Entre Ríos - Saga Catálogo Intervenciones

Saga Catálogo Intervenciones, Entre Ríos
Ultrapop, Argentina
Rating: 76
by Pablo Acuña

I remember reading Carlos Reyes' sorrowful review of Entre Ríos last album, Era. In this entry Carlos expressed his affliction towards Sebastian Carreras' struggle to adapt to the new media that ended up putting Entre Ríos in a indefinite hiatus. The truth is that Indice Virgen's founder never said goodbye to his band but decided to separate himself from the record industry and the habits of users treating all electronic music as indie music: "75 percent of the content that is uploaded to the Internet is uploaded by users and by doing so, they are feeding the corporations. Everything is devalued and is one reason to sense the music in a different way than how I did ten years ago".

Carreras could have opted to keep despising the way music works within the media, but instead he embraces it and uses it for his own benefit. In his new LP, Saga Catálogo Intervenciones, Entre Ríos defies the habitual form of releasing and promoting an album, by developing a series of interventions that include a concept performance where the viewer is introduced to a sonic and visual experience. Each of the interventions are named after a song, and that song is deconstructed live in art galleries in Buenos Aires. Carreras innovation is a beautiful reminder of his words in 2011: "Entre Ríos is a concept. The idea was setting the concept before the person's own name." While Carreras could be viewed as a suffering, airlessness kind of rock-star-dictator (he is the sole survivor of the first band lineup), appearances are often deceiving. And make no mistake about it: SCI is one of the most unabashedly sincere works of indie/electro pop I’ve come across this year. The hooks on are indelible regardless of instrumentation, containing an air around each element that is as palpable as the product's immaculate sound. First single, "Ambiental" has Julieta Brotsky displaying through her vocals, Carreras' sense of emotional urgency that makes this album special.

Rosario Ortega's velvety, heated vocal take on "Otra Vez", remains one of the most nakedly beautiful pieces of singing I've heard this year, in any genre. When lines like “Una vez tuve una historia, yo después tuve una herida. Otra vez tuve un deseo así que yo también sufrí derrotas,” on "Otra Vez" or "Me hiciste sentir que todavía había algo" on "Tu Siempre," are set to the emotive sounds that Entre Ríos trade in, they sound towering, impassioned, and life-affirming. SCI cannot be separated in singles (and that's a reversion for many people). Every track in this album is a piece of the puzzle that Carreras is trying to put together in our own personal experience. I find really ironic that the words Daniel Melero wrote 27 years ago describe exactly my own experience with SCI. The last track of the album is a cover for Melero's gem "Lineas" that with emotional directness truthfully claims: "Hay canciones que se llevan algo de uno cuando terminan. Son como romances que se llevan algo de uno cuando terminan". Welcome back Entre Ríos.

Video: Entre Ríos - Paraná

Corporate media consultants in the music industry always keep a steady eye on independent music. It is one way to predict where music as art and as a financial enterprise is going. The vanishing of the physical record is hitting some of Latin America’s most established indie acts pretty bad. Indie labels have struggled to fund the release of physical albums, killing much of the traditional experience of listening to music through a record. For over a decade, Argentine band Entre Ríos kept a modest but sustainable method of production and distribution. Upon the band’s release of their latest album Era, Entre Ríos also announced the sad news of their departure. Although many of us would question the band’s ability to adapt to the new decade, no one can deny Entre Rios is walking out with their heads high and with an extraordinary discography.

The new wave of Latin American indie romanticizes the physical format as much as the artists from the 2000s, but Carreras is right at claiming this change in pop culture as a generational conversion. This brand new video from album standout “Paraná” shows singer Romina D’angelo wearing a luchador costume as she embarks to new lands singing “a naufragar te invito” (“I invite you to the shipwreck”). The clip by Juan Poclava keeps things simple, but succeeds in embedding its adventurer in the beautiful landscapes between El Tigre (a delta town in Argentina) and the multinational Paraná River. Era is a beautiful last voyage to subtle melodies, personal songcraft, and folk-afflicted charm.

Entre Ríos - Era

Era, Entre Ríos

Ultrapop, Argentina

Rating: 76

by Carlos Reyes



For more than a decade, Entre Ríos won the hearts of thousands of fans throughout Iberoamerica; it is by far, the most emblematic Argentinean indie-pop band in recent memory. The band’s twee & soothing pop melodies earned them intercontinental success ever since their debut Litoral came to wash away the harmful stains of the golden age of Argentinean rock.



Bright musicians and good storytellers, but above all, inveterate romantics. It’s that romanticism towards their creative vision that today finds them saying goodbye to their fans and an exceptional career. Times have changed and with the collapse of the physical album, the band feels the skeleton of their music approach is missing. Leader and founder Sebastián Carreras confessed feeling lost among the new media and mediums, and while many of us think they were adapting just fine, we can’t do nothing but respect their heart-trenching decision. Entre Ríos leaves us with some good-to-great records, including Era, the last set.



Entre Ríos’ formation might have been unsteady throughout the entire decade of their existence, but every piece in every album carries the band’s watermark. Most final albums (even by great bands) end up drowning in sentimentalism, you won’t get that here, Entre Ríos is far too classy for such provocateur practices. If you’ve been a devoted fan like us, you already know what this record sounds like. The affectionate pop in “Lo Puesto” or “Frontera” are reminders of the band’s little concern to revolutionize their sound; they had other priorities, like exploring melody through the grounds of geographic intuition and the songs' own short-sentence nihilism.



What you do get in Era, is the summation of a band faithful to its prime and affectionate to its gestures. Velvety composition and unfussy lyricism are enough for Entre Ríos to burnish your furniture (something you’re very unlikely to get from this review). Album standouts include the quasar “De Mi”, the neo-religious “Cierto Es”, and the galloping/fatalistic “Galope.” If we take away the significance of Era as the last train-stop, it would still be a pretty nostalgic and a quite remarkable record. The legacy of the band will prevail on their healthy discography, in this beautiful last album, and in the many bands they've clearly influenced (Dënver, Quiero Club, Nubes En Mi Casa, etc). Farewell to Entre Ríos, you’ve left some heartstrings behind, and a handful of chants to remember.

♫♫♫ "De Mi"

Download "Paraná" The first single from Entre Rios' final album

Entre Rios have officially announced they're breaking up, by far, one of Argentina’s most beloved and renowned indie pop acts. The band was around for a decade and leaves us with contagious hits such as “Hoy No”, “Salven Las Sirenas”, and “Tambor.” Although it was always hard to figure out their exact formation (it had like four different vocalists), the band always kept its sunny sound unharmed. “Paraná” is the first single of ERA, their commemorative final record to be released later this year. In this song, Entre Rios surveys some of their early works, bringing back beautiful passages of folk-pop as part of their vernacular. “Paraná” is one of those sailor sad songs that are heart-trenching but motivating at the same time, "A naufragar te invito." Farewell Entre Rios. Download the track by pushing the arrow at the following SoundCloud player.

Entre Rios - "Frontera"

Our friends from Zona Indie (Argentina) premiered a new song by Entre Rios titled “Frontera” as their November pick on the Music Pact Alliance. This is the first cut from an upcoming EP. The song happens to feature Josefina McLaughin’s beautiful vocals; she’s the girl from Nubes en Mi Casa, although I can’t tell if this is a collaboration because there’s no perceptible variation in vocals. Both bands have been compared on the past so this featuring was truly unexpected. In case you missed it, Entre Rios scored a spot on our Top 100 countdown with “Salven las Sirenas”, they had another vocalist back then, oh gotta love transitions.

♫♫♫ "Frontera"

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Club Fonograma Features: Entre Rios

A brand new week, hopefully you are enjoying our features, we already have a long line of songs for you and we must thank those creative artists for sharing them with us. Remember “Salven las sirenas”?, in case you don’t, it was a relatively big hit three years ago. The song by Entre Rios helped Elefant Records, one of the best labels in Spain, cross over to Latin America way before we got our chance to enjoy the likes of La Casa Azul or La Monja Enana. The Argentinean pop group has kept three slots all along, but those spaces have been transitioning with changes among the members of the group. After 3 years of absence, they opt for a self-titled comeback, a new label and even a new vocalist, which has to be one of the biggest risks any band could go through. Truth is, the new voice is also fantastic, not only that, but it evolves and reconstructs Entre Rios history for its own good. We now bring you the first single “Tambor”, which should’ve ranked way higher on our Best Singles of the Year post. 

Club Fonograma Features: 
ENTRE RIOS. 
Track: "Tambor"
Album: Entre Rios
Label: Crack Rok
Country: Argentina
>>> MP3
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