLsdeXmFU0PQFSvywEK2361ZXrPdJdpUZuwGf-a6_a_v32zx6t94gvFrPfnU5NVhSfzurYxLURuX6Ok-BvBq6Mas/s320/natalia+lafourcade+-+hasta+la+raiz+song.jpg" width="198" /></a>
<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 40px; font-weight: bold;">001</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px; font-weight: bold;">Natalia Lafourcade</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 27px;"><i>“Hasta la Raíz”</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKmPci5VXz0" style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 15px;" target="_blank">♫♫♫</a></span><br />
<div style="clear: left; text-align: justify;">
It’s a long train ride, steady, quieter than you’d expect, lots of time to think as the landscape unfurls outside your window. When the ticker tape of fields and the wave of hills in the distance lulls you into stillness, it gives you all the room for contemplation and realization. The guitar in “Hasta la Raiz” is the chugging train, sturdy and focused and reassuring. Lafourcade’s voice in the verses echoes the determined movement of the guitar. Keep going, keep working, if you’re too busy to think about them, you’ll forget. But you can’t always be resolute as the vehicle carrying you. In moments of stillness you remember. Because some people have a hold on you like that, no matter how much you try or how much you think you’ve let go. They have roots in you so deep they’ve become tangled with your own. When the song slows to a stop and you step off the train in a new place you know that, despite the distance traveled, that person remains with you. For better or worse, they’re a part of you now. <i>- Blanca Méndez</i></div>
<!--more-->
<br />
<div class="separator" style="color: black; text-align: center;">
</div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-79463647136656169792019-11-19T11:00:00.000-06:002019-11-19T11:00:01.654-06:00Generación Ruidosón: Creating the Sound of the Border for a New Decade<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Reuben Torres | Nov 19th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6I8cpakj-EN-XXRfvIFIXmDXhcvE54y5TNc5uAIInHPcCXfSgaWu0GOtQqtJBzpQIyVCSEmIBDfk3tf34WRsSmWgKtqsLSKY8c2nJSafqh3TLlGthzYGdJsa1nikZPbBh0P-RpJ_KSw8/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-mariayjose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6I8cpakj-EN-XXRfvIFIXmDXhcvE54y5TNc5uAIInHPcCXfSgaWu0GOtQqtJBzpQIyVCSEmIBDfk3tf34WRsSmWgKtqsLSKY8c2nJSafqh3TLlGthzYGdJsa1nikZPbBh0P-RpJ_KSw8/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-mariayjose.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The 10s were a decade of oversaturation. Even before the streaming revolution came along in the latter half of the decade, my generation, that is, the generation that came of age in the new millennium, had for years already been bombarded by a wealth of sounds coming from a slew of avenues: p2p networks like Napster, Limewire, and Soulseek, the rise of mp3 blogs, and endless torrents. All of this allowed us to consume every artist and style from across history, in a way that no generation had before. We experienced a kind of flattening in our mode of consumption and subsequent exhaustion as a result. This proved to be a great source of anxiety for some of us who lived through the analog-to-digital transition.<br />
<br />
It was this anxiety, I think, that first spurred me and a small cohort of artists and misfits to throw small raves disguised as house parties around San Diego and Tijuana sometime around the start of the decade. At the time, we had the lofty aspiration of creating a musical scene that would speak to our experiences as <i>fronterizos</i>, or border kids. Something that would wade through all the noise.<br />
<br />
Up until that point, Gen X had been the only reference point for Tijuana. They were the first generation to introduce the border city to the world as something other than a seedy pit stop for low lives and narcos and instead presented it as an actual vibrant metropolis and unlikely cultural epicenter. They defined what it was to live and experience that geographical limbo, through literature, art, and especially music. The very notion of a true “regional sound” of Tijuana that we aspired toward had already been cemented in electronic music through the legacy of Nortec Collective, who would characterize the clash of cultures in their mix of house, techno, and banda/norteño music. But that narrative was already growing stale for our generation and it was clear that someone needed to break away from it.<br />
<br />
That someone was Tony Gallardo. Up until then, he was a virtual unknown in the scene, because, well, there was no real scene of which to speak. He’d been making music as Unsexy Nerd Ponies – a kind of glitchy avant-pop project that was criminally underrated during its time – and performed regularly at our aforementioned parties. After a few years of flying under the radar, he began experimenting with <i>guapachoso </i>sounds. The sawtooth synths and chiptune beats in his songs were replaced by tropical rhythms, cumbia and banda samples, inspired in part by the likes of El Guincho and the burgeoning global bass craze.<br />
<br />
The hybrid that Tony explored wasn’t especially groundbreaking, but it hit close to home for a select group of artists, myself included. Our generation had a closer affinity to American culture, as opposed to our Mexican roots. This wasn’t exclusive to the border, but it definitely felt more present there due to our geographical proximity to the US. Even though we’d grown up with the folkloric sounds of our forebears, they somehow felt alien to us. We were culturally uprooted as a result of capitalist consumption, globalization, and, of course, the Internet. But Tony’s approach made these sounds tangible again, somehow, like hardening back to some earlier, more innocent time.<br />
<br />
The true seismic shift in Tony’s music came when he began to sing in Spanish, which for him necessitated a new identity. He rebranded himself as María y José, the names of his parents and also two of the most common – if not <i>the </i>most common – in Mexico. It was as rootsy as it could get. Through songs like “Espíritu Invisible,” “Tierra Sagrada” and “Ola de Calor” he spearheaded a new sound, which married the old and the new. We called it <i>ruidosón</i>.<br />
<br />
It began as a joke, as it was never really clear what ruidosón was, nor was it meant to be, really. It was a sound, to be sure, and a series of parties. But it also sounded like something that’s been around forever. Like the name of a salsa radio station or a banda channel on cable TV, ruidosón evokes the soundtrack of every Latin American party ever. But really there was a great deal of ingenuity in the name, if you read between the lines. It described a condition, which we were all simultaneously experiencing, a sort of zeitgeist that would ultimately shape the way we made music: that eternal clash between the past and the present, tradition and relentless modernity.<br />
<br />
Los Macuanos – a group I created alongside Moisés López and Moisés Horta – was the first ruidosón project to emerge after Tony’s. Our sound manifested all these aforementioned anxieties: political, technological, cultural, existential, even temporal. Early songs like “Alma,” “Ritmo de Amor” and “El Metralleta” – first featured on this very blog – defined what the ruidosón sound would become: ghostly, noisy, unsettling, dissenting, dark, made for the hips as much as the head. But more importantly, it was curious. The music of Los Macuanos, and ruidosón, always presented Mexican identity as a question rather than a statement. Our first true successor, Santos, would later mold this aesthetic into even weirder permutations (See: <i>Agonía </i>and <i>La Sombra de Satán</i>), featuring a much more prominent <i>guapachoso </i>sound, true to the joie-de-vivre spirit of Mexico, and painting a darker shade on the debauchery of our culture’s eternal fixation with <i>la fiesta</i>.<br />
<br />
But it was Siete Catorce who really took ruidosón to unprecedented heights. His music, the most abstract and formalistic of the lot, exposed what was at the core of ruidosón: a total erasure of borders. The most sublime incarnation of his vision could only be experienced on a sweaty dancefloor. It is there that he perfected the seamless art of crossing musical boundaries in an almost alchemic fashion, going from cumbia to tribal, juke to banda, hip-hop to your hips, his twisted mind to yours, without you ever realizing what went down. Perhaps no other artist defined Mexican electronic music during the past decade better than him.<br />
<br />
Ruidosón was our way of breaking through the noise, or rather, embracing it. We assumed the transformation – at once musical and existential – that came with the new millennium and new technology, by exorcising the ghosts that haunted us, of our predecessors and theirs before them. We built a new culture from the ashes of our old, so-called traditions through the appropriation and detournement of its most prominent signifiers, those which supposedly defined our “Mexican identity.” This conflict, both specific to our time and timeless, I assume, will be relived in the coming years. When that happens, I anticipate that we will seem archaic by comparison. Perhaps this is the way it’s always meant to play out. Perhaps we too will become the ghosts to haunt the generations to come.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<i>Reuben Albert Torres is a writer, journalist, musician and audiovisual producer from the San Diego-Tijuana border. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Columbia University, where he completed studies in film and journalism, respectively. He has written about arts and culture for publications like Remezcla and Vice, among others. He served as producer and co-host of the podcast Intelécto Genérico––alongside Tijuana writer and theorist Alfredo González Reynoso––which focused on the condition of the US-Mexico border through the lens of art and politics.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>As a musician, Torres has developed several electronic projects such as Los Macuanos and Espectro Caudillo, whose productions appear in films and series like Hecho en México (Pantelion, 2012), 1994 (Vice/Netflix, 2019) and Los Espookys (HBO, 2019).</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>He currently writes about New York City life and politics at Univision NY.</i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-46080395311278651732019-11-15T11:00:00.000-06:002019-11-16T17:15:42.927-06:00Club Fonograma, the Ungovernable Generation, and the Pop Insurrection: A Decade in Revolt<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Ze Puga | Nov 15th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsg3F3Xhof6z-FUZdXl4MR5OAjnyu3Cw1ZtIX8PISJG5zi-28mTGPka2ukFVMf318c36-snwwKdNk7uS_ZfJOrHFDFh0Y7QL-f9QsKiIbHPnzUYIXkxIxP3zbuuw_U_9tePMp9_pnjTf8/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-fakuta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsg3F3Xhof6z-FUZdXl4MR5OAjnyu3Cw1ZtIX8PISJG5zi-28mTGPka2ukFVMf318c36-snwwKdNk7uS_ZfJOrHFDFh0Y7QL-f9QsKiIbHPnzUYIXkxIxP3zbuuw_U_9tePMp9_pnjTf8/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-fakuta.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As this decade draws to a close, it seems appropriate to become more intentional as we process the world we inherited and the worlds we propagated. The cultural production of our era’s music, in all of its genius, contradictions, potential, manic obsessive excess, or dissociative malaise, reflects a time when we were forced to contend and respond to the banality of our brave new world, a techno-dystopian cliché <a href="https://soundcloud.com/capulloband/la-marea" target="_blank">drowning in data</a>, distorted realities, and alternative facts. Meanwhile, a formidable set of upheavals presented genuine opportunities for all people – across genres and cultures, genders, and class hierarchies – <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2013/04/10/176778960/the-knife-on-shaking-expectations" target="_blank">to shake the habitual</a>. Artists, music lovers, industry executives and consumers alike were forced to contend with, interpret, and navigate an era of precarity, digital transformation, and the culture of <i><a href="https://pitchfork.com/features/article/2010s-pops-great-awokening-black-lives-matter-beyonce-kendrick-lamar-solange/" target="_blank">woke</a></i>. This decade – the age of the polyglot – was a time of intervention and deep questions into the logic and processes of consumerism and citizenship. The musical polyglots of our era shapeshifted across genres, eschewed borders, and circumvented traditions, embracing instead the turning of the digital tides. In 2019, even Iggy Pop (a previous generation’s Jack White) made a comeback with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4SIsnY0CKQ" target="_blank">“Resist”</a> along one of the newest inductees into the Club Fonograma pop insurrection hall of fame: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9s1G4KxU08" target="_blank">Femina</a>.<br />
<br />
Musically, the most memorable personas and moments featured in this anthropological reverie (i.e. blog post), excelled in memorializing and celebrating the conflictual and deviant. Suddenly in an era defined by rupture, everyone, even pop stars, were encouraged (maybe even expected) to have a plan of attack, or at least a clue about the draconian, increasingly Orwellian global standard. Overtly political messaging in the music was not even the mood or the most effective means of attack. Take Cardi B, pop’s <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/cardi-b-wont-let-you-disrespect-her-because-she-used-to-be-a-stripper" target="_blank">crucifixion of respectability politics</a>: a sex worker, Blood, an already legendary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEGccV-NOm8" target="_blank">lethal virtuoso.</a><br />
<br />
The inaugural sermon of dystopian tastemaker Donald Trump, rich in distorted aphorisms and bursting with supremacist doctrine, perfectly encapsulates humankind’s biggest, current mood: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-mfhjaPvsM" target="_blank">carnage</a>. Indeed Mr. Trump, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/mt/podcast/roundtable-on-open-borders/id272844078?i=1000416038868" target="_blank">without a border you have no country.</a><br />
<br />
Behind all the noise (smokescreens, phone screens) nation-states, corporations, and emerging actors are duking it out for physical boundaries and virtual territories. Today, attention and allegiance are an essential form of currency and and our personal and social imagination(s) are of deep importance and sincere concern. If we can extract anything from this bygone decade, let it be the realization that we too form part of <a href="https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/pentagon-study-declares-american-empire-is-collapsing-746754cdaebf" target="_blank">the battlefield</a>.<br />
<br />
The following <i>noise </i>is a catalogue of artists, albums, and records within the Club Fonograma universe that were swept up in the chaos and paid homage to our ungovernable generation. Absent from this conversation are the majority of musicians, artists, and communities worldwide who have dedicated their entire or considerable craft towards emancipation. We remind ourselves and you the reader that <i>the pop insurrection</i> we speak of is limited to (because of time, resources, cultural bias, and personal exposure) a set of moments and movements in music within the Club Fonograma milieu, 2010-2019. We hope this essay can add to conversations over the world about the complexity of human affairs under late capitalism – a testament of some of the best music that our peers were making while we <a href="https://enoughisenough14.org/2017/04/25/france-to-become-ungovernable-is-no-longer-an-anarchist-fad-it-has-become-a-vital-necessity/" target="_blank">let the nation-state burn</a>.<br />
<br />
The pop insurrection as a measurable concept and practice is a worldwide phenomenon. It audibly rejects boundaries and genres. Naturally, the memetic energy of <i>perreo combativo</i> or insurgent reggaetón is of paramount importance. If indeed all colonies are burning, the Afro Caribbean diaspora has responded decisively, maybe even instinctually. By now, reggaetón is undeniably the new modality of globo-pop, <a href="https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/urbano-reached-critical-mass-in-2018/" target="_blank">underscored by views in the billions</a> on a truly mind bending dimension. As sunset falls on the 2010s, it feels surreal that <i>the top of the pops</i>, the world charts, are now dominated by Spanish speaking Caribbean diasporic artists. <i>Reggaetón </i>(and its more aggressive sibling, <i>perreo</i>) is inherently political. It is a genre cut from the outlaw / DIY culture of reggae and hip-hop, nurtured in paradise-islands beholden to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUcAPCxrSQs" target="_blank">the restless energy of prehistoric original peoples and self emancipated runaway slaves</a>. Uncoincidentally, reggaetón in the 2010s is the war dance of <a href="https://sub.media/video/anarchy-in-puerto-rico/" target="_blank">anti-colonial rebellion</a> in Borinken. In the eyes and ears of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APHgDFRpCi0" target="_blank">mi gente</a>: <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/08/01/how-music-took-down-puerto-ricos-governor/" target="_blank"><i>sin perreo no hay revolución</i></a> and today, not only is the colony burning, its subjects are interrogating and rejecting the illusion of citizenship itself. Of superlative importance are <a href="https://sub.media/video/post-hurricane-collectives-in-puerto-rico/" target="_blank">the people’s reliance on each other <i>in the absence of the state</i></a>. In the words of Bad Bunny, the colonizers might be <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIQXI0UuX8M&t=84s" target="_blank">“in denial”</a> but you know what? Estamos bien.<br />
<br />
2014 was the year Club Fongrama documented what I call <i>the pop insurrection</i>, perhaps best reflected in Fakuta’s <i>Tormenta Solar</i>, an album which saw the DIY pop darling collaging 80s synthpop (“Guerra Con Las Cosas”), (James) Blakeian electronica (“La Intensidad”), 90s Latin freestyle (“Despacio”) with lyrics concerning animal liberation (“Mascota”) and fugitive lifestylism (“Fugitivos”). 5 years ago, this entire concept was relatively tongue-in-cheek blogging by an up and coming neophyte with a few hundred words to fill and a noble, aspirational brand of a more dangerous pop. 2014 was also the year that Mask Magazine published the indispensable <a href="http://www.maskmagazine.com/the-post-friendship-issue/struggle/a-year-of-pop-music-and-party-riots" target="_blank"><i>A Year of Pop Music and Party Riots</i></a> and while the transgressive energy of the party-riot persisted, the website’s domain did not. <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/10/ferguson-keene-pumpkinfestpartyriotspoliceviolence.html" target="_blank">Al Jazeera</a>, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a389ya/the-great-pumpkin-riot-is-a-white-riot-worth-taking-seriously" target="_blank">Vice</a>, and <a href="http://www.ultra-com.org/blog/cant-stop-wont-stop-campus-riots-2013-2014/" target="_blank">Ultra</a> still carry its detritus but let this be a reminder that like Beyoncé, you should be your own best <strike>friend</strike> archivist. My point then as it is now is thus: we need a popular music befitting the end of days, a pop music that sounds and speaks the language of Revelations.<br />
<br />
It was late October 2019 and the illegal (and wildly popular) actions against public transportation fares in Chile had turned into protests turned into riots turned into <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/10/28/chile_massive_protests_sebastian_pinera" target="_blank">over a million people manifesting against capitalism</a>. Naturally, I turned to fakuta for her take on things and we got to talking about the response as the security apparatus of Chile unleashed a wave of despotic, deadly repression tactics usually reserved for its <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gy9mk7/violent-conflict-landowners-chile-mapuche-indigenous" target="_blank">indigenous populations</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B4jADP2l9km/?igshid=1lcqq5w7gg1m5" target="_blank">unseen on such a large scale since the U.S. sponsored dictatorship of the 1970s</a>. “Of course, the Mapuche cosmovision has always opposed capitalism and been the primary ‘enemies’ of the state” Fakuta messaged me. Simultaneously, she was also posting personal Instagram stories of street clashes in Santiago, plumes of pepper spray, and reposting <a href="https://twitter.com/lexxyquinn/status/1187130802162851842" target="_blank">memes </a>referencing Axe Bahia (<i>see</i>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO2OjAU1_VI" target="_blank">beso en la boca es cosa del pasado, la moda ahora es derrocar al estado</a>). Alex Anwandter was also at the riots, and I remembered me and cer of Marineros’s conversation in Wicker Park (2016) about the importance of chaos, destruction, and new beginnings. Watching Santiago <i>actually burn</i> (Adrianigual <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsdcbKNQmz4" target="_blank">set the Chilean capital on fire</a> for 2011’s “Arde Santiago”) through the social media feeds of the Chilean pop scene was brilliant albeit a bit freaky. The prophecy was coming full circle and over the next few days me and Fakuta discussed our precarity under global capitalism and how the dictatorships of the 20th Century had disguised their management strategies as democracies in the 21st. “I don't think capitalism can save itself, much less save us, but I also don't think it will disappear so soon” Fakuta recognized. She was lamenting the (as of this writing) twenty individuals murdered, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF1sQatbwf0" target="_blank">hundreds blinded</a>, and thousands more injured by the Chilean state who have been shooting rubber and lead bullets into people’s faces in street clashes. Part of our conversation touched on the post traumatic stress again overtaking the elders who survived the U.S. imposed Pinochet dictatorship which ushered in the age of neoliberalism. She denounced the complicity of the right <i>and </i>the left in maintaining a despotic social order and celebrated the rushing street adrenaline fueling her personal rebellion and the “collective rage” underway in contemporary Chile. By 2020, the pop artists of today were sounding much more like the anarcho-punks of the 1980s. And as of November 12, 2019, Fakuta had reacted with the word <a href="https://twitter.com/fakuta/status/1194461252086648832" target="_blank">“obsessed”</a> and shared videos of <a href="https://twitter.com/fakuta/status/1194463695222558720" target="_blank">military police being firebombed in the matrix.</a><br />
<br />
Planeta No harnessed a similar effect in 2014 with their <i>Matucana </i>EP, a charming debut that oscillated between lo-fi charm, glossier indie-pop, and insurrectionary cool. The music video for <i>Matucana</i>’s acme (“Señorita”) presented queer, feminist, and gender nonconforming squatters <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnB2niIJbzU" target="_blank">running around Santiago setting neoliberal fetishes on fire</a>, smashing the patriarchy, and reveling in the praxis of <a href="https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/joyful-militancy-bergman-montgomery#toc42" target="_blank">dangerous friendships</a> (a concept based on the intertwining dynamics between intentional care, intimiacy, and sabotage). The heroines of “Señorita” finish a night of life-affirming vandalism in their squatted mansion – referencing the crime candy punk of “Casa Okupa.” Their 2015 follow up and <i>Odio </i>LP lead single “Sol a Sol” presented a sunnier, funkier hi-fidelity alternative to their punkish jangle pop but still carried <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2015/06/planeta-no-sol.html" target="_blank">the mutinous energy</a> that had made Planeta No so appealing in the first place.<br />
<br />
Club Fonograma’s pop insurrection found one of its greatest exponents in the iconoclastic club anthems and meticulous songcraft of Alex Andwandter. <i><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2011/11/alex-anwandter-rebeldes.html" target="_blank">Rebeldes</a> </i>teased some of these concepts, but it was the superlative <i><a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2016/04/alex-anwandter-amiga.html" target="_blank">Amiga</a> </i>that established Alex as <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-latin/alex-anwandter-interview-new-lp-latinoamericana-736914/" target="_blank">a political ambassador of Chilean pop to a global audience</a> and went on to become Rolling Stone’s <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/10-best-latin-albums-of-2016-106779/alex-anwandter-amiga-106863/" target="_blank">#1 Latin Album of 2016</a>. Generally, the politics of the pop star – especially in today’s music industry – can be understood as an evolving, muted phenomenon that is part of the artist’s global humanitarian brand, carefully tailored for liberalized mass consumption in an era of <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mbmkz8/us-military-could-collapse-within-20-years-due-to-climate-change-report-commissioned-by-pentagon-says" target="_blank">clickbait cataclysm,</a> <a href="https://www.salon.com/2014/05/28/aviva_chomsky_is_anyone_truly_serious_about_immigration_reform/" target="_blank">manufactured consent</a>, and digital dislocation. This could apply to Shakira, Latin America’s biggest pop star, who has remained transparently silent about the state of our world. When asked by The Guardian about her thoughts on headlining the 2020 Super Bowl during a known boycott of the event by the likes of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/06/super-bowl-half-time-show-rihanna-cardi-b-colin-kaepernick" target="_blank">Cardi B and her collaborator Rihanna</a>, Shakira<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/nov/11/shakira-interview-singing-el-dorado-tour-film-super-bowl" target="_blank"> caught herself</a>. How <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgULjdsjiLQ" target="_blank">clandestine </a>is Shakira, really? In any event, credit is due to the visionaries and innovators who have stepped outside the marketable safe spaces of woke culture and plunged into overt militancy. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDZJPJV__bQ" target="_blank">Beyonce sank a cop car in New Orleans</a>; riots, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/hong-kong-protesters-lasers-china-military-1452239" target="_blank">lasers</a>, and stampeding elephants became part of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJt7gNi3Nr4" target="_blank">Jay Z and Kanye’s street scripture</a>; Cardi B described why <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1ubTsrZFBU" target="_blank">people attack police officers</a> and call them pigs in her interview of Bernie Sanders; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9AKH16--VE">M.I.A.</a> printed 3D guns and the floor plans of parliament; Alex Anwandter put out the call to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPzfHg2LAu8">set the State and the Church on fire.</a><br />
<br />
Alex’s calls for “total destruction” might find more allegiance with the crust-kids of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwyvG2mD6BA&list=PLqpbgiHv77-mljo1HH7x65CIzTHrOWNa-" target="_blank">No Cash</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/08/northern-souls-the-anarcho-punks-who-made-iceland-a-pop-powerhouse" target="_blank">Crass Records</a>, but in the 2010s, as in the age of Stonewall, the club was the ruse and disco the dialect of the dispossessed. On Fridays, we set the work regime on fire is the distilled essence of “Siempre Es Viernes En Mi Corazón,” an echo of Gepe’s insistence on general disobedience and his refusal to become a proverbial working class hero on “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBrqd0oysjg" target="_blank">Marinero Capitán</a>.” “Siempre Es Viernes En Mi Corazón” was the first single from <i>Amiga</i>, an album brimming with anti-patriarcal vitality (“Traición,” “Amiga”); queer violent balladry (“Manifiesto”); and even a Juan Gabriel revival in the epic closer, “Te Enamoraste.” The album’s highlight is the elegant, post-colonial parable of “Cordillera,” an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSXWXeFa-cs" target="_blank">audio-visual odyssey</a> taking place in a War of the Worlds, martian terrain where an emaciated, rugged Alex states the obvious: “quiero pelear.”<br />
<br />
2018’s <i>Latinoamericana </i>delivered another set of politically aggressive (and masterfully engineered) moments of excellent pop, this time harnessing more Talking Heads and less Fleetwood Mac. The album’s first single, the daylight funk of “Locura,” found Alex driving maniacally with a shotgun on his way to (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WY4zcUYYzo">presumably</a>) kill Donald Trump – reminiscent of Rita Indiana’s visual for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBVLvIjBFko">“El Juidero”</a> which also looked towards <a href="https://time.com/4501670/bombings-of-america-burrough/">the dynamite-ready 1970s</a> for inspiration. Guitars, funk grooves, and the opulent, majestic sounds of Motown constitute what could be Alex’s finest album, but it is “Canción del Muro” which transcends, connecting the bright pop of <i>Rebeldes </i>with the orchestral and political prowess of everything Alex has done since. The result is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xaM5Bt3c0o" target="_blank">another anthem for <i>the pop insurrection</i></a>: an infectious call for the demolition of laws and borders and a cosmic proposition against obedience.<br />
<br />
Even the beguiling Dënver could not escape the fervor of Chilean pop. Their most direct overture to direct confrontation occurred with the Cristóbal Briceño [of Ases Falsos <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUTDH2q8CmA&list=OLAK5uy_kcxC6DdZdmXud-fnmm1KmRNV4duPOdB4U" target="_blank">fame </a>(another political and polemical component of the pop insurrection] assisted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f186TpWHLxs" target="_blank">“Concentración de Campos.”</a> . In between the krautrock of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhbRHX1z4Mk" target="_blank">“Arbol Magnetico”</a> and the psychedelic disco of ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYZzAYLdXss" target="_blank">Tu Peor Rival</a>”, “Campos” condemned <a href="https://www.latinxspaces.com/latinx-politics/carceral-colonial-logic-taking-time" target="_blank">the logic of the concentration camp</a> and revived new life into the old adage: everything begins and ends with you. Elsewhere, as esoteric as ever, Dënver alluded to the barricades and the expanding fire (“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH0AJJ3CPu0" target="_blank">Revista de Gimnasia</a>”) and even imagined themselves as bank robbing outlaws (“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lJ02V5npr0" target="_blank">El Infierno</a>”). Not really one for politics, Milton and Mariana (back in 2015) confessed to me their complete and total devotion to Motown and Black American music in general (particularly for <i>Fuera de Campo</i>). During this same conversation after their show in Chicago, Milton turned to me and said something about the Milton Friedman School of Economics and how here in Chicago, they (you know, <i>they</i>) had planned the U.S. funded invasion of Chile in the 1970s. Indeed, neoliberalism may have been designed in Chicago but it was first implemented in Chile. Today in 2019, <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/chile-protests-revolt-against-neoliberalism-media-refuses-acknowledge/262565/">millions in Chile chant</a>: here neoliberalism was born, here neoliberalism will die.<br />
<br />
Major recording artists from Mexico or Mexican origins arguably did not rise to the challenge in a way befitting the plight of Mexicans and immigrants in the U.S.: <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adolfoflores/mexico-el-paso-shooting-terrorism-citizens-immigration">from mass shootings</a> to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/border-facilities/593239/">concentration camps</a>. This is nothing new as traditionally, the Televisa-Univision apparatus has been incredibly effective in enforcing uniformity. One highlight from the 2010s was Kap G’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK4CXNFx8V0">fuck the police anthem</a> which connected the fact that the functions of <i>la migra</i> and <i>la policía</i> are inextricable: the criminalization of captive populations. The rise of DIY channels, aptitudes, and technology did also give rise to the perennial chillwave of Cuco who has been doing more than most in using his #Vote4Pedro swagger to speak against immigrant detention and the separation of families. He also used his spot on Univision to wear his branded FTP (see: fuck the police) t-shirt but still, it really does seem like those of us who were assigned Mexican at birth can and should be doing more to step it up (including Cuco) in advancing a vision that <a href="https://moratoriumondeportations.org/"><i>all of us</i></a>, regardless of a criminal background or statutory qualification, belong in the communities of our choosing – not in the camps. Such was the message of Miguel, who made the GEO Group / Immigrations Customs Enforcement operated Adelanto Detention Center one of his first stops along his <i>War & Leisure</i> tour in 2017. Miguel’s performance was <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/inside-miguels-political-awakening-126397/">his contribution to a movement aimed at defunding the police and prisons</a>, a conversation he is very much a part of as a Black Mexican with roots in Los Angeles and Michoacán.<br />
<br />
Mom (Julieta Venegas) did have her moment with “Explosión,” a post-punkish vignette of contemporary Mexican death: Ayotzinapa, femicide, and apathy in the face of annihilation. Reminiscing in the anarchist motifs of her time with Tijuana No!, Julieta’s prescription is didactic: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZoFSb2jAO8">may everything explode, rise.</a><br />
<br />
Mexico’s crowning moment within the pop insurrection does in fact belong to Tijuana, the motherland of <i>ruidosón</i>. <a href="https://www.nbcsandiego.com/blogs/sounddiego/Five-of-the-Best-Ruidoson-Bands-You-Should-Know-163496796.html" target="_blank">Ruidosón</a>, a new genre of borderlands electronica, arguably came into full view with María y José’s beloved (and unmastered) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtvN06HzQNQ"><i>Espíritu Invisible</i></a>. The genre was sustained by Santos – a ruidosón “purist” and the genre’s <a href="https://remezcla.com/releases/music/santos-agonia-album-review/" target="_blank">superlative torch bearer.</a> It was brought to international prominence under Los Macuanos who closed out the genre with 2018’s <i>Epílogo</i>, notably <i>not </i>a ruidosón album <i>per se</i>. Ruidosón was also filtered through the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5aUthFUxOA">cold, spectral qualities</a> of Siete Catorce but in the eyes of many, movements come in three and Siete Catorce (who to be factual was already firmly branded within the NAAFI logotype) is often overlooked.<br />
<br />
Ruidosón and its main protagonists are inherently political: they were creating spaces within the barren, shuttered, and horrific nightmare of the <a href="https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2014/jan/22/crasher-dystopia-you-can-dance/#" target="_blank">drug-war-torn borderlands from 2009 onwards</a>. The sound of ruidosón was never uniform and always shapeshifting and might explain why the genre has seemingly perished by 2019, but its basic elements shared and reflected the macabre reality of living and dying through the apocalypse of <a href="https://neoliberalismandthewire.weebly.com/narco-capitalism.html">narcocapitalism</a> in the 2010s. Its best moments transposed folk sounds like <i>banda</i>, <i>cumbia</i>, <i>bolero</i>, and <i>pasillo </i>and refracted their traditions through sinister techno, <i>tribal</i>, and combat electronica. It is the music that best encapsulates contemporary Mexico (so much so that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-Bco3OcVow" target="_blank">“Ritmo de Amor”</a> has become the <i>de facto</i> theme song for <i>Vice </i>videos diving into Mexican political and cultural affairs) and sounds like a disturbed DJ set at a ghastly fertility ritual (colloquially known as a <i>quinceañera</i>); a bullet ridden narcowedding; or a broken family party in someone’s backyard. More than just a concept, it was an intervention into party culture not just in Mexico but also in the U.S. and begged the question: how are we mobilizing against this trauma, what do <i>our </i>parties sound like living through a genocide? Ruidosón’s essential moments answered the latter and it sounds like dancing on top of graveyards collecting the bodies of a perennial holocaust, sediments of Latin American history, from colonization to neoliberalism.<br />
<br />
In fact, Santos did precisely that for a Guerrero Negro x Club Fonograma video project which documented a performance of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc2QyRKfCDs">“Sin Salida”</a> on a graveyard of fresh, post 2006 graves. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/12/13/mexico-drug-war-mass-graves/" target="_blank">Plan Mérida</a>, the U.S. funded military assault into Mexican society- particularly indigenous communities and student and activist groups – was launched in 2006 under the guise of battling the Mexican drug cartels and has resulted in the deaths of over a quarter of a million people (by conservative estimates) and disappeared tens of thousands more.<br />
<br />
By 2019, María y José had already adopted (and severed) several monikers, his most enduring being Tony Gallardo II, which delivered the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PBjhUmN2IU">gothic New Wave</a> of “Juventud Guerrera”, which after <a href="https://www.oldfonograma.com/2015/07/ruido-fest-2015-festival-report.html">our performance</a> in Chicago, he described to me as a love letter to the Black rebellions across the U.S. against the police. “Juventud Guerrera” arrived not long after the Mexican military (using Plan Mérida money and protocol) killed, wounded, kidnapped, and disappeared scores of students from the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/09/07/three-years-after-43-students-disappeared-in-mexico-a-new-visualization-reveals-the-cracks-in-the-governments-story/">indigenous Ayotizinapa</a> student college in Guerrero. Santos shited focus (and presented new material under Dor+an) but 2014’s <i>Mi Technobanda</i>, 2012’s <i>Shaka </i>and 2015’s <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmq7FNo40bk">EP 3106</a></i> are <i>essential </i>ruidosón classics. Los Macuanos delivered the sinister hits with the brutal <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDSw9n70OTE">“Sangre, Bandera, Cruz”</a> and the triggering <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR6cw1bWSzE">“El Camotero”</a> during the height of their international tour in the mid 2010s but had radically shifted their sonic output by 2018’s <i>Epílogo</i>, which found scant traces of <i>tribal </i>or <i>cumbia </i>but delivered heavy on the <i>noise </i>element of <i>ruido</i>són and featured field recordings of street battles, military helicopters, fiery manifestations, and police-state chatter through the dispatch radio. The oppressive tension of the album culminates with “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc6yh9qHh7c">Soldado Sin Cara</a>,” a true banger that flirts with <i>tribal </i>but remains devoted to the spectral, ominous techno of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/09/06/548120715/shocking-omissions-the-subversive-power-of-the-knife-s-silent-shout"><i>Silent Shout</i></a>. As a solo venture, Los Macuanos’ Moisés Huerta became <a href="https://soundcloud.com/h-e-x-o-r-c-i-s-m-o-s">ℌEXOℜℭℑSMOS</a> and adopted the anarchist techno hashtag, and plunged into harrowing “sound technologies” and “prehispanic sound artifacts” in order to address the “politics of colonization and occupation” through ritual.<br />
<br />
As the political and corporate global order established after World War II continues to erode or fragment, suddenly, our <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-awards-10-billion-war-cloud-deal-to-microsoft-over-amazon/" target="_blank">age of mass surveillance</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/22/how-kellyanne-conway-ushered-in-the-era-of-alternative-facts/" target="_blank">information warfare</a> can be understood as a historical process of military expansionism and <a href="https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/pentagon-study-declares-american-empire-is-collapsing-746754cdaebf" target="_blank">geopolitical strategy</a>. It is in this moment of disintegration that leaderless social movements, motivated individuals, and yes, even corporate and independent musicians, can continue creating and leveraging the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10576108008435483?journalCode=uter19">propaganda of the deed</a> against authority.<br />
<br />
In this definitive era of mass extinction where we have seen first hand the transformative and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRPVvzwfR68">mind bending power</a> of <a href="http://www.historicalmaterialism.org/articles/afro-pessimism-and-unlogic-anti-blackness">Black insurrection</a> in places like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZxEyoplYbI">Ferguson</a>, it is important to reflect on the genre-defying, mind bending, and transcendent soundtrack of our ungovernable generation. Weaponizing the arts – performative, poetic, visual, sonic – towards liberatory and unforeseen horizons is in line with the heritage of Dadaism, <a href="https://brightkite.com/essay-on/tropicalia-as-rebellion">tropicalia</a>, punk and hip-hop. The novelty and power of our moment is that pop music – a music that can trace its origins to the Negro Spirituals of the middle passage and slavery; <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/entertainment/music/blackface-in-pop-music-white-christmas-bing-crosby-20190215.html">later hijacked by the minstresly</a>; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/music-black-culture-appropriation.html">usurped by the corporate jingle</a> – has been appropriated and can continue to be a physical, virtual, and spiritual form of resistance to the masters. What else could <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEA0btSNkpw">“Blood on the Leaves”</a> be about? To hijack the words of W. Benjamin: we can use the language of pop music, “a language tainted by power against that power, to turn the instrument of the [corporate] state against that state.”<br />
<br />
Latin American artists have been perennially criticized for allegedly yielding and bowing to American trends (and European standards) in the arts at large. For the sake of entertainment and its implications into the 2020s, if “Latin America” is to respond to America’s cultural lead, it would have to continue looking to the fertile grounds of Black cultural icons, the top brass in the pop echelon. By the sounds of it, the haute monde is also in on the uprising: Beyonce revamped her entire output and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/04/beyonces-homecoming-a-scholarly-coachella-documentary/587362/">came home</a> (all while paying homage to Malcom X, the Black Panther Party, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu4Ewp84O4w">the militancy of Nina Simone</a>); Kanye West used his platform to agitate against “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/10/01/kanye-wests-baffling-13th-amendment-twitter-outburst-maybe-not-so-baffling-after-all/">the biggest factory of all</a>,” prison slavery; and Kendrick Lamar gave this generation its first <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-48u_uWMHY">anti-police, pro-Black anthem</a> of <a href="https://itsgoingdown.org/reflections-on-the-ferguson-uprising/">our post-Ferguson reality</a>. Not since the 1970s has “protest music” sounded this <a href="https://medium.com/@dashailina/so-what-isnt-d%C3%A9tournement-datamoshing-and-the-practices-of-guy-debord-9a93c973543b">apolitical</a>, this radiant, this strange. In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR_d_Kmd1EQ">the words of Ibiza Pareo</a> “ondas oscuras nos rodean... sol y luz envuélvenos.” Without a doubt, into the 2020s (just America or Europe) the world will have to respond to the sounds of “Latin America”. <br />
<br />
Arguably, the imaginative dial-up of M.I.A.’s <i>Arular </i>and the throttling broadband of <i>Kala </i>served as <a href="https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/as-rapper-m-i-a-takes-aim-does-protest-music-have-a-future-1.232072">architectonic ancestors</a> to the current politi-pop landscape. Evermore criticized for “performing” as an insurrectionary, it seems appropriate to remember that within semiotic capitalism, anything can be stripped of context and yielded as a weapon. It will be up to those who take up “the culture” to either live to the premise of “World Town” (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2kWATXSFc">hands up, guns out</a>) or capitulate to the A.I. colony, the digital plantation of the 21st Century. In the words of Lido, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNIe0WNjbI4">a garden begins with a seed</a> and in this past decade, we have been harvesting and situating for the coming vivification.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Zé is a Chicago based (via Michoacán and CDMX) anarchist dedicated to the interrogation (and ultimate destruction) of the racist-colonial social management strategies of the global police-state. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Zé’s work has been been published by or appeared on Club Fonograma, National Public Radio, University of Georgia Press, Northwest Medill School of Journalism, University of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University and through a variety of autonomous publications and disparate methods of DIY, anti-authoritarian, and anti-colonial cultural production. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Zé grew up with his family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins next to a garbage dump in Mexico City outside the Benito Juárez Airport and is a community-taught legal assistant currently working within the intersections of criminal, immigration, asylum, and civil rights law in the US. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Zé’s interest in poetry, sound, and film continue to converge through collaborative music projects and a forthcoming debut album as a solo artist. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Follow Zé on Instagram at: nilismo2000000</i>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-68147495932465359462019-11-14T11:00:00.000-06:002019-11-14T11:00:05.471-06:00The Brief Cuban-American “Gozadera”<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Stefanie Fernández | Nov 14th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjij-JMdvXGIlBVwvIsRO8V5l1aOHo1vm24OyVwPo-6ifWHgao6HaJWYhyphenhyphenex6SHBaMbroyJy3RUpsYE2JPCBRftYtUVlf7hjg4y_HmESPwc5QQfEDvbKNR14cESq9hBYBrZgjh07lf_ibA/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-gentedezona.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjij-JMdvXGIlBVwvIsRO8V5l1aOHo1vm24OyVwPo-6ifWHgao6HaJWYhyphenhyphenex6SHBaMbroyJy3RUpsYE2JPCBRftYtUVlf7hjg4y_HmESPwc5QQfEDvbKNR14cESq9hBYBrZgjh07lf_ibA/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-gentedezona.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The ‘10s was the decade of “Despacito” and “Mi Gente” – the decade when Latin music broke streaming platforms and finally didn’t need a translation to be taken seriously by a white American audience. For Cuba and Cubatón, the island’s unique subgenre of reggaetón influenced by traditional Cuban genres, this was the decade that saw the first significant thaw of Cuban-American relations in half a century, which had its own theme song: Gente de Zona’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMp55KH_3wo" target="_blank">“La Gozadera.”</a><br />
<br />
The first single from the group’s third album, <i>Visualízate</i>, was released in April 2015, only five months after Raúl Castro and Barack Obama announced a formal thawing of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States that would begin with the reopening of embassies in both countries that summer. In fact, “La Gozadera” dropped just two weeks after President Obama announced that Cuba would be removed from the U.S. State Department’s “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list.<br />
<br />
But despite the long freeze in diplomatic relations, Cuban music continued to journey across the stretch of sea to a new audience. Cubatón, in particular, was born in the 1990s, a decade that saw Cuba undergo the <i>período especial</i> or “special period” of unique economic strain, a byproduct of the Soviet Union’s dissolution. Marked by drastic shortages of food, medicine, and petroleum, this era and its sound reflected the fervor of the Cuban protest spirit and its native genres. In 1999, Carlos Manuel y su Clan created <a href="https://youtu.be/0aqK0xXrhos" target="_blank">a prototype</a> and precursor of Cuban reggaetón with their hit “Agua Fría” that blended timba, salsa, and zouk. Artists like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD2fbZMuqVw" target="_blank">Máxima Alerta</a>, formed in 1999, fused son cubano, salsa, and rumba with rap and reggaetón, then gaining prominence via Puerto Rico (via Panama), while <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQa-zt6ggy8" target="_blank">Cubanito 20.02</a>, formed in 2002 by members of the rap group Primera Base, experimented with dembow, dancehall, calypso, and soca. Both groups are widely considered the pioneers of Cuban reggaeton. Many others then finessed the sound of Cubatón, including Eddy-K, Clan 537 and Chacal y Yakarta.<br />
<br />
Alexander Delgado and Michel Delgado (no relation) formed Gente de Zona in 2000. Rappers Jacob Forever and Nando Pro replaced Michel after his 2005 departure, and eventually each of them left to pursue their own projects. Gente de Zona songs of this era such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSthXfSG4Mg" target="_blank">“Le Gustan Los Artistas”</a> and their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJjRl6IrpHQ" target="_blank">“Homenaje Al Beny”</a> tribute to Beny Moré’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOrr9SRF8SE" target="_blank">“Que Bueno Baila Usted”</a> included on the Chef soundtrack celebrate the brass and dance of Cuban timba and mambo, the first major Cuban genre to draw American attention in the early 20th century.<br />
<br />
It was after the addition of Randy Malcom in 2013 that Gente de Zona became global stars, and not entirely by chance. In 2014, the group, along with Cuban singer Descemer Bueno, featured on Enrique Iglesias’ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUsoVlDFqZg" target="_blank">“Bailando,”</a> which ricocheted in clubs internationally, including in the U.S. With the co-sign of Marc Anthony’s entertainment company <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/latin/6545800/marc-anthony-magnus-media-launch-own-company" target="_blank">Magnus Media LLC</a> and Sony Music Latin, the group and Anthony released “La Gozadera,” which has since gone <a href="https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/?tab_active=default-award&se=la+gozadera#search_section" target="_blank">12x multi-platinum</a>.<br />
<br />
It begins: “Y se formó la gozadera / ¡Miami me lo confirmó!” From its first line, “La Gozadera” takes the pan-Latinx diaspora around the world and the microcosm of Miami as its starting points and sets them to a buoyant salsa. It shouts out a handful of Latin American countries and their collective uplift. The third verse ends: “El mundo se está sumando a la fiesta de los Latinos!” For the Latin music industry in the United States, this was a literal statement.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VMp55KH_3wo" width="630"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
—</div>
<br />
Often the U.S. epicenter of the fraught dialogue between Cuba and the United States, Miami is nothing if not loyal to its convictions, many times to its own detriment. Yet despite long-standing pressures to enforce the embargo, the exchange of music and art between Miami and Havana always seemed to circumvent it. For Miamians, the combination of the Cuban radio machine and new generations with strong ties to the island allowed Cubatón to thrive naturally (just tune into <a href="https://ritmo95.lamusica.com/" target="_blank">Ritmo 95.7 FM</a>, “Cubatón y Más”). In Cuba, organic content distribution networks like <a href="http://paquetedecuba.com/" target="_blank">el paquete semanal</a> and the hustle of <i>resolviendo </i>keep even restricted music circulating. And with the loosening of restrictions on travel and trade, formal channels of communication opened across the Straits of Florida that seemed levied for good.<br />
<br />
2015 also saw the unforgettable proliferation of Osmani García’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRp3-D3SMwI" target="_blank">“El Taxi”</a> featuring Pitbull. And Jacob Forever’s 2016 hit <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eMFDVu1GQE" target="_blank">“Hasta Que Se Seque El Malecón”</a> has not ceased playing in every club, nail salon, and Lyft on Calle Ocho since its release. But not all Cubatón artists have historically been able to broadcast their sound so widely.<br />
<br />
The state-operated music industry in Cuba controls the recording (see <a href="http://promociones.egrem.co.cu/" target="_blank">EGREM</a>, the main national label since 1964), production, sale, and distribution of music. Only genres cosigned by the Ministry of Culture, like jazz or salsa, receive industry support. In 2012, the Ministry’s Cuban Music Institute <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/06/cuba-crackdown-vulgar-reggaeton-music" target="_blank">announced </a>that it would heavily censor reggaetón in public spaces, on television, and on the radio due to its “vulgarity.” Tracks like “Hasta Que Se Seque El Malecón” succeeded in spite of these restrictions via <i>paquete</i>.<br />
<br />
In December of 2018, current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel’s <a href="http://www.lajiribilla.cu/uploads/article/2018/847/Decreto-349.pdf" target="_blank">Decree 349</a> went into effect, <a href="http://amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/08/cuba-new-administrations-decree-349-is-a-dystopian-prospect-for-cubas-artists/" target="_blank">“[prohibiting] artists from operating in public or private spaces without prior approval by the Ministry of Culture” </a>(Article 1) according to Amnesty International, and allowing the Ministry jurisdiction over art containing “sexist, vulgar or obscene language” (Article 3d) or “content harmful to ethical and cultural values” (Article 4f). Like rap and hip-hop before it, which were (unlike reggaetón) scrutinized for expressly political messaging, reggaetón was a genre <i>de la calle</i> that remains heavily kept at the gates despite its global embrace and subsequent softening.<br />
<br />
As a result, some Cubatón artists have defected to the United States. In 2003, Carlos Manuel of Carlos Manuel y su Clan <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/11/us/cuba-pop-star-defects-to-us-by-walking-across-border.html" target="_blank">famously defected</a> by walking across the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2011, Osmani García’s particularly raunchy song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_mvQy2EWjY" target="_blank">“Chupi Chupi”</a> was denounced and banned from the airwaves by the Cuban Music Institute and the Ministry of Culture. “¿Cómo pudo un ministro de la cultura ir en contra de lo que quiere y prefiere su país?” García <a href="http://cafefuerte.com/csociedad/1360-cantante-del-chupi-chupi-acusa-de-censor-al-ministro-de-cultura/" target="_blank">responded</a> in a letter to the Minister of Culture. García was supportive of the thaw and has lived in Miami since 2016.<br />
<br />
Efforts on the part of the United States have sometimes undermined local resistance. In 2014, for example, an Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/ce2a878ea7a941fb93fe718ee6d46e9e" target="_blank">report</a> uncovered USAID’s failed two-year attempt to infiltrate youth hip-hop scenes critical of the Cuban government. This resulted in a slew of artist detentions and greater scrutiny on rap groups like Los Aldeanos, whose frontman Aldo Rodriguez was detained in 2009 for illegal possession of a computer after appearing with Juanes at his USAID-supported concert in Havana. Los Aldeanos’ Bian <a href="https://www.vibe.com/featured/moment-of-clarity-el-b-starts-over-after-u-s-cuba-controversy" target="_blank">“El B”</a> Rodriguez sought political asylum in Miami in 2014, explaining that it had become impossible to create their music freely in Cuba.<br />
<br />
And in Miami, the <a href="https://www.wlrn.org/post/miami-city-commission-wants-end-one-way-cultural-exchange-banning-cuban-performances" target="_blank">debate</a> over which Cuban artists get to perform for Cuban crowds in the city continues under old-guard exile pressures. Just this summer, the majority-Cuban City of Hialeah <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/hialeah/article231688363.html" target="_blank">canceled</a> performances by Señorita Dayana, El Micha, and Jacob Forever at a Fourth of July concert – to the disappointment of a lot of Cuban concertgoers.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
—</div>
<br />
The “normalizing” of relations felt anything but normal. Yet “La Gozadera” helped many Cubans excluding only the most hardline hope a little easier.<br />
<br />
It helped that Gente de Zona doesn’t make expressly political music. Yet even if “La Gozadera” isn’t strictly a political song, it assumed a world in which the Cuban people’s voices were as loud as those of any Latin American country. Which is really what we wanted.<br />
<br />
Delgado sums it up in the bridge: “Yo canto desde Cuba y el mundo se entera / ¡Si tú eres Latino, saca tu bandera!”<br />
<br />
Since President Trump rolled back many of the Obama-era reforms and reinstated restrictions on travel and business in 2017, the thaw has slowed significantly. The brief window of normalization allowed Cuban artists to travel more easily to the United States and set the gears of the Sony Latin machine in motion. Now, even though it set an industry precedent for larger artists like Gente de Zona to be embraced, artists with fewer state resources have a harder time reaching audiences abroad.<br />
<br />
Yet the Cubatón exchange continues to thrive. Well-loved Cubatón artists like El Chacal, El Micha, Jacob Forever, Yomil y El Dany and more continue to perform in Miami (like at this month’s annual <a href="http://watscocenter.com/event/lamusicaritmo-presentan-cubatonazo-2019/" target="_blank">Cubatonazo</a> in Coral Gables) and New York. Cubans stay experts in <i>resolviendo</i>.<br />
<br />
When Delgado was asked about Marc Anthony filming his scenes for the “Gozadera” music video in the Dominican Republic in a 2015 Billboard interview, he demurred in the way Cuban artists of his fame are really good at: “Marc Anthony hasn’t gone to Cuba yet, but he will. Everyone will.”<br />
<br />
I hope he’s right.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Stefanie Clara Fernández is a Cuban American writer from Miami, Florida. Her work has appeared in NPR, Pitchfork, No Depression, and Miami New Times, among others. She currently lives in Washington, D.C., where she is a producer at The Atlantic and co-curates NPR Music's Alt.Latino weekly playlist of new Latin music. You can find her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/matervamami" target="_blank">@matervamami</a>.</i>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-66784252932612861872019-11-12T11:00:00.000-06:002019-11-12T11:00:07.936-06:00El Embrujo Inconfundible de Mi Sol: On Rita Indiana’s Diasporic Return Anthem “La hora de volvé”<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Verónica Bayetti Flores | Nov 12th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM3SI-cTyj2WTcqKvUaOfMkydPU1r8yeh2oAnAq5LYXnmQ6zg9axAG3DImIajCw-m9bo2WE8Iy7L1NO-i7lnOvQCeV2AX0j5KXh2OtPP-11n2Ym7DPwQQB3BfaM6UBAgMMe6eejsVAUWE/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-ritaindiana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM3SI-cTyj2WTcqKvUaOfMkydPU1r8yeh2oAnAq5LYXnmQ6zg9axAG3DImIajCw-m9bo2WE8Iy7L1NO-i7lnOvQCeV2AX0j5KXh2OtPP-11n2Ym7DPwQQB3BfaM6UBAgMMe6eejsVAUWE/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-ritaindiana.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>¿Quién quiere estar comiendo mierda y hielo cuando puede estar bailando algo mejor?</i><br />
<br />
The most devastating irony of classic xenophobic insult “go back where you came from” is arguably that many – maybe even most – of us wish deeply to do exactly that, but just...can’t. It’s almost a cliché for immigrants and their children – the return fantasy. Hitting this tender nerve, Rita Indiana crafted one of the best songs of the last decade, full stop: the diasporic return anthem “La hora de volvé.”<br />
<br />
Rita Indiana y Los Misterios’ <i>El Juidero</i> came out in the fall of 2010, a masterpiece ahead of its time. The album is a glorious cacophony of güira, tambora, and synths, the driving alt-merengue diasporic Caribbean weirdos everywhere had been waiting for. It’s not exactly that it had never been done before: Rita Indiana herself engaged in initial explorations of this sound with Miti Miti – whose 2008 album <i>Altar Espandex</i> teased at the glory that would be <i>El Juidero</i> – and Maluca’s “El Tigeraso” played with alternative merengue in 2009. But what you must understand about Rita Indiana is that she is quite literally a novelist; her facility with words, her poetry, her narrative ability are a thing of sublime beauty, and the lyrics on El Juidero are nothing short of rhapsodic. Nine years later, I haven’t found a lyricist that, for me, captures the same intoxicating mix of Caribbean humor and flow with metaphors that elucidate quotidian experiences in a way so alive as to render them an almost visual experience. An allegory for the hardships, joys, and everyday absurdity of diasporic life, <i>El Juidero</i> explores leaving home, exploitation, love, everyday microaggressions, and, of course, return.<br />
<br />
<i>Salir pa’llá pa’ después darme cuenta que no hay de na’</i><br />
<br />
Before migrating here, the United States we know is the United States of television – a glossy fantasy where everyone is financially comfortable and lives in homes with wild luxuries like garbage disposals, carpeting, and multiple stories. This is the dream we’re chasing when we come here, but what awaits immigrants, more often than not, is much less glamorous: xenophobia, racism, back-breaking work, y un frío del demonio that threatens to mentally break those of us used to more gentle temperatures.<br />
<br />
Similar to its thematic predecessor – Gloria Estefan’s classic 1992 diasporic longing anthem “Mi Tierra” – “La hora de volvé” speaks to the pull of one’s homeland. But while “Mi Tierra” focuses almost exclusively on the beauty of home, Indiana’s modern, arguably more honest rendering highlights a different motivation for returning: how deeply uncomfortable it is to exist in a place where no one wants you.<br />
<br />
In the visual, Rita Indiana and her crew of dancers and musicians are in a surrealist space landscape. Dodging rocks and strange animals, it’s not unlike finding yourself lost somewhere magical and strange where you’ve made a home nonetheless, dancing to the rhythm of life the only way you know how.<br />
<br />
“Subiste nevera con cinco vaca a’entro,” she sings, and I think about what metaphorical cows I’ve been carrying in the heavy refrigerator of migrant life.<br />
<br />
<i>Coge un avión coño, una yola al revés</i><br />
<br />
There’s nothing quite like diasporic longing for home, but for most of us, a fantasy is all it is. Returning is either impossible or stupid – because we don’t have the money or the visa, because our careers aren’t viable at home, because the global economic violence that sent us here in the first place has ravaged home so badly that eeking out a meager existence there is nearly impossible for most people. Logistics aside, the reality of return is much more complicated than a triumphant homecoming. Maybe you’re gay and it’s awkward, maybe when you’re home you miss some other kind of food that you got used to that you can’t access there, maybe when you finally get back you realize you’re actually in some hopeless ni de aquí ni de allá limbo and your longing for home isn’t cured after all.<br />
<br />
But “La hora de volvé” gives life to the fantasy. It makes you feel the pain and longing of being far from home, has you start thinking of pulling out that giant maleta – that fleeing the country maleta you got under your bed filled with all sorts of random shit – if only for the four minutes and two seconds of the song. When the beat is a quick staccato and the synth is foreboding and harsh, I imagine my life in this dirty, cold city I live in; when the melodic chorus kicks in, my mind shifts to the smell of the ocean air as I get off the plane in Venezuela, the dark green, shiny foliage that threatens to take over everything, the pastel rainbow of peeling paint on the homes and businesses. That an openly queer woman is the narrator makes it feel even more possible – maybe I, too, could make it work.<br />
<br />
<i>Tengo nueve años llenando maletas</i><br />
<br />
In my diaspora return fantasy, like Rita I come home with a maleta llena a casa de mi abuela, with is airy patio and solemn sala filled with dark wood and velvet furniture donde no se sienta nadie, making way to the open air comedor with wicker seating where we’d always eat papayas, watermelons, and mangos from my abuelo’s huerta. All my primos are there like it’s semana santa or something, and mi tío Elieser who lives across the street knocks on the door with some dominoes and a bottle of liquor in hand. Pero la casa de mi abuela was long ago divided up into something much smaller to make room for tenants. My cousins have mostly left and are scattered across the world. And in March my abuela passed, joining my abuelo and the rest of our ancestors. The displacement inherent to global economic violence means that there is no longer one obvious place where my triumphant return could take place, no one matriarch holding the family together, and barely any family together at all, really.<br />
<br />
What we have left is held together by the thin thread of the Flores WhatsApp group, where family members spread out from Argentina to Sweden write in with an assortment of birthday wishes, health updates, jokes at best corny and at worst offensive, and copy-and-pasted chains of what’s more likely than not political misinformation.<br />
<br />
<i>Y en un invierno en Nueva Yol te viste muerto</i><br />
<br />
As I write this I am in Miami, having stayed extra days away from the brisk fall air of New York City with the excuse of meetings to set up, work to do. But really I’m here chasing home, listening for a Venezuelan accent on the street or the Lyft driver, or searching for them more intentionally at <i>El Arepazo</i> in El Doral. I try to surround myself with strangers who speak the way I do, fishing for the accent of my people, the familiar Caribbean sing-song of our words, the opportunity to experience Venezuelan strangers clowning each other in riotous laughter for the smallest infractions, as we do. There’s something about hearing it not from family, or friends, or people I come into contact with purposefully; to just exist in the vast expanse of the outside world among people who are, in this particular way, like me.<br />
<br />
As a teenager I had the return fight with my parents – I hated this place, I wanted to go back, please let me go back – and for the longest time I maintained the fantasy that I would, when things back home got a little better.<br />
<br />
Things have gotten worse. I don’t know when or if I’ll get my yola al revés. But I will always have “La hora de volvé.”<br />
<br />
<i>Todos vuelven a la tierra en que nacieron, al embrujo inconfundible de su sol. ¿Y quién quiere estar comiendo mierda y hielo cuando puede estar bailando algo mejor?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Verónica Bayetti Flores is a New York City based, writer, policy wonk, and cultural critic. She has led national policy and movement building work at the intersections of immigrants’ rights, health care access, police accountability, and LGBTQ liberation. Verónica has written extensively about race, immigration, gender, and music. She is a co-creator and co-host of Latinx music podcast <a href="https://radiomenea.com/" target="_blank">Radio Menea</a>, and is a co-founder and Managing Partner at the <a href="http://www.caip.us/" target="_blank">Center for Advancing Innovative Policy</a>.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Twitter/IG: @veroconplatanos</i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-66067686176042200472019-11-11T10:56:00.000-06:002019-11-11T10:56:03.786-06:00Déjenme Llorar: Thank-You Letters To The Songs That Held Me 2009-2019<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Phoebe Smolin | Nov 11th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnX1jnObM9WcUOkVWKElBFWec34QHrkVGwuLVLe09LAWfzypIPqNXAi5za3cB5rp0noR4Q92cqQcfQLjf9nnvcBgRvigZJW7hHAHA0SsL5LYc5ttR233xa0ITP3lCA4Y6aR9ChH0wb60/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-fonogramaticos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnX1jnObM9WcUOkVWKElBFWec34QHrkVGwuLVLe09LAWfzypIPqNXAi5za3cB5rp0noR4Q92cqQcfQLjf9nnvcBgRvigZJW7hHAHA0SsL5LYc5ttR233xa0ITP3lCA4Y6aR9ChH0wb60/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-fonogramaticos.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<i>To all of my friends, who are also songs:</i><br />
<br />
I am right here because of you.<br />
<br />
<i>Here </i>is on the floor of my Silver Lake apartment listening to “Me Voy” by Julieta Venegas on repeat because, once again, it’s all too relevant and here we are (life why you gotta be so cyclical?); <i>here </i>is at the end of the decade that saw me through the bulk of my twenties, scrambling to turn love into money but never quite getting the hang of it. <i>Here </i>is home, and the way I’ve come to understand it across latitudes. <i>Here </i>is a sound that rings of one moment and every moment since – you are that sound, you are my here.<br />
<br />
<i>To all of my friends, who are also songs:</i> let me briefly explain how we got here.<br />
<br />
It must have been about 2007 when I was sitting in my childhood room listening to the radio at the tail end of my dad’s show (shout out KPFK/public radio), when a song came on that happened to be Bebe’s “Siempre me quedará.” I was deep, <i>deep </i>into my punk phase at that point (and probably angry that I wasn’t old enough to get into the X show that night) and that should have been the last song to perk my ears. But for some reason that raspy whisper, that language I only kind of understood, and that strange way of putting a melody together hit me deeply. I wished I’d made that song. I proceeded to obsess over it, scouring Google with vicious searches for the lyrics until the bigger story revealed itself to me. I swapped out the Sex Pistols for Café Tacvba and Julieta Venegas and found a strange sort of solace in the entire musical history that surrounded them – an obsession that would eventually become the profound remapping of my sonic environment. And that is how this insanely contentious-to-categorize musical world (that I’ll call Latin Indie for simplicity’s sake) found an unassuming teenage Jew from Los Angeles.<br />
<br />
When I found Club Fonograma, I found a heavenly vortex on the Internet that made me feel a little less alone. It was my everything for a while, my favorite place, teaching me how to think critically about the music that I resonated with and didn’t know why, giving me the tools and the words to understand my position and privilege when I listened to it. The site introduced me to the songs that would be catapulted from their existence as isolated sounds to things that I would love deeply, that would start movements in some cases, that would be there to catch me at any given moment.<br />
<br />
Over the last decade, what began as an obsession became my entire life. And there are certain songs that, within this batch of absolutely confusing and gorgeous years, I’ve kept coming back to, as if they themselves were places. Little homes I’ve come to feel safe in for some reason or another. I’ve grown with them, I’ve heard them echoed in the songs that succeeded them. I’ve cried to them (with them?) after terrible days, and revelled with them after the good ones. These are the songs that may not have been critically praised – or even acknowledged – but they’re the ones that I needed. They’re my favorite places, my sweetest friends. And so, when tasked with reflecting on ten highly formative years, I feel duty-bound to simply thank them.<br />
<br />
So, <i>to all of my friends who are also songs</i>, this is for you.<br />
<br />
Dear <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhj7V1QtGE" target="_blank">“Los Adolescentes”</a> (Dënver), </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I remember the first time I heard you. In the middle of my first snow, alone in my Massachusetts dorm room, feeling that nebulous kind of sad that comes with knowing you’ve lost something but aren’t quite sure what it is. And then I heard that electrifying opening riff, followed by Mariana’s sugar-smooth voice coming in with those simple-yet-profound lyrics perfectly encapsulating the feeling of the in-between, which is very much where I was (and have been many times since). I proceeded to jump on my bed, rejoicing in the fact that something – this song – made everything feel okay for six minutes. Even when you resolve into dissonant synth-chaos, you hold it together – a lesson I’ve kept with me ever since. There is no greater teacher than that. Thank you.<br />
<br />
Dear <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi8xvOf46cI&list=PLRIKQXkIp6l8bFkl7Qd_KWfg50rjLhzgb" target="_blank">Fonogramaticos Vol. 10: Nosotros Los Rockers</a>,</i><br />
<br />
I never fully admitted to myself how vital you’ve been to my personal soundscape over the last decade because there’s a certain assumed shame that comes from loving a copy. An inherent cheapness to it. But you, you are a masterpiece. When Julieta Venegas and Ceci Bastida covered Rita Indiana, I’d found the tropical indie rock rave that I didn’t know I needed. El Medio’s cover of “Tus Amigos,” making what is a totally absurd song sound sweet, is genius. Astro’s spacey cover of Los Espíritus is, to me, exactly how it should sound. In twenty-hour tracks you taught me the value in being open to new ways of seeing, and you made that acceptance sound so, so, so good.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLfNTztmSXU" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLfNTztmSXU" target="_blank">Abrázame”</a> (Los Rakas, Uproot Andy mix),</i><br />
<br />
I really didn’t want to like you. When I first heard you in the middle of an indie stupor that I took way too seriously, you were not something I wanted to let myself like. But you started sneaking your way into my mornings, the mixes I made for my friends, the bad college parties I DJ’d, the grimy Los Angeles after hours I saw too many times. You, for ten years, have not left me alone and have not let me hate you the way I wanted to and I am writing this to tell you that you win. I give up. You can’t choose who you love.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://youtu.be/X87NhecFcRY" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://youtu.be/X87NhecFcRY" target="_blank">Yo Sería Otro”</a> (Dávila 666),</i><br />
<br />
In 2011, when you came blaring through my crappy speakers telling me “jugar con fuego tiene fin” I agreed with you, but decided to keep doing it anyway. You, with that savage sweetness that defined the Dávila, the punk rock call and response that felt as holy as it was confusing, that dirty punk attitude that reminded me of what my priorities were. As soon as I heard you I had a feeling I was doomed (and I was). I followed you and that addictive hook of yours to Boston from Western Massachusetts to see you live and everyone thought I was insane. You led me into the arms of many bad decisions, and were always there to pick me up on the other end. You introduced me to the people who would become my family. You became impossible to unhear, and I’m so grateful for that.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6h_kHYHBaQ" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6h_kHYHBaQ" target="_blank">Pa’ Respirar”</a> (Bomba Estéreo) </i>[via a very stylish Vincent Moon one-take]<br />
<br />
I can’t tell you how often I come back to you. Brought to you in an anxiety flurry, you are the first thing that sounded like actual peace to me. Me being in the world I’m in, it’s hard to admit that this version of you (what some would call a Bomba deep cut) surpasses anything else that Bomba Estéreo has ever done. Don’t get me wrong, I can get down to some life-affirming <i>Amanecer </i>bangers and <i>Blow Up</i> dancefloor throwbacks, but knowing that this pure, genuine, raspy solace is behind all of those makes me want to peel back the pump-up club sirens and hear you again. You gave me my first taste of the Andes, filmed on top of Monserrate in Bogotá during an overcast sunset – a place I’d proceed to romanticize until I found it a couple of years later only to learn that I wasn’t romanticising anything – you were just right. You are beautiful in the way that the vastness from the top of the Andes is beautiful and also terrifying, how the endlessness of it all is unsettling because of how small you are within it. You, you are that moment where I feel like enough.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aIuna5a8Dc" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aIuna5a8Dc" target="_blank">Rie Chinito”</a> (Perotá Chingó),</i><br />
<br />
I found you through this simple video shortly after my grandfather died in 2012, and about two weeks before I moved to Chile. I don’t know how, or what propelled you into my life at the time it did, but it was serendipitous. All I wanted was harmony in a time that was relatively dissonant. And there you were. Exactly what I needed to hear. I hope you don’t mind that I played you once in a bar in Valparaíso – I know it probably didn’t sound that great but it felt so good to sing. Once I literally tumbled my way down the tallest part of the Andes to meet you in person (sorry for how bad I smelled that day). I never understood why more people here don’t listen to you more. But I think they might find you someday soon and wonder the same thing.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://youtu.be/VAayt5BsEWg" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://youtu.be/VAayt5BsEWg" target="_blank">Sacar la Voz”</a> (Ana Tijoux ft. Jorge Drexler)</i><br />
<br />
You changed everything for me. When you were released, I was in the middle of an idyllic summer in New York City, living with wild musicians, working away at my super liberal media internship, and knee deep in what was becoming a lifelong obsession with music that can restructure society’s DNA. I was also beginning to realize the root of my interest sprung from a very personal place (as they often do). Always a quiet kid, I’d find unconventional ways to be loud – my clothes, my essays, my songs. You validated everything (on top of just being an incredible musical moment). With the line, “Sacar la voz, no estoy sola estoy conmigo,” you reaffirmed that I already had everything I needed. On a larger scale, you exposed that one of the barriers between the ‘powerful’ and the ‘powerless’ is also silence – a barrier that crumbles the louder the collective voice gets.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCWGOUlqq4k" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCWGOUlqq4k" target="_blank">Derecho de Nacimiento”</a> (Natalia Lafourcade)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Building on what I began to learn from Ana, when you were released in 2012 you gave me further proof that I was not totally out of my mind for believing that music had magical powers. Written as a hymn for the student movement in Mexico, I heard this for the first time when I was living in Chile, when many of my friends were also involved in constant protests against an oppressive education system. It was insane how something so similar could be happening so far away. It was outrageous that something so human could be made inaccessible. It was amazing how all of these voices I’d already loved for their sweet songs about life came together to show us another side of their craft in this video. You made everything feel so entirely connected. And you still do.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNIe0WNjbI4" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNIe0WNjbI4" target="_blank">Jardines”</a> (Chancha Vía Circuito ft. Lido Pimienta)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
When I heard you I had no idea that music could sound like this. I’d found a song I wanted to live in. Between Lido’s voice and Chancha’s intricate, creeping beats I found myself ripped from my reality which, at the time, was at a desk in North Hollywood, and reconnected with a poetic sense of existence that I’d lost touch with in trying to synchronize with the rhythm of capitalist America. Hearing you invoked a feeling I felt was left in my bones by my ancestors for me to find at that exact moment. Nothing ever really was the same after that. You led me to some of the people who’ve become my family over the years, and you’ve led me back to the shamelessly human part of myself.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=207hLG0kmSI" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=207hLG0kmSI" target="_blank">Jamaica”</a> (Ela Minus)</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
You were one of those songs I hid in. When you came out I was in the process of navigating one of the most evil relationships I’ve ever known, something that ripped me so far from myself that no one was sure I’d ever come back. Most of my moves were highly surveillanced by my partner at the time. I’d become aimless in a lot of ways, living purely to tip-toe around this person’s disapproving outbursts. I’d become convinced that so much of what I’d loved before was irrelevant. But there was something about you that woke me up. “No hay luz sin oscuridad,” you sweetly repeated with a quiet strength. There are so many songs I’ve loved because they aggressively confronted society’s ills loudly and obviously. You were my own quiet revolution, my first dance with my own shadows that I gladly dance with every day now, thanks to you.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWb2aPBFvE" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWb2aPBFvE" target="_blank">Give Me Some Pizza”</a> (Nathy Peluso),</i><br />
Some loves can be simple. Not everything is the end of the world. You, in all of your ridiculous realness, came into my life to remind me of that. That cravings hurt because they matter. That they’ll only get louder if we don’t listen – or, in this case, sing to them in the key of a distant Ella Fitzgerald after a long night. You are fearless in your realness, and you’ve saved so many awkward silences since you were released and for that I love you (and pizza) forever.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8JJxmVQ9KI" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8JJxmVQ9KI" target="_blank">Te Guardo”</a> (Silvana Estrada),</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
You are where memory activates – echoing so many of the <i>trovadoras </i>before you while feeling so, so distinct. When I heard you for the first time it was raining in Los Angeles, you’d been sent to me by a friend in Mexico with no words, just urgency. I lost track of time for a minute. Coming from the mind of such a young person you sound like you contain the ages. Hearing you at a time where the musical climate leans in favor of the all holy autotune, digital glitches, and juicy bass drops was refreshing. A reminder that there are still so many layers to who we are and what this moment sounds like – that the decades after this one promise so much light, that the profound wisdom of the youth is not to be underestimated.<br />
<br />
Dear <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jfvgN7lB6E" target="_blank">“</a><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jfvgN7lB6E" target="_blank">Convéncete”</a> (Princesa Alba),</i><br />
<br />
Unlike a lot of the songs here, I’m writing to you mere months after hearing you for the first time. You’re new, but that’s not how it felt upon hearing you. You immediately recalled the moment I heard Teleradio Donoso for the first time: urging me off of my bed and onto the proverbial dancefloor somehow all of a sudden in love and unsure with whom. That is the magic of a flawless pop song. That is the magic that the Chilean pop scene exposed me to ten years prior to hearing you. I listen to you and immediately feel like I’m at the end of a 90s rom-com, butterflies in my stomach, dramatically panning out to some ambiguous skyline while I twirl on a football field. That lightness, especially lately, is invaluable.<br />
<br />
Dear <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG5AzFoA1Wg&list=PLmKSumQHAb7cgOLGBs_Ed-Nja5LXh4_WS" target="_blank">This Is How You Smile</a> (Helado Negro)</i><br />
<br />
I don’t mean to make the rest of the songs feel bad but the whole of you, glittery being, have been my greatest friend this year. From the soft realness of “País Nublado” to the permeating drone weaving in and out of melodic glitches on “Fantasma Vaga,” it feels as if you are the album that I (and a lot of us, really) have been waiting to hear for an entire decade. You are proof that there is a way to find sweetness amongst the dark pieces that make up our reality these days. It’s been a strange year, a heavy-yet-revealing end to the decade, and you have been by my side every day in all of your glitchy glory assuring me: <i>“quédate que hay luz.”</i><br />
<br />
I will, I promise.<br />
<br />
As Christopher Small (<i>Musicking</i>, 1998) so simply put it: “to take part in a musical act is of central importance to our very humanness.” So, <i>to all of my friends who are also songs</i>, thank you. Without you, there is no me.<br />
<br />
Here’s to another ten,<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Phoebe<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Phoebe Smolin is a nerd from Los Angeles who lives to create and understand spaces of sonic exchange. She fell into the music industry by accident 7 years ago, and has since been working as a publicist, label coordinator, artist manager, producer, curator, connector, researcher, among whatever other title makes sense in the moment. Working with artists and arts organizations from Latin America and beyond, the heart of her professional adventures has always been a drive to bring creative expression to the forefront, and to help make often prohibitive industries easier to navigate for artists. </i><br />
<br />
<i>IG: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/phoebelousmolin/" target="_blank">@phoebelousmolin</a></i><br />
<i>Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/phoebesmolin" target="_blank">@phoebesmolin</a></i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-84325773227523706712019-11-08T10:55:00.000-06:002019-11-08T10:55:01.925-06:00How Women Reclaimed a Space for Themselves in this Decade of Música Urbana <h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Lucas Villa | Nov 8th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTb1RuS6jxWFvcrbf5qJIZrjg6utC-6aC1IzUd-843_BQ_yCRHFIYEhO_TSB854RvozjPPTzvO6ddfxDUkzCRCC75sPm0aJWDb5PPtqLfUMmiImLUADvAKfFuSeWPCtchpNHfpvwZHvk/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-rosalia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhTb1RuS6jxWFvcrbf5qJIZrjg6utC-6aC1IzUd-843_BQ_yCRHFIYEhO_TSB854RvozjPPTzvO6ddfxDUkzCRCC75sPm0aJWDb5PPtqLfUMmiImLUADvAKfFuSeWPCtchpNHfpvwZHvk/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-rosalia.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
“Eso no quiere decir que pa’ la cama voy,” (That doesn’t mean I’m going to bed with you) declared reggaetón music's first lady, Ivy Queen, on her 2003 breakthrough single, “Quiero Bailar.” Fast-forward to 2018 and one of the women who has risen in her wake, Karol G, boasted in Spanish, “Mi cama suena, y tu recuerdo se va,” (As my bed squeaks, your memory fades away), on “Mi Cama.” Ivy was part of the female voices in reggaetón standing on her own during the genre's exposure in the 2000s. The past decade has seen reggaetón, and the larger música urbana movement, come back stronger than ever and fortunately, many women followed in Ivy's footsteps and fought harder for representation and space in the industry.<br />
<br />
As the decade-end think pieces start to pop up, many of the men of reggaetón like Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, and Maluma, and the recent Latin trap music upstarts like Bad Bunny and Anuel AA, will be revered for helping globalize música urbana. However, women hold a higher regard, in part for pushing through the male-dominated genre and accumulating accolades as well and regardless of quantitative accomplishments, women deserve respect on their names. Inspired by Ivy Queen, reggaetoneras like Karol G, Natti Natasha, and Becky G were able to stand strong like the guys and further spread the female perspective on topics like sex, heartbreak, and swagger.<br />
<br />
Near the middle of this decade, Colombia's Karol G and Dominican Republic's Natasha released a string of singles that earned them notoriety in reggaetón while Mexican-American singer Becky G was starting to crossover from the Top 40 pop of “Shower” to music in Spanish. As Latin music and artists experienced a global outreach in part due to the amassed appeal of “Despacito” in 2017, women collaborated with their male colleagues and lessen the gender disparity of the genre exposure Natasha earned her first big hit with Ozuna on “Criminal” and Karol G rack up millions of views leading Bad Bunny on “Ahora Me Llama” while Becky G did the same with “Mayores,” a smash that solidified her as a force in reggaetón.<br />
<br />
With their heightened profiles in música urbana, the women were able to follow-up with hits that highlighted the girl power the genre was lacking. On the bouncy “Mi Cama,” Karol G seamlessly switched between sweet and hard in letting an ex know that her bed was still getting plenty of action without him.<br />
<br />
“There was a journalist that told me he didn't respect a woman making a song about her bed squeaking,” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BqIeKLdF3EY/?utm_source=ig_web_options_share_sheet">Karol G said</a> in a L.A. concert leading up to last year's Latin Grammy Awards. “My bed is bringing me to the GRAMMYs and it keeps squeaking and squeaking.” A few days later, Karol G became the first female reggaetón act to win Best New Artist.<br />
<br />
One of Natasha's songs that really made an impact was “La Mejor Versión de Mi,” an emotional ballad where she discovered her self-worth after leaving a toxic relationship. Finding strength in solidarity, Becky G scored one of the biggest hits in Latin music this decade with Natasha on “Sin Pijama,” a reggaetón-pop romp about throwing a sexy sleepover.<br />
<br />
“The industry, the press, the audience would rather see women compete against each other and fight against each other,” <a href="https://twitter.com/billboardlatin/status/1121202161302556672">Becky G said</a> in an interview with Billboard this year. “I would like to change that. So many people told me not to do ‘Sin Pijama’ with anybody. Imagine two powerhouses coming together. That's lights out. That's a moment in music history. That's more than just a hit song. That is making a statement that will change the game and that's exactly what we did.”<br />
<br />
With women of música urbana teaming up, female Latin pop stars also joined. Argentina's pop princesses Tini Stoessel and Lali Espósito worked with Karol G on separate occasions. The former racked up millions of views with Karol on the empowering “Princesa” while the latter broke through a power studded lineup of Latinas on Mau y Ricky and Karol's “Mi Mala” remix alongside Becky G and Leslie Grace.<br />
<br />
Just before “Despacito,” Colombian superstar Shakira was back in the reggaetón game with “Chantaje” featuring Maluma. In the early 2000s Shakira and Alejandro Sanz attempted a similar feature with “La Tortura.” Currently, “Chantaje” nears 2.5 million views on YouTube while Spanish artist Rosalía, has a pop take on flamenco music turning heads, and now rubbing elbows with urbano with “Con Altura” with J Balvin and “Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi” with Ozuna.<br />
<br />
Like Shakira, Jennifer Lopez is a powerful Latina who dabbled in reggaetón this decade. On a remix of the male-centric “Te Boté,” she gave the savage kiss-off track a much-needed female voice. “Let's be real, I threw you out,” J.Lo fired back. Brazilian superstar Anitta found her groove in música urbana, especially on “Downtown,” where she took control in the bedroom and gives J Balvin the directions where to go.<br />
<br />
As música urbana goes global, more artists around Latin America are finding their voice in the movement. ChocQuibTown from the Afro-Colombian city of Chocó recently dropped a single titled “Que Me Baile” where the group's female member Gloria “Goyo” Martínez takes the lead in demanding hot-and-heavy dancing in the club alongside Becky G. In the music video, Martínez reigns and shines like a rightful queen over her bandmates and a team of dancers. Acknowledging reggaetón is a Black sound, seeing and hearing women like Martínez reclaim the genre for Afro-Latinx women is powerful, such the case of Dominican-American rapper Cardi B dominated the charts in both Spanish and English.<br />
<br />
Women have been thriving in the genre for the better half of this decade. The opportunities they're pushing will be carried into the next one.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Lucas Villa is a freelance music journalist based in Santa Ana, the barrio of Orange County, California. He has been writing about all things pop music for 8 years now. He's covered countless pop stars, concerts and events across the country and abroad. As a Mexican-American writer, his coverage lately has been more focused on Latin music and its movement across the globe. He feels the most proud to give Latinx artists (especially the divas) the coverage that they're lacking and deserve. His words have been featured in Rolling Stone, Billboard, MTV News, and Remezcla. Connect with him on all social media @MyPrerogative15.¡Vamos órale!</i><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-31485338157818125012019-11-07T11:00:00.000-06:002019-11-07T11:11:32.946-06:00The Night Dënver Gave Me a Future<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Richard Villegas | Nov 7th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMlusXAe-NIvqPE7z39yDp-JEsd0R2muPg1mXZdROl5FozUZJ4UHkQDXLg_cGCW5-5kWis_wdHe0kV7Mr8SRwzY0ucynAZ2eQreXPV1i5jcGXHtgC0MNnIhsEOd9QKBRjY7j_OFOlBH_Q/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-denver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMlusXAe-NIvqPE7z39yDp-JEsd0R2muPg1mXZdROl5FozUZJ4UHkQDXLg_cGCW5-5kWis_wdHe0kV7Mr8SRwzY0ucynAZ2eQreXPV1i5jcGXHtgC0MNnIhsEOd9QKBRjY7j_OFOlBH_Q/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-denver.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
What’s the record that changed your life? I don’t mean the one that helped you get over a break up or nursed you through mourning a loved one. Those records are essential, but I mean the one that shattered your fundamental understanding of what music is and can be. I mean the one that forced you to reassess your beliefs. The one that unmasked you as little more than a young, arrogant fool. For me, that record was Dënver’s sophomore album <i>Música, Gramática, Gimnasia</i>, an emotional whirlwind of synthesizers, orchestral strings, romantic daydreaming and teenage angst that forever shattered my US-centric musical outlook.<br />
<br />
Melodrama aside, that record really did change my life. In late 2011, after nearly three glorious, if hectic, years in South America, a wild adventure came to a crashing close as ending jobs, friendships, and romantic relationships indicated it was time to begin a scary new chapter. That October I headed home to New York City, an amazing but tough fucking town, where my less than glamorous circumstances ushered in a deep and ugly depression. I was broke as a joke, sharing a bedroom with two friends in The Bronx and unable to secure a job for the first six months of my return. This apparent fall from grace was a sharp contrast to my South American life, where for the past two years I’d lived in Santiago, Chile, making extremely cute coins and living excessively, to the point of vulgarity. It was a humbling shift, and looking for any nostalgic taste of my past life, I remembered a friend had gifted me the new album from this random band for whom he designed a website.<br />
<br />
I distinctly recall my incredulousness as the shimmering disco strings of “Mi Primer Oro” gave way to the filthy, saturated synths of “Olas Gigantes.” How had I never heard this? I loved dance music. Disco had been my favorite musical genre since I started paying attention to the whole damn artform! How had this music existed right under my nose and completely escaped me? What the actual fuck was happening? Who were Dënver and why had I not yet pirated their entire discography?<br />
<br />
But the bitter truth was I had known about this gold mine and didn’t care when I was actually in it. I had seen Dënver, Ana Tijoux and Astro perform at the first Lollapalooza Chile in 2010, and I shrugged them off as local filler talent as I walked over to catch whichever other US or European act was performing at the same time. Javiera Mena and Francisca Valenzuela opened the festival’s main stage on their respective days, promoting their sublime debut albums, as well as new cuts from their even better follow ups <i>Mena </i>and <i>Buen Soldado</i>. I, of course, showed up later, eager to see some mediocre band I can’t even remember. More galling still, I saw Dënver perform twice more during my time in Chile; once at a post-earthquake fundraiser in 2010 and again opening for Cut Copy later that year.<br />
<br />
Back in my friend’s Bronx dining room, the epic orchestral crescendo of “Lo Que Quieras” was hitting and I was already frantically searching for related artists. That night I discovered Gepe, Adrianigual, Fakuta and Alex Anwandter, also going back and giving Javiera Mena and Astro a proper shot. I was blown away, and while the Chilean indie pop explosion came as a buzzy and gradual wave for most, it was a rude awakening for me. I looked back on my life in Chile, and even further back to the year prior in Argentina, and found cherished memories lived through a jarring gringo bubble. In many ways I’d been bratty and condescending, disinterested in local music scenes I was repeatedly told were excellent. Maybe it was knowing that soon I’d have to go sleep on a dirty, deflated air mattress, or perhaps it was the pit of regret expanding in my stomach, but that night Dënver threw me a lifeline.<br />
<br />
Chilean indie pop suited me shockingly well, then and now, and while I remain a fervent acolyte of this musical golden age, <i>Música, Gramática, Gimnasia</i> is still my favorite way of getting lost in a wondrous hipster fantasy. I’ve always had a taste for quirky, left-of-center pop, so songs like “Los Adolescentes” and “Segundas Destrezas” left me twirling on the moon. Mariana Montenegro’s almost childish cooing on “Feedback” and “Cartagena” still gives me chills, and while she remains the face of Dënver to this day, it was Milton Mahan’s reluctant leading man energy that had me hook, line and sinker.<br />
<br />
I was completely sold on the cinematic romanticism of “Diane Keaton” and “Lo Que Quieras,” the latter of which always gets me on the last line. After offering us heaven, earth and everything in between, Mahan closes the song by meekly gasping “Y si no quieres nada...” – an extraordinary reminder that having each other’s company is more than enough to get by in this terrible world. On “Los Bikers,” we also get a glimpse of the subtle darkness that has become a hallmark of Mahan’s writing, minimally unspooling a tale of sexual assault that grows even tenser when coupled with its modern dance and sadomasochism-flavored music video. Finally, on “En Medio De Una Fiesta,” he provides a perfect bookend for the record, exquisitely colliding the melancholy and disco ball euphoria we’ve heard explored throughout.<br />
<br />
In my life there’s a before and after <i>Música, Gramática, Gimnasia</i>. Before Dënver opened the floodgates of an entire generation of Latin American indie musicians making brilliant, challenging work without so much as an ounce of credibility to envy their US and European peers, I was willfully ignorant and unaware of my staggering gringo arrogance. Afterwards, I became hungry and curious again, reconciling several aspects of my identity and devoting the better part of the past decade to supporting and uplifting this artistic universe. As a writer I’ve been lucky enough to meet, interview and befriend many of my idols, while as a fan and adventurer I’ve traveled the world, being welcomed into scenes, shows and homes I could only have dreamed of while sitting in my friend’s plastic covered chairs in The Bronx. Today, this music pays my bills. It literally feeds me. After years in the game, it still sounds like madness every time I say it out loud.<br />
<br />
Gracias Dënver, por darme lo que quería.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Richard Villegas is a music journalist, culture writer, world traveler, Instagram thot and hot mess. He is a frequent contributor at Remezcla, Bandcamp and Rolling Stone and produces the SONGMESS podcast, where he interviews Ibero-American musicians and industry professionals over beers, coffee and chisme.</i><br />
<i>IG: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rixinyc/" target="_blank">@rixinyc</a> / <a href="https://www.instagram.com/songmess/" target="_blank">@songmess</a></i><br />
<br />Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-51868731453958215832019-11-06T11:00:00.000-06:002019-11-06T12:28:36.720-06:00CLUB QUE(R)ER<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Sam Rodgers | Nov 6th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSeg_vpshiW4Q2OTRMZjL2o2caXtGg95QSKN9LzF5tZZV-EsPRI7XsCb_i87xZJJ31xIj49jY9oEQpUYK7ywskKwa4uIoL9N4KLv-_DQR3nSExjjIUqi2Y8y8UExuw68Wg2DdOBb0di0g/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-anwandter_border.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-8Zys9DL1qbIiYj_y7VwRE74t-Hj-n0n0on3OYjD32z1t4QI27Bt-SMts7l7TE1xKYHDgXMNsnQxgP_qQnImsCYqEUbwqdeR0zFfO4i21MvUl-cefeyqADzUkyCqxXyZkzWEhMcBqnvk/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-anwandter_border.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div>
In the past decade the Iberoamerican world has stepped up to the plate in regards to LGBTQIA+ rights. Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, the United States, Colombia, and Ecuador have legalized same-sex marriage nationwide within the past ten years. In Mexico, same-sex marriage has been recognized in a majority of states, while Canada and Spain legalized the practice in the 2000s. Latin America has also seen some of the more progressive legislation for trans* people adopted in the last ten years compared with other countries. Politcally, it would seem that the rainbow is bursting out of the Western Hemisphere – indeed, over the last decade not just Iberoamerican, but queer artists worldwide have become more visible and celebrated by an ever growing audience. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OWaf8Ndcr18" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This past decade, at least in the Club Fonograma world, has been dominated by high profile queer Latinxs, Alex Anwandter and Javiera Mena. Both artists have seen tremendous growth over the decade as their fanbases expand outside of their homeland, Chile. Anwandter won a Teddy Award for his first feature film, <i>Nunca vas a estar solo</i> (2016), and has sung the words “el maricón del pueblo” in a Latin Grammy performance. He referenced seminal ballroom scene documentary <i>Paris Is Burning</i> (1990) in the video for “Cómo Puedes Vivir Contigo Mismo?” (2012). He’s also led the way for newcomers like fellow Chileans Francisco Victoria, Entrópica, and Playa Gótica’s Fanny Leona. Meanwhile, Mena created an iconic lesbian music video for her single, “Espada” (2014), and more recently collaborated with Colombia’s gay pop idol Esteman on “Amor Libre” (2019). That’s not to exclude other Chilean queer icons Kali Mutsa and Dënver, the latter producing the very homoerotic video for their song “Los Bikers/Segundas Destrezas” in 2011. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GqNTdNCU2y8" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_VkgcyUQrl8" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Across the Andes, Argentine band Miranda! has continued their run of dizzying camp pop, while Uruguay’s Carmen Sandiego’s “Mi Novio Gremlin” (2010) was one of the best-received indie songs of the decade. In Brazil, trans artist/activist Linn da Quebrada (“Linn from the margins”) raps about the issues she faced growing up queer and black in a São Paulo favela. Joining her are São Paulo’s Quebrada Queer, a hip hop cypher which is gaining popularity among young Brazilians living under Jair Bolsonaro, showcasing the argument that being visibly queer and pissed off is the new punk. Their videos have millions of views, but nowhere near the success of Pabllo Vittar, “the Most Popular Drag Queen In The World,” who has over a billion total YouTube views. Just as much in the Brazilian national consciousness now is Club Fonograma favorite SILVA, who, with his 2016 video for “Feliz e Ponto,” cheekily came out as bisexual. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Staying in the Lusophone world, Titica, Angola’s trans “kuduro” artist, has been a UNAIDS goodwill ambassador following her breakout single with Ary, “Olha O Boneco” (2012), which remains a guaranteed slap. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nu55rewex54" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Venezuela’s Arca, who is non-binary, has risen to be a worldwide critical darling, not to mention his collaborations with the venerable Björk. Queer Colombian artist Lido Pimienta received the Polaris Music Prize in 2017 for <i>La Papessa</i> (2016) and the world eagerly awaits for the follow-up, <i>Miss Colombia</i>, which should propel her to even greater heights. Dominican author and Club Fonograma heroine Rita Indiana was voted one of the 100 most influential Latinx personalities in 2011 by the newspaper <i>El País</i>, even though we might wait forever for new music from Los Misterios. Meanwhile, this year in Mexico, Juan Manuel Torreblanca went all out with “Maricón” (2019), a song proclaiming reclamation against the slur, haters be damned. And riding the zeitgeist of YouTube makeup tutorials, drag, and anime is Sailorfag, a Sonora native studying fashion in Guadalajara, spitting rhymes about gender performance and homophobia. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PwXOgzmTbVU" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But while there seems to be a wave of LGBTQ artists reaching not-just-niche audiences, not all has been felicitous. The aforementioned President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, is a “proud” homophobe. In 2018 alone, there were a reported 420 murders of LGBT people in the country, and hate crimes are on the rise around the world. In the United States, the Trump administration wants to instill the Religious Freedom Bill giving legal protections to religious organizations to discriminate against LGBT workers. But nothing exemplifies the daily terror experienced by the marginalized more than the second deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida in 2016. Forty-nine people were murdered by a single gunman, while over fifty were wounded. What hit me hardest was that the majority of victims were Latinx and queer. Their tragic deaths remind us that there is still so much work to be done, moving ahead in solidarity, pushing for human rights every person under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella deserves. While queer art can seem the most fun, most colorful, and most human in complexity, it is often underpinned by so much pain and trauma. We’re so proud of the leaps and bounds the queer Latinx artist community has made in the 2010s and we celebrate the bravery it takes to put the self, and the work, “out” there. Judging by the positive support so far, the artists included in this piece (and others you can find <a href="https://remezcla.com/lists/music/queer-trans-latinx-artists-musicians/" target="_blank">here</a>) are blazing a trail to more acceptance and, for their own community, more love.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Remembering those we lost at the Pulse tragedy:</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Stanley Almodovar III, 23</div>
<div>
Amanda Alvear, 25</div>
<div>
Oscar A. Aracena-Montero, 26</div>
<div>
Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33</div>
<div>
Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21</div>
<div>
Martin Benitez Torres, 33</div>
<div>
Antonio D. Brown, 30</div>
<div>
Darryl R. Burt II, 29</div>
<div>
Jonathan A. Camuy Vega, 24</div>
<div>
Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28</div>
<div>
Simon A. Carrillo Fernandez, 31</div>
<div>
Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25</div>
<div>
Luis D. Conde, 39</div>
<div>
Cory J. Connell, 21</div>
<div>
Tevin E. Crosby, 25</div>
<div>
Franky J. Dejesus Velazquez, 50</div>
<div>
Deonka D. Drayton, 32</div>
<div>
Mercedez M. Flores, 26</div>
<div>
Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22</div>
<div>
Juan R. Guerrero, 22</div>
<div>
Paul T. Henry, 41</div>
<div>
Frank Hernandez, 27</div>
<div>
Miguel A. Honorato, 30</div>
<div>
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40</div>
<div>
Jason B. Josaphat, 19</div>
<div>
Eddie J. Justice, 30</div>
<div>
Anthony L. Laureano Disla, 25</div>
<div>
Christopher A. Leinonen, 32</div>
<div>
Brenda L. Marquez McCool, 49</div>
<div>
Jean C. Mendez Perez, 35</div>
<div>
Akyra Monet Murray, 18</div>
<div>
Kimberly Morris, 37</div>
<div>
Jean C. Nieves Rodriguez, 27</div>
<div>
Luis O. Ocasio-Capo, 20</div>
<div>
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25</div>
<div>
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36</div>
<div>
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32</div>
<div>
Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25</div>
<div>
Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37</div>
<div>
Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24</div>
<div>
Christopher J. Sanfeliz, 24</div>
<div>
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35</div>
<div>
Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25</div>
<div>
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34</div>
<div>
Shane E. Tomlinson, 33</div>
<div>
Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25</div>
<div>
Luis S. Vielma, 22</div>
<div>
Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37</div>
<div>
Jerald A. Wright, 31</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Sam Rodgers is a writer and ESL teacher living in Sydney, Australia. He joined the Club Fonograma team in 2012 after years of fanaticism and he feels so honored to have been part of the family. You can follow him everywhere <a href="https://twitter.com/anoddgeography" target="_blank">@anoddgeography</a>.</i></div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-82136339338935819512019-11-05T11:02:00.000-06:002019-11-06T10:16:41.821-06:00How Spain Turned to Música Urbana in the 2010s<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"> By Pierre Lestruhaut | Nov 5th, 2019</span></h3>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3tbbw3UnPQKQyhdkzVUraDNOcZ-LPfG9q5gsNM8HHkOKriaD5brO9RUd0X0O62V5SOYi1QBrIwa2-mTCv_rcxtsMB27l_nSo8rjB-5GrdPLbn2fDzfvigQm_AQXqoKRcwlvx-qR2Qf9s/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-ctangana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3tbbw3UnPQKQyhdkzVUraDNOcZ-LPfG9q5gsNM8HHkOKriaD5brO9RUd0X0O62V5SOYi1QBrIwa2-mTCv_rcxtsMB27l_nSo8rjB-5GrdPLbn2fDzfvigQm_AQXqoKRcwlvx-qR2Qf9s/s1600/club-fonograma_dkda_ensayos_f1-ctangana.jpg" width="620" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In a move that would certainly end up causing the anger of the old (likely misguided) guard of 2000s indie rock fans, the 2019 Primavera Sound lineup was headlined by international reggaetón staple J Balvin, a stage was fully curated by Spanish trap pioneer Yung Beef, and a good chunk of the local acts were heavy on the (for lack of a better term) música urbana side of the musical spectrum. The message was clear: perreo has triumphed in <i>la Madre Patria</i>. But years before that, even when Primavera lineups were still heavy on Anglo guitar-driven rock and British electronic musicians, notable changes were starting to emerge in the artistic output coming from Spain.<br />
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ur8yFIXYZjY" width="630"></iframe>
</div>
<br />
<div>
As a music publication, Club Fonograma didn’t start to notice that there was such a thing as trap music <i>made in España</i> until Granadan <i>trapero </i>Yung Beef, and his crew PXXR GVNG (now called LOS SANTOS), started getting coverage from Latin American music blogs. Despite Yung Beef being widely seen as the face of Spanish trap back then, he’s also forayed into reggaetón with band La Mafia del Amor, something that has certainly added to the fact that trap and reggaetón have been bundled together scene-wise in Spain. Although most of Yung Beef’s output has not tried to distinguish itself from American trap’s main thematic or sonic trends, his heavy Andalusian accent has left its imprints on the rhyming style of Spanish trap, to the point that <i>traperos </i>from other regions will often sound a little Andalusian when rhyming.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Another equally popular (but less street cred-worthy) Spanish trap personality is C. Tangana, a Madrid rapper who initially caught our attention as part of rap collective Agorazein. With lyrical output often centered around habitual trap themes like flex culture or making money, he’s also had top-notch Barcelona producer Alizzz making the beats for a lot of his bangers and has been very vocal about having Hova-like business-centric mentality. But the madrileño is also comfortable moving out of his comfort zone (as testified by his salsa keyboard infused pop hit “Mala Mujer,” or his collaborations with flamenco artists Rosalía and Niño de Elche), and has repeatedly given high praise to older Latino reggaetón stars (“Dios bendiga al reggaetón, Dios bendiga a Daddy”).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CMCun6AOS44" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But even if trap has felt like Spain’s main música urbana export, it’s clear that reggaetón has begun to supplant trap’s popularity in the country. A few months ago, <a href="https://www.elmundo.es/papel/historias/2019/05/15/5cdaa018fc6c83196b8b45a2.html" target="_blank">El Mundo</a> ran an article chronicling the evolution of trap and reggaetón’s popularity in Spain. There’s a brief mention to the function that the 2008 financial crisis could have played in the popularity of reggaetón, and with that, the implication that increased unemployment and leisure leads to higher consumption and creation of frivolous music among young people. But said observations are more in line with patronizing YouTube comments discrediting reggaetón as lowbrow music that’s only enjoyed by the uneducated youth.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The piece does a better job at analyzing the more robust role that immigrants have played in the explosion of trap and reggaetón. Although the article is more interested in reggaetón as a genre invading Spanish urban nightlife than as one invading Spanish music, <i>neoperreo </i>as a movement is discussed, name-dropping its Argentina-born, Spain-based star Ms Nina. Alongside other musicians not based in Spain but who also emigrated from South America (Tomasa del Real, Talisto), she has embraced the <i>neoperreo </i>tag proudly, both operating in a DIY manner outside of the mainstream and major labels, but also infusing reggaetón with edgier production, brasher lyrical themes, and a much-needed sex-positive female energy.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AqLAKlkRM30" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
But one of the most surprising Spanish musicians to have found recent international success, is one that has operated outside of trap and reggaetón. Starting out in Catalan beach town Vilassar de Mar before moving to Barcelona, dancehall musician Bad Gyal initially found an audience via her own version of Rihanna’s “Work.” Singing over dancehall riddims with a thick Spanish accent, it’s hard not to chuckle somewhat at the result of dancehall performed with tacky Spanish accent instead of the smooth Jamaican one we’re used to. But she’s received her good share of journalistic praise – with features in Pitchfork and The Fader – and renowned artists have collaborated with her, as testified by having her videos directed by CANADA, and her tracks produced by the likes of Dubbel Dutch and El Guincho.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Of course, there’s also the complicated matter as to where this all fits in the cultural appreciation vs. cultural appropriation debate (some of these artists have been accused of the latter). It’s certainly not the purpose of a 1000-word internet think piece on a defunct music blog to enter the realm of such heated debates, and other media outlets have already opened this discussion successfully, most notably, Eduardo Cepeda’s review of reggaetón's black roots in <a href="https://remezcla.com/features/music/tu-pum-pum-1/" target="_blank">Remezcla</a>, and Manuel Carrasco’s more recent similar take on the whitening of black music in general published in <a href="https://www.vice.com/es_latam/article/evjdza/jazz-rock-y-reggaeton-un-repaso-historico-al-blanqueamiento-musical-de-generos-bailables" target="_blank">Vice </a>(in Spanish). But it’s worth mentioning that all the artists mentioned here have, at some point, shown acute awareness and recognition towards the roots of the music that they’re playing. It may not solve the underlying issues involved, but it’s a start.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="364" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JKzT0z3gOtc" width="630"></iframe>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There remains another not-so-optimistic view regarding the explosion of música urbana in Spain (and global pop in general), one related to the feeling that we’re moving towards a uniformization of the sound of mainstream Spanish-language music. Take, for example, Rosalía, the much hyped new star of Spanish pop. Starting her career in the flamenco circuit performing in <i>tablaos</i>, her enormously praised second album <i>El Mal Querer</i> (2018) went decidedly towards what many have described as a modernization of flamenco via the aesthetics and production techniques of present day hip-hop and electronica (mainly trap). But in less than a year, her 2019 singles (collaborating with J Balvin and Ozuna) have mainly abandoned flamenco and veered decidedly towards global pop and reggaetón sounds, causing both surprise and mixed feelings from fans and critics.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
The combination of major label capital and streaming platform algorithms is the easy-to-identify culprit behind the perceived lack of variety. But despite this, the boom that música urbana has had among Spanish music is generally seen as a positive phenomenon that speaks volumes about a group of artists that’s open-minded, adventurous and unprejudiced. When looking at interviews with the people who have tended to gravitate towards scenes like <i>neoperreo</i>, “unprejudiced” is a word that is very often uttered when describing themselves. This suggests not only the progressiveness of the people that make up the scene, but also that prejudices still exist among the audiences that reject música urbana.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The generational component behind said prejudices is here the most obvious one, and the decades old analysis that has been done regarding older generations rejecting rock in the 1960s, or hip-hop in the 1980s, points out to the very cyclical nature behind the phenomenon of differences in taste between generations. Which is why there are reasons to feel optimistic. There’s the sensation that youth culture’s ability to get rid of old prejudices and constantly seek for novelty will keep things moving. Because it’s precisely that need for novelty that gave us the idiosyncratic array of artists that defined late 2010s música urbana in Spain, one that succeeded at exploring musical territories that, a few years ago, were neither hip nor fashionable.</div>
<div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Pierre Lestruhaut is a Club Fonograma contributor based in San José, Costa Rica. You can find him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/pedrito_les" target="_blank">@pedrito_les</a>.</i></div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-53336859003393468412019-10-16T08:19:00.001-06:002019-10-16T08:24:05.750-06:00Announcing… Club Fonograma’s Best of the Decade Recap<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 2em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcZBYalyyN94-nq53eOB7xrxmoxYwQCyvTT-JkLbBWW2NdbB3yBW8o7Gsx2WM44nTRxF0_sKIp6HxxFEFN8ycvHMUcBBSLTkxxnRFA1kg4mbGHIegSgsYO_zta3pGOAgZMAmapkIok_xQ/s1600/ClubFonograma_dkda_01_v1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="620" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcZBYalyyN94-nq53eOB7xrxmoxYwQCyvTT-JkLbBWW2NdbB3yBW8o7Gsx2WM44nTRxF0_sKIp6HxxFEFN8ycvHMUcBBSLTkxxnRFA1kg4mbGHIegSgsYO_zta3pGOAgZMAmapkIok_xQ/s1600/ClubFonograma_dkda_01_v1.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"> Artwork by Alonso Ayala (<a href="https://twitter.com/ouchal" target="_blank">@ouchal</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Yes, the rumours are true. Your favorite groundbreaking, tastemaking, and Bunbury-hating Iberoamerican music publication is getting back together one more time (Avengers-style, you could say) to bring you our own best-of-the-decade extravaganza.<br />
<br />
In a few weeks, we’ll be publishing a series of essays that will reflect on some of the most relevant trends, scenes, genres, and artists from the past ten years, written by Fonograma contributors and a few special guest writers. And, of course, we’ll be sharing a full list of our favorite songs and albums of the 2010s, where we’ll get a chance to rediscover and discuss all the great music we championed back in the Fonograma days, as well as review some of the best stuff that’s come out these past few years but weren’t able to cover ourselves.<br />
<br />
But right now, it’s time to get emotional.<br />
<br />
As you probably know, the present site is simply an effort to keep the full original Club Fonograma archive alive, online, and accessible to everyone. Club Fonograma went silent and offline in early 2017 without a proper chance to bid farewell, and without being able to fulfill our wildest dreams of hosting the Club Fonograma Music Festival somewhere. The site always existed as a labour of love (in other words, without anyone ever getting a paycheck), so it became difficult to remain as an active publication once adult life and responsibilities got in the way for most of us.<br />
<br />
This is why we wanted to take this opportunity to give, first of all, a huge thanks to our readers, from those patient enough to read our 600-word eulogies on low-key indie Argentine acts, to those who really only gave a shit about the compilations, and even to those who stopped reading after we published a diatribe against one of their favorite <i>rock en español</i> legends. Your love and fandom (and occasional hate) kept us going for a very long time.<br />
<br />
We’d also like to thank our families, for constantly reminding us of the importance of getting a college degree amidst our plans to take a sabbatical year in Santiago during our peak obsession with Chilean pop. And of course, we’d like to thank all of the amazing musicians who blessed us with so much great music through all these years, especially those who ever showed a token of appreciation for the glowing and gushing reviews we wrote about them.<br />
<br />
But more importantly, we’d like to thank Carlos Reyes, for kicking off and helping to keep alive such a unique place for as long as we could. A place where we were completely free to write about music and culture in our own terms, and in front of a wide, diverse, and international audience. If Club Fonograma ever got to be as influential as we think it is, it’s because of Carlos’ remarkable abilities as a prolific writer, editor, tastemaker, and curator.<br />
<br />
Throughout the years, Carlos managed to grow this small personal blog into a publication with writers from over 10 different countries, hand-picked by himself, and that, to this day, we still call a family. So a big thanks to all of its contributors: Paulo Correa, Jean-Stephane Beriot, Andrew Casillas, Juan Manuel Torreblanca, Blanca Méndez, Pierre Lestruhaut, Enrique Coyotzi, Adrian Mata Anaya, Reuben Torres, Giovanni Guillén, Souad Martin-Saoudi, Claire Frisbie, Sam Rodgers, Glòria Guso, Jeziel Jovel, Monika Fabian, Cheky Bertho, Marty Preciado, Pablo Acuña, Stella Vásquez, and Zé Garcia.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned for our recap of the decade. And as Eros Ramazzotti would say: <i>gracias por existir</i>.
Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-13237264084102225562016-11-07T17:24:00.000-06:002018-04-23T17:45:45.251-06:00Shakira (feat. Maluma) - "Chantaje" <a href="https://65.media.tumblr.com/00967f93ea62b36c7e2899d4b7cd219d/tumblr_ogaoi2yx5O1uu1kfjo1_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/00967f93ea62b36c7e2899d4b7cd219d/tumblr_ogaoi2yx5O1uu1kfjo1_540.jpg" width="510" /></a><br /> <br />Andrew Casillas said it best when he <a href="http://www.clubfonograma.com/2014/04/shakira-shakira.html">rejected the notion of Shakira as Latin America's Prince</a> and relegated her to the category of Latin America’s Jay-Z cemented by the catastrophic final result that was 2014's <i>Shakira</i>, a forgettable album of bland pop generica. As Shakira's net worth continued to soar, Shakira's social capital took a hit given the Baranquillera's cringe-worthy output in recent memory. From Bud Light Lime EDM classics with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5SG7U76tls">Pitbull</a>, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuupMrAhGXw">Tecate Michelada rock stylings</a> of Maná, to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0">culturally hegemonizing sports anthem</a>, it would seem as if indeed Shakira was ‘<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6rP-YP4c5I">trying everything</a>’, much to the depreciation of her critical acclaim. We’re not even going to get started on "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UV0QGLmYys">La Bicicleta</a>”.<br /><br />It seemed for some time as though only an innovator like <a href="https://twitter.com/shakira/status/540608069076787200">Arca</a> could resurrect our fallen Latina Empress of Global Pop. And although ‟Chantaje" does not feature production credits from the Venezuelan sound freak, it does sound as if an acolyte of Timbaland produced it. Firmly situated in the seductive future reggaetón environment spearheaded by compatriot J Balvin, "Chantaje" is ready for Top 40 mass consumption & personally gratifying listening experiences. It features rising star Maluma, further cementing Columbia as reggaetón’s current stronghold. Manipulation, codependency, autonomy, agency, unrequited love and emotional masochism take center stage on “Chantaje,” a narrative of intimate warfare amongst doomed lovers. It is Shakira's most relevant single since the merengue bangers of 2010's <i>Sale El Sol</i> and has reinvigorated a level of trust amongst those of us who have been here for Shakira since 1995 and care to see her be remembered for her artistic merits-not her commercial prowess.<br /><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="287" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pMxJgBoosU0?rel=0" width="510"></iframe>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-6953261780663338232016-11-01T03:18:00.000-06:002018-04-23T17:45:46.018-06:00Club Fonograma's Best Music Videos of 2015<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1_NL5hcIRtSQpzcDucon5JYQvmbMEEAYqlCAaF73QeXRfYnMRI9m9BA_O-IwuJW_jJYlyVppS_8ix9BA_C7b0SMb4QiJMctId_523tLaMRyz5tghJ-zyulZkZoixjun4aWNdgjqknyCn/s1600/adrianigual.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1_NL5hcIRtSQpzcDucon5JYQvmbMEEAYqlCAaF73QeXRfYnMRI9m9BA_O-IwuJW_jJYlyVppS_8ix9BA_C7b0SMb4QiJMctId_523tLaMRyz5tghJ-zyulZkZoixjun4aWNdgjqknyCn/s320/adrianigual.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, "Lucida Sans Unicode", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.664px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Amor Fantasma”</span></b><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">((The Plastics </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">Revolution)) </span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">10. </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sefárdico</span><br />"One day, when you sober up, we can be the Coen Brothers or whoever you want..." sighed by worried twin brother as the rest of the family could barely grasp who the Cuarón brothers are (yes, Univision, Televisa and now Pantaleon Films have them in an eternal <i><a href="http://www.clubfonograma.com/2010/08/rita-indiana-y-los-misterios-no-ta.html">Guada-loop</a></i> with the Almada Brothers). Truth is, I've had my <i>bull-neon</i> eye on the Dardenne Brothers for quite sometime already. It hurts to be the one <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heXW1-rcRQs">that has to wait </a>for those hype/revivalists waves to come to shore, but Tex-Mex production house Sefárdico have offered a window of possibilities for uber-energetic "trends" like myself. "Amor Fantasma" surveys the culture of videohomes (that VHS phenomena involving mafia, guns, and the quintessential blonde femme-fatale). You could also make the argument that this is just a storyboard of a western novel, or the latest fable of forbidden love by Juan Osorio or Carla Estrada. Or, perhaps, it's a pitch for an episode of <i><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiT_6PF4ojQAhXlx1QKHQpEAeUQFggdMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clubfonograma.com%2F2016%2F01%2Fclub-fonogramas-best-songs-of-2015-50-26.html&usg=AFQjCNFrGut5xhpjefBXuIpuS4C_REDHdA&sig2=g_w7CYpdJuept0wH6ijecQ&bvm=bv.137132246,d.cGc">Mujer, Cansas en la Vida Real</a></i>. This is campy and cutesy in the bigger picture, but technical decisions like expanding the camera aspect ratio of a dramatic television feature, to an action film in glorious widescreen, make this truly whimsical. <span style="color: #666666;">-</span> <span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">CARLOS REYES. </span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #999999;">FROM THE ALBUM: AMOR FANTASMA. DIRECTOR: SEFARDICO. MEXICO. </span></span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="280" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/137209961?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="510"></iframe><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNf5rc4f88h4PHb-SNjoiOrIMY1fHsNDk997vJnJRx7R1HHY96vU5pkEeC9iT5Dvfe1HaRMeDGOZ4J6GevEkfXosS_cPGbG5nUzUqAtYZoFQ_ChgfcoAaJCJVlJnPRZdsh5tUru7akiF00/s1600/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNf5rc4f88h4PHb-SNjoiOrIMY1fHsNDk997vJnJRx7R1HHY96vU5pkEeC9iT5Dvfe1HaRMeDGOZ4J6GevEkfXosS_cPGbG5nUzUqAtYZoFQ_ChgfcoAaJCJVlJnPRZdsh5tUru7akiF00/s320/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, "Lucida Sans Unicode", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.664px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Lo Que </span></b><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, "Lucida Sans Unicode", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.664px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Construímos”</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">((Natalia Lafourcade)) </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">09. Alonso Ruizpalacios</span><br />Natalia Lafourcade’s most recent studio effort has given us some trouble in formulating a meaningful consensus. Though far from a masterpiece, the Fonograma staff can at least acknowledge that Hasta La Raíz contains some of the most important songs of Natalia’s career. This admission stems, in part, thanks to the album’s visual campaign. Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios (<i>Güeros</i>), "Lo Que Construimos" shows Natalia battling a night of dissolution. Just as Güeros was lensed in a freewheeling, “anything goes” tribute to French New Wave, Ruizpalacios recreates the same magic for Lafourcade. The video begins in a bedroom, a conventional set up that quickly takes all kinds of turns. These fausses pistes cultivate a sci-fi tone that lends a creepy air to a mostly heartbreaking song. The clip culminates with a dance performance on an empty street. To see Lafourcade, the adult and not the infantilized indie girl of 2009, dancing like Anna Karina dressed in the plainest wardrobe (a hoody/that bed head) produces such an intense range of emotions. It’s cathartic and nostalgic, it’s devastating and uplifting. It’s wonderful. <span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">- </span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">GIOVANNI GUILLÉN. </span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">FROM THE ALBUM: HASTA LA RAIZ. DIRECTOR: ALONSO RUIZPALACIOS. MEXICO</span><br /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="280" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/149783054?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="510"></iframe></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj452aTTeDDNXkzbsOIyPAghvDQx2WkNf8ugy21EM5hUN7FVDDF81GztA968hFj4L25528SuZO9LNG_xSbgpelDfk6szntUnfaZiWixq3cavOGKSn1znsvWwVi38ZwhBKpoG7VofeSAsdj4/s1600/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj452aTTeDDNXkzbsOIyPAghvDQx2WkNf8ugy21EM5hUN7FVDDF81GztA968hFj4L25528SuZO9LNG_xSbgpelDfk6szntUnfaZiWixq3cavOGKSn1znsvWwVi38ZwhBKpoG7VofeSAsdj4/s320/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b style="background-color: white; font-family: calibri, "lucida sans unicode", arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Sol a Sol”</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">((Planeta No)) </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">08. Felipe Prado</span><br />When you google otaku (Japanese term pronounced ōˈtäko͞o) you will find various definitions that overall describe a subculture of obsessive and isolated lifestyles surrounding manga and anime. Many times it is used with a negative connotation, but don’t we all have an obsession? For many of us is music, films, or science. Very few people understand the complexity of the otaku subculture, one of those few is Hiroki Azuma PhD who describes how this subculture is a reflection of Japanese culture, similar to that of a postwar Japanese society that encountered a cultural and technological revolution. When I saw this video it made think about the Chilean pop renaissance that we’ve witnessed for some years now, perhaps a generation that also grew up obsessed and isolated living in fantasy until it was finally freed. <span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">- RICARDO REYES. </span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">FROM THE ALBUM: ODIO. DIRECTOR: FELIPE PRADO. CHILE</span><br /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="287" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ra-x8JmIhww?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="510"></iframe></span><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih3GsjWvLTsK2o0WdgQypNbqktlq4dEups-vbRt2_ettLM70dUyvCreVqbtSQi-Iqgktdo2HJXFLvgmNXcFYIHJg0vcVKbxQXhrfLnIMWnovjzk2dgiQnm17aLtSk69fQAtOFvcYn5EvMF/s1600/adrianigual.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih3GsjWvLTsK2o0WdgQypNbqktlq4dEups-vbRt2_ettLM70dUyvCreVqbtSQi-Iqgktdo2HJXFLvgmNXcFYIHJg0vcVKbxQXhrfLnIMWnovjzk2dgiQnm17aLtSk69fQAtOFvcYn5EvMF/s320/adrianigual.jpg" width="320" /></a><b style="background-color: white; font-family: calibri, "lucida sans unicode", arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Secretos”</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">((Marineros))</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">07. Alvaro Puentes</span><br />Giovanni Guillén hit a homerun when describing "Secretos" as a "song about catching feelings and the collateral damage that comes with it." Although straightforwardly pop, the premise of Marineros has been aesthetically pleasing but intricate enough for audiophiles to attain a certain fondness for them. Is it crazy to think of Marineros as a cult band already? Perhaps we're getting too ahead of ourselves, but, could you resist making such noise with this level of fragility and intimacy? Before <i>O Marineros </i>unfolded itself as an album packed with coming-of-age gems, "Secretos" came to solidify the band as one that could fetishize and profit from their own branding. Helmed by Alvaro Puentes, the celluloid in "Secretos" is claustrophobic in its proximity to lensing skin (it's like the negotiating of a cultural wink between a bareback porn and <i>The Virgin Suicides</i>).. It gets to the pores and puts the scope on those <i>h u m i d </i>little beauty spots, scars, and goosebumps by which we're not only encouraged to loose our clothes, but to also make inventory of those stains of insecurities and consciousness that we should put to rest in our adulthood. Frigidity cured! <span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">- CARLOS REYES. F</span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">ROM THE ALBUM: O MARINEROS. DIRECTOR: ALVARO PUENTES. CHILE</span><br /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/140366666?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="510"></iframe></span><br /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKnEuM7TKsTW5XvnCCL8kgyW6o1HLIQ3JDWGh6RDn9HxvVElpplEEoygRmF9MiKZmwPIqhXsncYa8bCnlqmaxevLU3LP-4p3MMW5t-ND_cEs2LH7mIdc081yNyMpXzyGD5H2cg4U7cpsU/s1600/adrianigual.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJKnEuM7TKsTW5XvnCCL8kgyW6o1HLIQ3JDWGh6RDn9HxvVElpplEEoygRmF9MiKZmwPIqhXsncYa8bCnlqmaxevLU3LP-4p3MMW5t-ND_cEs2LH7mIdc081yNyMpXzyGD5H2cg4U7cpsU/s320/adrianigual.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b style="background-color: white; font-family: calibri, "lucida sans unicode", arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Porsche”</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">((Los Wálters)) </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">06. Luis López Varona</span><br />It's 2016 and the indie-click bands are still centering anthropology in their mise en scène. If the videos aren't flooded with kids chanting "Folklore!," then they might exploit the elderly in the new-inquisition of the millenial "WeAreYoung!" anthem heights. Yeah, I loved Porter's Moctezuma, but those videos are impenetrable. While this might sound like a backlash to our own altar of visual feast, there are new margins of contemporary cultural output to keep at margin (Engel Leonardo, Juan Mora Catlet, to name a few). Director Luis López Varona takes things from mundane to a roadtrip of sorts in Los Walter's "Porsche." Working with a beautiful paletee of browns, blues, and yellows, the frame is helmed with such warmth that it's able to embed any furniture, tree, or citizen on its way into this tiny but gracious form of story-telling. What's truly transcendental here is the way López is able to keep the exotic at a low key, and maintain the visceral and the eroticism of the caribbean panoramic with, pardon my romance, <i>bravura! </i><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">- CARLOS REYES. </span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">FROM THE ALBUM: VERANO PANORAMICO. DIRECTOR: LUIS LOPEZ VARONA. PUERTO RICO</span><br /><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/132510826?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="510"></iframe><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_vMAOLxcZdrYdcbq1BwRvQfqNKq9eqepDzDqRYfm9-zu4piDS4whTm8gbry5FfvR-cb19kM0Z8WkyKG_NrCEnDIQeoTTzho47XUW4WL-jtiEpE-r2iQU2QfdZje9RRPatNcaPi7Yvyf0m/s1600/adrianigual.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_vMAOLxcZdrYdcbq1BwRvQfqNKq9eqepDzDqRYfm9-zu4piDS4whTm8gbry5FfvR-cb19kM0Z8WkyKG_NrCEnDIQeoTTzho47XUW4WL-jtiEpE-r2iQU2QfdZje9RRPatNcaPi7Yvyf0m/s320/adrianigual.jpg" width="320" /></a><b style="background-color: white; font-family: calibri, "lucida sans unicode", arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Insight”</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">((Jaloo)) </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">05</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">. Jaloo</span><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Brazilian newcomer Jaloo is nothing short from ambitious as he embarks in the odyssey of writing, singing, directing, and portraying a dozen versions of himself as he strikes to make viral a story about the "greatest love story of them all." Like many of his contemporaries, Jaloo has come to a point of his life where spirituality, story-telling, and playing devil's advocate add to much more than his own amusement. "Insight" touches elbows with Vampire Weekend's "Ya Hey," Chance The Rapper's "Sunday Candy," and John Maus' "Believer"as one of the most faith-endearing pieces about <i>that</i> love that demolishes religious barricades and states of consciousness. Photoshoots, nightst of too many smoke rings/halos, drinks, and confessionals with new media almost drown the subject of the story, but Jaloo is clever enough to know just how good and bad the world around all of us is. We can't help but to celebrate the balance of this meta-videoclip and its found-beauty amongst the language of links, phone calls, frame distortions, and yes, those glimmering panoramas of the MySpace era. <span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">- CARLOS REYES. </span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">FROM THE ALBUM: #1. DIRECTOR: JALOO. BRAZIL</span></div><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="287" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pg-CYzhiyQU?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="510"></iframe></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Hf-U6dBhmtYUa-k0mR29fYulfLnHAOHneM_A-91_I6h8lfJQkk9RUPiFDmw-jlzLJkdmvyIEcpuWyzeqzwGjHRh_l1F3NJ34R73F4AI7S1XD1mz-vyspat-nTqSBmXbTkdH3Y5o-sf6x/s1600/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Hf-U6dBhmtYUa-k0mR29fYulfLnHAOHneM_A-91_I6h8lfJQkk9RUPiFDmw-jlzLJkdmvyIEcpuWyzeqzwGjHRh_l1F3NJ34R73F4AI7S1XD1mz-vyspat-nTqSBmXbTkdH3Y5o-sf6x/s320/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a><b style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, "Lucida Sans Unicode", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11.664px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Métele”</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">((Buscabulla)) </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">04. Dan Sickles & </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">Antonio Santini</span><br />The stars we encounter on “Métele” are underground queens of a peculiar Puerto Rican nightlife, their time & place aurally framed by pop alchemist Dev Hyne's nostalgic synth driven compositions. Filmed by Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini, “Métele” expands on the director duo’s vision for the 2014 documentary celebrating the fluid gender identities found in the Borinken club scene, Mala, Mala. Our first protagonist glides through the streets of Santurce, their evening gown golden in glitter. Buscabulla’s Raquel Berrio enters our narrative as the onlooker caught in traffic, her vehicular claustrophobia juxtaposed with scenes from the sex trade: stage dancers, girls who do house calls. Strobe lights, a near empty club, pink imitation nails, another queen dressed in gold shaves her armpit hair, and our first protagonist tucks their genitalia. Then, a deeper intimacy: one of the girls sips into a plastic cup from KFC, sharing eye contact with her admiring john as he casually eats a slice of pizza from Papa John’s. By the music video’s rapturous final moments, it is clear who our ultimate star is. The girl who was just moments ago untucking the underwear sticking to her ass cheeks, is now dancing for 20s, in inches of heels, dressed in leopard print pink. It is a declaration of life for a community who has historically faced such condemnations of death.- <span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">ZÉ GARCIA. </span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">FROM THE ALBUM: MATUCANA. DIRECTOR: DAN SICKLES & ANTONIO SANTINI. PUERTO RICO</span><br /><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><div><div style="color: black; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OJ6WgRiqoO4?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="510"></iframe></span></span></div><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QKqzKtORGnT4ZAJZxNaJiZq8fGnR4eboIQepUWb6Mxm-vvfcL_ye09LYVyzs1MvF5eYSlPbHlzSYKA6D1ZQcjcnLGkFP5MEpZXTyIgIGjJoeElwqUzbuv9IzkUiisJwbGOqhFXMRRdsg/s1600/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4QKqzKtORGnT4ZAJZxNaJiZq8fGnR4eboIQepUWb6Mxm-vvfcL_ye09LYVyzs1MvF5eYSlPbHlzSYKA6D1ZQcjcnLGkFP5MEpZXTyIgIGjJoeElwqUzbuv9IzkUiisJwbGOqhFXMRRdsg/s320/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b style="background-color: white; font-family: calibri, "lucida sans unicode", arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Hambre”</span></b><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">((Gepe feat. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">Wendy Sulca)) </span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">03. Ian Pons Jewell</span><br />For the video of Gepe's latest single "Hambre", the director, Ian Pons Jewell, has gone with a literal take on the lyrics of the song. And why not? What Gepe, like most of his Chilean peers, has been crafting through his career is a redefinition and refinement of niche genre: this song takes his past major-key singles and shaves off their edges, narrowing down ideas, but retaining the essence of pure fuck-yeah ANDEAN POP! As 'Club guru, Carlos Reyes, stated in his first review of the song, there is always the worry these sounds (and collaborations) will slide into kitsch - what pan-pipers the world over have been actively promoting for decades. Aware of this, but not embarrassed by it, this video celebrates the "disfraces finos y elegantes" of the past and present backbone of the continent. The video opens with a be-shorted hipster entering a cool establishment, greeted with a "Be Our Guest" enthusiasm, only to wind up as the main course. The wry humour, and deliberate gross out factor - that's just pork, isn't it? - subverts the theme of the song: the constant search for satiation, carnal or otherwise. We're all hungry, and there's a fine line between enjoying it, like a feast, and sacrificing each other to Wendy Sulca's high priestess. Dale de comer! <span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">- SAM RODGERS. </span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;">FROM THE ALBUM: ESTILO LIBRE. DIRECTOR: IAN PONS JEWELL. CHILE/PERU</span><br /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/150924744?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="510"></iframe></span><br /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje3YkdTz-05e-avlxSUpEHZyLSy99anqxVGnHEWouQEcZJr_oO3kg6YAUje_P91MtcR_prjBfmOsiL2Pck4gBRysU6MdhNlm6KXKSO6bsTPivgypGKH8ipurvAxhVZryReU-pk6ypi5hDe/s1600/adrianigual.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje3YkdTz-05e-avlxSUpEHZyLSy99anqxVGnHEWouQEcZJr_oO3kg6YAUje_P91MtcR_prjBfmOsiL2Pck4gBRysU6MdhNlm6KXKSO6bsTPivgypGKH8ipurvAxhVZryReU-pk6ypi5hDe/s320/adrianigual.jpg" width="320" /></a><b style="background-color: white; font-family: calibri, "lucida sans unicode", arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Tu Casa </span></b><b style="background-color: white; font-family: calibri, "lucida sans unicode", arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Nueva”</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">((El Último Vecino)) </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">02. Gerson Aguerri</span><br />“Tu Casa Nueva” was released last December as a Maxi-Single CANADA Editorial and rose at once to the top 25 of our Best songs of the year 2014. So it was about time for this stellar synthpop track to be given the video treatment, and for El Último Vecino’s hard-hitting irresistible melodies to resurface. Gerard Alegre Dòria’s decadent, symbolist lyrics (“Todas las espinas que yo tenía en la cabeza / me han sesgado.”), deep and sorrowful tone and pure and immediate rhythms carry a melancholic urgency that sets him apart from other revivalists acts of the moment. Three decades interact here: the coldness of the new wave-esque synths, some rock impulses and an ever oozing dance side. Directed by Gerson Aguerri (who has also worked with El Guincho and Los Massieras), the video merges scattered elements (a rising sun, what could be doric columns, occultism and plant close-ups) reflecting the dizzying eclecticism of EÚV and wittily grasping the links between subject and space, a theme that seems central to Dòria’s work. <span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">- SOUAD MARTIN-SAOUDI. .</span><span style="color: #999999; font-size: xx-small;"> FROM THE ALBUM: TU CASA NUEVA EP. DIRECTOR: GERSON AGUERRI. SPAIN</span><br /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/141514941?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="510"></iframe></span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSC50wMfJqE3FMBYKZKfKkazCgAK5AwNrW7ShSrtYHMmqf-EcaZTw_k5CUSo6YTwvJYFBcCxn3vwgY_sPn1gPT1fDgUarvc6Grt7m_z6Ou4Zn-6BQ2nBLMtjWlvpjf5tjE-mHGRZg0RHSA/s1600/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSC50wMfJqE3FMBYKZKfKkazCgAK5AwNrW7ShSrtYHMmqf-EcaZTw_k5CUSo6YTwvJYFBcCxn3vwgY_sPn1gPT1fDgUarvc6Grt7m_z6Ou4Zn-6BQ2nBLMtjWlvpjf5tjE-mHGRZg0RHSA/s320/adrianigual+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a> <b style="background-color: white; font-family: calibri, "lucida sans unicode", arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">“Vanity”</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-align: justify;">((Arca)) </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">01. Alejandro Ghersi </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">& </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; text-align: justify;">Daniel Sannwald</span><br />La experimentación de nuevas formas sonoras puede ser un apuesta donde las probabilidades de éxito y fracaso comparten las mismas probabilidades. Escuchar el lenguaje musical creado por Arca produce la misma sensación cuando los oyentes acostumbrados a los cánones clásicos de composición, experimentan por primera vez los universos sonoros de Penderecki, Varese o Cage. La experiencia es similar a escuchar el Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, De Natura Sonoris o Kosmogonia. "Vanity," como el pasatiempo favorito del demonio, esta conformado por sonidos ásperos, ácidos metálicos que recuerdan al choque dos placas exponiendo nuevas formas cristalinas con latices bifásicos. La experiencia visual del video amalgama perfectamente la naturaleza dual: por un lado imágenes de contenido sexual ambivalente en una atmósfera lúgubre con destellos de luz y por otra parte sumergido de manera luminosa en el liquido amniótico universal como lo es el agua. El juicio de valor desaparece en el espectador, al igual que el miedo a experimentar un pecado capital como la vanidad. <span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;">- JULIO PAEZ.</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #999999;">. FROM THE ALBUM: MUTANT. D</span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #999999;">IRECTOR: ALEJANDRO GHERSI & DANIEL SANNWALD. VENEZUELA/USA</span></span></span><br /><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span><span style="color: #666666; font-size: xx-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/144857839?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="510"></iframe></span>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-64187473590674639142016-09-09T20:22:00.000-06:002018-04-23T17:45:46.475-06:00Balún - "La Nueva Ciudad"<a href="https://68.media.tumblr.com/168e235c034f5b5f49f00c121f41bb44/tumblr_od99lopHXP1uu1kfjo1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/168e235c034f5b5f49f00c121f41bb44/tumblr_od99lopHXP1uu1kfjo1_1280.jpg" width="510" /></a><br /><div style="line-height: normal;"><div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Balún is a band from Puerto Rico with an acute sense of creating ethereal moments of the sad kind. Could the tropigoth tagline apply? As sunset approaches on the Summer of Love 2016 (a cosmic event that last took place during the tumultuous social uprisings of 1967) the Brooklyn-based via Borinken four-piece return by making ripples across waters with a trademark sound they call <i>dreambow</i>. Incorporeal dream-pop, techno, shoegaze, folkloric sounds of South America, & dembow (one of reggaetón’s rhythmic daughters) are the amalgamation of the band’s idiosyncratic soundscape. A formula that after almost 7 years since <a href="http://www.clubfonograma.com/2009/10/fonogramaticos-vol5-bonuses.html" target="_blank">Balún’s first contribution to Club Fonograma</a> has stood the test of time.</span></div><div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal; min-height: 36px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">With Afro Caribbean sounds like </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">tipple</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">, </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">bomba</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> barrel drum, dembow & a hazy, humid sense of a transcendent melancholy at work, “La Nueva Ciudad” joins the cannon of unorthodox, reggaetón-based classics of late. The sonic transmutations of established greats like J Balvin, Arca, Gepe, Javiera Mena & newcomers like <a href="http://www.clubfonograma.com/2016/08/mula-nunca-paran.html" target="_blank">MULA</a>, <a href="http://www.clubfonograma.com/2016/03/coral-casino-summer-romance.html" target="_blank">Coral Casino</a>, & <a href="http://www.clubfonograma.com/2016/02/video-tomasa-del-real-feat-talisto-tu.html" target="_blank">Tomasa del Real</a> have been expanding our understanding of the infinitely mesmerizing possibilities of the genre. Even Ibiza Pareo expressed interest in flirting with reggaetón during their Ruido Fest showcase in Chicago this summer. Clearly, our collective sonic future still belongs to the iconic, Afro-Caribbean sound. </span></div><div style="min-height: 36px;"><span style="color: #454545; font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;"><br /></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;">Balún’s return feels accomplished, academic and ancestral. The chorus of “La Nueva Ciudad” invokes collective rapture (the spiritual power of reggaetón at work here) while Angélica Negron's vocals communicate intimacy & distance, discussing </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;">the circular nature of time, planets, & the need to create a city without mirrors. </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: inherit;">The prolific percussionist/producer Lawson White (Shakira, Wilco, Jamie xx) has been working behind the scenes with Balún, whose current lineup boasts PhD ethnomusicologist and Puerto Rican folk music expert Noraliz Ruiz (playing cuatro and on “La Nueva Ciudad”), Raul Reymundi, along with veteran players Angélica Negron & José Olivares. <span style="font-family: inherit;">It would seem as though Balún have become </span></span><i style="color: #454545; font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;">curators</i><span style="color: #454545; font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;"> of globopop. “La Nueva Ciudad” is the lead single from the forthcoming <i>Prisma Tropical</i> LP which is due in 2017. Listen to it below and its b-side, “<a href="https://soundcloud.com/balun/esta-en-tus-manos">Esta En Tus Manos</a>,” a cover of the pioneer of indietronica reggaetón herself, Javiera Mena.</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div></div></div><iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/278425036&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-69806597515640251912016-08-22T22:32:00.000-06:002018-04-23T17:45:46.920-06:00MULA - "Nunca Paran"<a href="https://66.media.tumblr.com/d266e50ad97ea01b60d94fbe8dfd21af/tumblr_oci1usvNvY1uu1kfjo1_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em;"><img border="0" height="510" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/d266e50ad97ea01b60d94fbe8dfd21af/tumblr_oci1usvNvY1uu1kfjo1_540.jpg" width="510" /></a><br /><br />Dominican trio MULA arrived last year with one of the most fascinating pop projects we had heard in awhile. The self-titled album was a free spirited exercise in genre fusion. Caribbean rhythms intertwined with heavier electronics and political lyrics blended perfectly on the dance floor. 2016 still finds creators Anabel and Cristabel (from Las Acevedo) along with Rachel Rojas making magic under MULA. Two preceding singles, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r21mDjZZ15c">No hay manera</a>” and “<a href="https://soundcloud.com/mulaband/mula-retumba">Retumba</a>,” have highlighted their ongoing search to discover a more defined sound leading up to their new material. With third single “Nunca Paran,” they’ve hit the jackpot.<br /><br />“Nunca Paran” has been billed as <a href="http://rbmaradio.herokuapp.com/panamerika/el-himno-perfecto-para-una-sociedad-utopica-nunca-paran-de-mula">utopian</a>, a celebration of perfect moments. Even with the best intentions that kind of party music will overindulge in too many ideas while forcing joy down our ears. But here those elements come together and play out as natural as watching a sunset. What begins submerged in heavy, chopped and screwed soundbites breaks through and turns weightless. There’s merengue that sneaks up and entices, there’s Marta Sánchez’s "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cdCtjCIM8o">Desesperada</a>" vibes that want more than a simple 90’s flashback. On the chorus the low-key vocals cling to a light reggaetón, celebrating both the past and the future. A future that clearly belongs to MULA.<br /><br /><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/277007797&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-84526128342953066882016-08-09T22:24:00.000-06:002018-04-23T17:45:47.360-06:00Füete Billete - “Trå” / “Una Changa (feat. Yung Beef)"<a href="https://66.media.tumblr.com/055d68bef29f214175e5a731fbb43c23/tumblr_obp6myeh6l1uu1kfjo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em;"><img border="0" height="510" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/055d68bef29f214175e5a731fbb43c23/tumblr_obp6myeh6l1uu1kfjo1_500.jpg" width="510" /></a><br /><br />Last year saw Füete Billete take a victory lap with “<a href="http://www.clubfonograma.com/2015/03/fuete-billete-buena-vida.html">Buena Vida</a>,” then later boisterously declare “<a href="https://soundcloud.com/tacondeoro/05-fuete-billete-somos-hp">Somos Hp</a>” as they raged to trap. The two cuts were welcome treats, but the Puerto Rican crew was also due for a clear-cut banger worthy of <i>Música de Capsulón</i>’s legacy. The latest single from the rap trio’s upcoming album <i>Papelón City</i> might just be an answer to our prayers, if not that, then at least a much needed supplement to our summer playlists.<br /><br />“Trå,” which was released as a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=145&v=VVYBQhn0KN8">music video</a> a few weeks ago, is a hyper dance track with rap verses stacked between strobe lights, filthy beats, and West Coast touches. Pepper Kilo and BB Johnson’s flow is so effortless that the refrain “muévelo” overtakes the imperative and transforms itself into a pure celebration. B-side "Una Changa," backed by PXXR GVNG’s Yung Beef, continues to idolize the night show with softened production not unlike Rae Sremmurd’s neon-soaked banger “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPZtXYaY4do">Look Alive</a>.” “‘Una Changa’ es una canción del verdadero poder que tienen las strippers en el club,” <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/es_mx/article/estreno-fete-billete-ft-yung-beef-una-changa">Kilo told <i>i-D</i></a> where the song originally premiered. Strip clubs have long been credited for their power to turn singles into actual hits. Here Füete Billete are ready to submit to all the seductive powers at work (“Ella es la que manda aquí”), which help set up <i>Papelón City</i> as an ambitious project we can’t wait to hear in full.<br /><br /><iframe frameborder="no" height="450" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/248887721&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5055262764343113153.post-11652635590971357682016-08-08T21:09:00.000-06:002018-04-23T17:45:47.797-06:00Felipe Neiva - "Conte Comigo"<a href="https://67.media.tumblr.com/15758e050a62919015326e63a5082f0b/tumblr_obmgo2YpGm1uu1kfjo1_540.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em;"><img border="0" height="510" src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/15758e050a62919015326e63a5082f0b/tumblr_obmgo2YpGm1uu1kfjo1_540.jpg" width="510" /></a><br /><br />For years Carioca netlabel Transfusão Noise Records has been <i>the</i> name behind Brazil’s most unique noise-revivalist, punk, and lo-fi albums. The catalogue is <a href="http://transfusaonoiserecords.tumblr.com/">still going strong</a>, pushing forward by rejecting a boutique mindset that relies too heavily on nostalgia. On the contrary, there is always something challenging or idiosyncratic to discover.<br /><br />Through Escritório, an extension of Transfusão, we are learning about more and more fresh Brazilian acts to follow. Escritório’s ongoing <i>Cassete Club</i> series is releasing exclusive songs recorded on tape and streaming them through Soundcloud. This third offering comes from Felipe Neiva, an artist that caught our attention thanks to his song’s somber, wounded spirit laced in affecting guitars. The track initially offers pure indie rock which then timehops back into a 60s freak out, a move that works because it places the vocal’s garbled pleas in the proper context.<br /><br />Produced by Lê Almeida, "Conte Comigo" will be included in an EP from Felipe Neiva due later this year.<br /><br /><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/275193288&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe>Pierre Lestruhauthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17838678866854219866noreply@blogger.com