Balún - "La Nueva Ciudad"

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 dreambow. 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 Balún’s first contribution to Club Fonograma has stood the test of time.

With Afro Caribbean sounds like tipple, bomba 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 MULA, Coral Casino, & Tomasa del Real 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. 

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 the circular nature of time, planets, & the need to create a city without mirrors. 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. It would seem as though Balún have become curators of globopop. “La Nueva Ciudad” is the lead single from the forthcoming Prisma Tropical LP which is due in 2017. Listen to it below and its b-side, “Esta En Tus Manos,” a cover of the pioneer of indietronica reggaetón herself, Javiera Mena.

Juan Wauters - Asi No Mas - Daytrotter Session

Juan Wauters is one of those few melodists who can combine simplicity, sensitivity and subtlety in each of his compositions. Yet this tinkerer of irresistible songs impresses with the richness of his texts that can both make you chuckle and choke up. On “Asi No Mas” Wauters exposes, in an uninhibited exploration of a popular expression and its phonetic and graphic ambiguity (¿así nomás o así no más?), his thoughts on life changes, inevitable moments of loneliness, and his desire to "poder estar bien sin qué pelear." The track, released earlier this year, is an charmingly catchy cut from a Daytrotter Session he recorded last November at Futureappletree (Rock Island, IL). Juan Wauters will be playing this song and many others at Festival Nrmal 2015.

La Lá - "Animales"

Coming along like a moment of nostalgia on Papasquiaro, "Animales" reminds us that with an irresistible hook, the neo-folk genre didn't really die a decade ago, we just got over-saturated by it. Everyone was doing it; just like we'll soon see everyone dabble with dubstep. And while bands start trading pot for chemicals, Peruana, La Lá, is pure of any trend. Her debut LP, Rosa, is a straightforward ode to her country - Andean folk pared back to singer-songwriter lamentations, with licks of jazz. It's a pleasant record, and sure to please fans of the genre, but the real find here is the effervescent, and tight "Animales."

With an off-kilter melody, La Lá creates an easily imagined jungle brimming with beasts of desire. From just an acoustic accompaniment, the song creates drama and tension other songs would use lush instrumentation and lumbering horns for. As the artist describes on her website, the pseudonym 'La Lá' comes from the inexplicable visceral 'emotion' of a song: that... that je ne sais quoi. It's that lovely tremble of excitement as you see your lover's naked body for the first time; it's that terrible pang of dread, realizing you've projected an entire fantasy life onto a date; that thing that makes you heady and fragile and brave - and retreat all at the same time.

Juan Wauters - N.A.P. North American Poetry

N.A.P. North American Poetry, Juan Wauters
Captured Tracks, USA
Rating: 82
by Souad Martin-Saoudi 

While N.A.P. North American Poetry was released last February, I must admit I needed some time to absorb all of the earnestness emanating from this epigrammatic record. So I listened and re-listened to Juan Wauters' first solo LP. When it comes to achieving true simplicity -one that can only be attained by gathering, digesting and unifying the infinite complexities of human reasoning, the Jackson Heights-based fellow with the nasal vocals and minimalist guitar arrangements has become an expert. After several listens, his "collection of 12 songs about the coldness of winter and the warmth of a scratch-off nickel," which were all recorded at Gary Olson's Marlborough Farms studio between 2010 and 2012, uncovers the songwriter’s proficiency to understand and expose complex situations with an idiosyncratic lyricism that remains engaging.

"I don’t like you, you’re a fool" shouts Wauters on album opener "Let Me Hip You To Something," after a discrete soaring guitar takeoff. The chuckle-inducing statement can offend upon first hearing, but in a way it calls into question whether he sings it in order to keep us, as a society, on our toes, aware, and truly present. Beneath his offhand irony, The Beets frontman bares a purity of conception that either excites or puts off. And so Wauters makes his way through and underneath the layers of our conscious minds, one moment with the genuine urgency of "Sanity or Not" and a moment later with the soothing bongo beat of the jaunty and Rollingstonesque "Lost in Soup." JW’s three-chord art punk provides a solid vessel for his thoughts on overconformity and the alienation of modern humanity. "Escucho Mucho" builds in a dreamy-jangly rhythm guitar to lines like "Soy un soldado, no estoy domado, a otro soldado quiero matar, pero no puedo, no tengo dedo apretar gatillo y matar." The hazy and drifting "Woke Up Feeling Like Sleeping," with its quieter strumming guitar, maracas and voiceover embodies Wauters’ aesthetic, one that’s weirdly attractive.

His art excels with the contemplative "Water," whose words ("Do I belong, who is it that I am, what is it that I'm for") and music video (shot in Montevideo by longtime collaborator Matthew Voltz) create a sense that we have dropped in on a moment that has not stopped to exist because of our incursion. We can even catch a sight of two of Wauters musical idols Chicos Eléctricos’ Nico Barcia and singer songwriter Ruben Rada. Amanda Rodi’s flute on “Goo” and Carmelle Safdie’s (Beachniks) vocals on "Breathing" and "How Do They All Do?" envelop the confessional lyrics and JW’s slacker drawl with a fuller sensorial experience. Like a playful and spirited choir, the duet formed by Wauters and Safdie (a more fun and spirited version of Reed/Nico tandem), proves to be curiously effective as the vocal alternation channels Wauters’ vulnerability without becoming mawkish. "Continue To Be You" offers a different kind of thrill as lines from the opening track: “Get a headache yeah, take medicine yeah, get better yeah, to another headache, oh yeah” are repeated as a mantra to bring us to full realization.

N.A.P. North American Poetry (out via Captured Tracks) closes with a rough but spirited cover of Los Piojos "Ay Ay Ay". The pressing guitar arrangements on this song are about someone who strives to survive outside of an alienating society, but inevitably comes back to it -giving it greater depth. Patti Smith in Just Kids explained that “to be an artist was to see what others could not.” Juan Wauters does precisely that: managing to hold the listener spellbound with few chords and a feeling. The candor and artisanal approach of his collection of thoughts permeates the ordinary to better transcend it.

Juan Wauters – “Escucho Mucho”

Within the first few seconds of "Escucho Mucho," Uruguayan-born, Jackson Heights-based Juan Wauters' shambling rhythm guitar brings us back to the naive candor of childhood, that very candor that made his band, The Beets, so intriguing. With a unique awareness and a fair dose of self-irony Wauters shares his take on confusion, alienation and isolation. As the track progresses, a psychedelic flight on an electric guitar is layered over the jaunty melody, bringing Wauters’ existentialist-folk to a cosmic level. His true melodic sensitivity and irresistible charm will have you humming under your breath without realizing it. "Escucho Mucho" is the second single off of his debut solo album N.A.P. North American Poetry, out February 4th through Captured Tracks.

MP3: Las Acevedo - "Playa"

One of the loveliest bands we’ve come to know from the Dominican Republic is the sweet folk pop twin sisters duo Las Acevedo. With their soon-to-be-released, Homemade Cookies, Las Acevedo have polished their approachable aesthetic, enriching their sing-along, joyful melodies. The proof is first single, the sunny “Playa.” A catchy summer song that will likely put a smile on your face, “Playa” is the perfect feel-good tune while packing your suitcases before an unforgettable day on the beach. Adorably blending their voices over their trademark gracious instrumentation, Las Acevedo remind us why they're so promising and why we can’t help but be in love with them. 

♫♫♫ "Playa" | Facebook

MP3: Coyoli - "Jofredesa"

A relatively new act within our circuit, Mexican musician Oscar Coyoli has been composing engaging folk music for a couple of years already. Listening to his 2007 release under the unpronounceable and ungoogleable artistic name ((( ))), Una tarde de domingo en la isla de la Grande Jatte (named after Georges Seurat’s iconic painting), the first comparison that came to mind was Phil Elvrum’s work (particularly because their voices sound very similar), mixed with a splash of Beirut’s Gulag Orkestar. It's a heartwarming effort that remains an underground gem.

Almost five years later, with the help of skillful producer Juan Manuel Torreblanca, Coyoli presents “Jofredesa,” the captivating first cut off his group's second EP (and first simply as Coyoli), Bémot. A breathtaking work of pastoral folk, “Jofredesa” is a piece that beautifully relies on silences and their contemplativeness, which transmits a domestic feeling of somehow, somewhere, having already heard it, as if it had been integrated to your memories for ages and you didn’t even think you'd remember. With the addition of singer Pilar Hernández's significantly moving leading vocals and Andrea Balency’s serene assistance on accordion, “Jofredesa” stands out as a radiant new beginning to a candle-lit path to greatness.

Andy Mountains - Epep

Epep, Andy Mountains
Independiente, México
Rating: 43
by Enrique Coyotzi

So what’s up with Andy Mountains? The happy five-piece folk band has enjoyed a successful year with the release of their first EP, Epep (if you read it backwards, that’s also the diminutive name of their drummer, duh), but especially with their chintzy, overplayed first single “Tahoma 32,” which was a tremendous hit at the popular Mexican radio station, Reactor. It catapulted the group into moderate fame, obtaining tons of fans who described their lyrics as “clever” and “hilarious.” Carlos Ascencio, of Ibero 90.9’s Mercado Negro, mentioned in his review that with Andy Mountains “the fun is guaranteed,” but I beg to differ. This release generally manages to cause unpleasant sensations. Andy Mountains’ moronic formula will most likely annoy the hell out of you, just like a silly Mexican equivalent of the awful Foster the People, all packaged with la las, oohs, cheesiness, and overall silliness.

The band has described their music as “noisy childish folk.” The songs occasionally turn out noisy and, effectively, are pretty childish, but in an unfavorable, almost dull manner. Andy Mountains seem to be trying to revive childhood and even puberty in their tunes, but one just has to read the song titles to imagine the bothersome pieces awaiting. EP opener “Hoy Me Gusta Mi Peinado” evokes adolescent preoccupation with hairstyle, and the song's protagonist, while taking a shower, sings his tonada filled of “lalalas” and “ooohs,” and that’s it. The song attempts to be contemplative, but it’s so flat, it simply doesn’t peak.

“No Mames Que Te Encontré!” is a countryish track in which distinctive leader, Andrés Acosta (Madame Recamier, Los Negretes), delivers kind of aggressive vocals and occasional screaming. It’s also one of the most irritating parts of the EP when he announces “y ésta es la parte de la canción del solo de las palabras sin sentido.” While the written lyrics make reference to Da Vinci, Nietzsche, Dalí, etc., the song simply keeps going with guitar scratching and no vocals, which leads me to think this must be the part where live they go “totally nonsense,” name-dropping anything that comes to Acosta’s mind. “Matías y el Pastel de Fresas” and “Tahoma 32” are equally unfortunate, the first, with its initial whistling, is an almost unbearable corny take, the latter, a strong candidate for worst song of the year.

Musically, they principally try to resemble Animal Collective’s Sung Tongs era. Just subtract the inventiveness, vocal-challenging wisdom, and you’ll find out that this is, in essence, a work that attempts to emulate that sort of purposeful folk music, unfortunately, with disastrous results. This release is clearly not worthy of its universal praise, but I must recognize closing track “Somos de Papel Mojado” as a touching song. It’s almost as if the band knew this was the best thing out of the whole EP and decided to reserve it for the end, like if it didn’t belong. If this any indication of the group's forthcoming sound inclination, then we can expect more mature, moving compositions in the future, yet Epep stands as one deeply flawed and overall unconvincing debut.

Mateo de la Luna en Compañía Terrestrial - Mateo de la Luna en Compañía Terrestrial

Mateo de la Luna en Compañía Terrestrial,
Mateo de la Luna en Compañía Terrestrial
Independiente, Argentina
Rating: 78
by Enrique Coyotzi

Remember when MySpace was the dominating website where most emergent artists launched their projects? Since the almighty dominance of Facebook and Twitter, that social network has been dying quietly, almost without anyone’s notice, becoming (quoting Hipster Runoff enigmatic webmaster, Carles) a "digital graveyard." While it provides the option of streaming songs, in vogue innovative platforms like Bandcamp and SoundCloud have established as the current determining servers where independent acts can also promote and sell their works, whether via streaming or direct download.

Argentinean romantic trio Mateo de la Luna en Compañía Terrestrial opted to distribute their enthralling self-titled debut EP (via MediaFire) through the almost defunct MySpace. Despite the archaic medium the band has chosen to promote this release, their bewildering beautiful songs are so hooking, it is impossible not to acknowledge them. Comprised of five short, dazzling pieces, Mateo de la Luna en Compañía Terrestrial is the home of some of the year’s most arresting music; precious small melodies about love that are acutely affective and, simultaneously, feel intimately familiar. The group specializes in evocative folksy tunes that keep it simple in instrumentation, relying mainly on Mateo de la Luna and Mati Terremoto’s affable acoustic guitar playing. Mateo’s vocals are complemented by Belén Natalí’s dulcet singing and together they magnificently articulate glowing, uncanny themes. Songs like “Como una Rana” or “Absorbo Todos los Tés de Todas las Tardes” are great examples of how effectively the singers’ voices function combined.

Musically, Mateo de la Luna en Compañía Terrestrial isn’t far away from artists like Arcade Fire, Iron & Wine, or Bon Iver and, while their influences are quite clear, the band has demonstrated an admirable capacity in transcendental songwriting talent, offering listeners a solid, highly re-playable EP that stands as one the year’s most delightful short-length listens. While the act's lack of DIY distribution knowledge has marginalized this release, these compelling pieces are strong enough for the band to breakthrough into the melodic village, attract publications, and possibly bring them a few lifetime fans in the process.

♫♫♫ "Como Una Rana"
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Bigott - This is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship

This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Bigott
Grabaciones en el Mar, Spain
Rating: 78
by Andrew Casillas

The use of dreams as a songwriting device usually results in far more misses than hits. While there are certainly a few gleaming examples out in the pop canon, from the Everly Brothers’ “All I Have to Do is Dream” to Bob Dylan’s 115th to Shakira’s “Ojos Así,” for the most part, any sort of visio is relegated as an easy crutch, or a cheap excuse for an artist to engage in whatever fanciful crap they can throw onto a lyric sheet while still claiming artistic “vision.”

All of which makes what Bigott does all the more special. If his music has a modus operandi, it’s undoubtedly the examination of dream-like states. However, Bigott doesn’t see dreams as a metaphor for real-life, what’s revealed within each song is a mini-examination of one-man’s carnal psyche. Sex, death, booze, pretty flowers, prettier girls; these are the subjects of an average Bigott song, with all of the obsessions, narcissism, and neuroses that accompany them.

If Bigott’s new album, This is the Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship, details the current state of the artist’s slumberworld, than this appears to be a world where Errol Flynn, Larry Bird, and Dean Martin make guest appearances in the same way that former SNL cast members show up on 30 Rock. The album’s wry, dry, and provocative tone is set form the album’s very first lyric, “I said to the doctor ‘Can you help me with my Mum?’ And he said ‘Oh, your Mum is out of tune.’” Such a statement can’t help but exhibit an equal amount of shock and intrigue out of the listener; luckily, the rest of the delightfully morbid lead single “Dead Mum Walking” is just as interesting, with Bigott’s Matt Berninger-like vocals clashing just right with the dour, sprite instrumentation. Other highlights pop up from time to time, from the chipper and charismatic “Sparkle Motion,” to the Jose Gonzalez-but-way-more-fun vibe of “Pachanga,” to the thumping, resolute “Not Drunk Today,” the best of this album is a tour-de-force of funny, tragic, engaging, and sometimes sexy folk-rock.

Yet, you’ll notice that this album’s rating falls just a bit short of Descatado territory. I’d love to give an extrapolated, well-thought out, critical reason for this, but this is of course the internet, so I’ll just be blunt. Where Bigott decidedly succeeded on Fin was when he was accentuating the sour, sort of self-flagellation of love and heartbreak’s intersection. On here, there’s a sort of hangover effect. The song’s are shorter and less detailed, and even the few that go on for longer than three and a half minutes contain much juice.

That’s not to say that any of the above are necessarily bad things. What’s lost on This is the Beginning… is the freewheeling spirit that he last two albums made sound so effortless. But by no means is this album a misstep. It’s just a bump in the road. And considering the man’s prolific nature and past productivity, Bigott’s sure to steer himself in the right direction soon. He probably just needs to take a couple of good naps first.

♫♫♫ "Cool Single Wedding"
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Video: Camila Moreno - "Lo Cierto"

Many of us were deeply surprised by the Latin Grammy nomination for Camila Moreno’s “Millones”, it was well deserved. It certainly brought her attention and her awesome Almismotiempo debut is slowly internationalizing as the atypical folk album it is. “Lo Cierto” is the album’s second single, and this is the video shot ‘en super ocho’, kind of replicating the album cover. She’s stunningly gorgeous and her voice is simply a vocal rush of emotion. Here is hoping for upcoming videos for “Cae y Calla” and “Primero Que Apune”, our favorite tracks from the album.

Almismotiempo, Camila Moreno

ALMISMOTIEMPO, CAMILA MORENO
Sello Azul, Chile ****
Rating: 80
By Carlos Reyes

“Porque aquí todos los nudos se desatan con canciones”, Camila Moreno embraces this statement in her bold, flourishing first album Almismotiempo, a showcase of pop and folk in the lines of Gepe and Lisandro Aristimuño, but more earthly in its approach to command multi-dimensional songs that are not necessarily trying to escape from Latin-American folk as the world knows it, but definitely sounds too personal to fall into epic or protestant guidelines. I don’t think there has been an album as effective in trying to hide its pop and rock influences since Gepe’s Gepinto, both albums maintain their distance from Victor Jara while sounding like him and at the same time pulling off a loop from Fiona Apple.

In its most subtle side, Almismotiempo attends the anomalies of the heart, among them the desires of the flesh, negotiating both structures through a secular insight, not religiously oriented but definitely spiritual. Through the years music critics have learned not to trust artists’ arguments regarding their creations; but during a recent interview, Camila proved some of them can’t help but be honest or at least convincing with their responses. She says she has a fascination with pop culture and Bjork, but once she sat down to make music, she was unconsciously making folk music. Mind not to say, this is not your average folk/world album but an extension of the ohsobeautiful ‘cancion melodramatica popular.’

There’s a thing about Chilean and Argentinean folk that makes songs seem heavier than what they are, like a shield surrounding melody and guiding it toward march-like sequences. This is best exemplified in “Millones”, the leading single and the only statement song in the album. It’s a piece about institutions, corruption and everything in between. In particular, it’s a dispute over the healthcare system, while an American author would focus on insurances and the fantasized idea of providing care to all people, this young Chilean songstress is left with remote needs such as vaccinations for secluded villages.

Almismotiempo bursts with beautiful orchestrations in “Primero Que Apune” and “Pera”, both tracks shroud with sad compositions and yet find a way to release optimism as a reward. Chile’s pop is fascinated with timings, steps, shapes, forms, and Camila Moreno adds a little of her own, it’s the gift of fragmentation to which she ironically pays homage in “Ay.” Camila’s broken deep-felt voice in “Delfin del Deseo” reminds me of the early Julieta Venegas and Francisca Valenzuela. The album has a sense of contained feeling to it, which is evident in the jazzy “Lo Cierto” and the fatalistic “Cae y Calla.” Ultimately, Moreno’s debut triumphs by allowing ‘flaws’ into its system, it takes itself into vulnerable ground and it doesn’t need to shout or sensationalize its message, as the closing track “Trenza” states, someday and somehow “todo se pondra a bailar.”

♫♫♫ "Millones"
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Two Hearts - Apart Under, The Same Sky

TWO HEARTS-APART UNDER,
THE SAME SKY
Independiente, Chile
Rating: 60
by: Jean-Stephane Beriot

The Same Sky is the emerging project from Joseph Simon, a guy from Chile who at his 15, that doesn’t sound his age at all; his voice might reveal his age but his lyrics and composition strike to mature places, more in the lines of M. Ward and Belle & Sebastian. His artistry isn’t comparable to those references of course, but he is already showing signs of freedom as an auteur in the works. Recently he was featured on the Music Alliance Pact as the representative of Chile, he sounded familiar and so I realized that I had I first met him through Super45’s Nuevos Talentos competition, where he was a clear standout but the tracks he submitted were purely melancholic, almost drowned in gloominess and despair, something his first LP Two Heart – Apart Under has to deal with.

It’s definitely an album that is best digested with little or no lights on, with headphones and a disposition to contemplate the first offering a promising artist gives us, and that entitles a bunch of things among them, the fact that he’s got plenty of time to mold his music. I am not crazy about his voice I must say, it’s too shaky to hold the confidence he portrays in his instruments, and in some cases as in “We sleep under the Same Sky” he is almost crying. In terms of production and design this reminds of the unreleased demos from Juan Son (“Rancho Depresso”, “Iceberg” etc.) and it’s dreamy like Sr. Amable, Prietto Viaja al Cosmos con Mariano and Vapourboat.

He tends to finish every line with a vocalized echo, and I usually don’t have a problem with that except that he overdoes it in tracks like “Too busy to tell your name” and “Cielo Azul”, making them almost unbearable to listen. But he is successful to stimulate senses in “Señor de Niñez” and “Don’t Fall Asleep”, the two peaks in the album, mostly because they don’t feel so forced like the rest of the album that requires intimate conditions to chew over. It’s almost like I want to side slice the album, there are some really brilliant moments on the background, but this is ultimately folk and we can only hope for an honest performance, but a contrasting female voice or reduction of vocal supply wouldn’t hurt at all.

♫♫♫ "Don't Fall Asleep"
Download Album Free
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Warmi, Magaly Solier

WARMI, MAGALY SOLIER
Phantom Records, Peru
Rating: 74
By Carlos Reyes

Magaly Solier should be a familiar face for us Latino Cinema enthusiasts, with only two films under her filmography the 22 year old beauty has become Peru’s dearest actress. I remember watching the brilliant Madeinusa helmed by first time director Claudia Llosa and watching the promising girl that carried the difficult movie with plenty of command and charm. Early this year La Teta Asustada won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, during her acceptance speech she sang part of a song in Quechua that gave everyone shivers and left Berlin’s jury president Tilda Swinton in tears, their second film working together brought all the attention and the opportunity for Solier to fulfill her dream of making music. Cutting away the Cinderella story, Magaly Solier is a solid debut that is fortunate for the most part; it doesn’t lack ideas and breaths beautiful moments of indigenous and provincial outreach. The album is mostly in Quechua, and of course not knowing the language or the culture, there is that expected distance that although is fascinating to discover, it becomes an alienating experience. The album is heavy on charango, quenas, and violins; Solier is the mind behind it all and the sensitivity in her voice is beautifully naïf. She sings about her people for her people, and it’s wonderful that it never steps in encyclopedic ambition; although I did learn that ‘warmi’ means woman and so it does have an unconditional sense to make people aware of the culture. The first song “Citaray” takes you right into the sound, yes it is traditional Peruvian folk but Solier’s playfulness with vocals approach the alternative scats of Lila Downs. “Para Para” is like a gigantic celebration and the album’s most vibrant piece. Among the songs in Spanish, the clear standout is “Porque me miras asi”, which is very sweet and the one song that could actually make it into regular radio. But there’s a song that is really captivating and a revisit to Madeinusa, “Ripu Ripusajmi” is a jaw-dropping protest song for the Quechua woman, the musical accompaniment is exquisite and up to the moment as it tells the story of a girl escaping from the physical abuse of her father: “seguro tu padre borracho, seguro tu padre machista, cuando decidiste marcharte .. siempre te golpea tu padre.”

♫♫♫ "Ripu Ripusajmi"
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En El Cementerio Peligroso, Lidia Damunt

EN EL CEMENTERIO PELIGROSO,
LIDIA DAMUNT
Subterfuge, Spain ***1/2
Rating: 71
By Carlos Reyes

Lidia Damunt caves folk with accentuated strings like almost no other individual from our region; through a concise skill she forces her voice into awe-inspiring screams to catch up to her guitar’s rapid speed as if it was following a horse through the woods. En El Cementerio Peligroso sounds just like Damunt’s first record En la Isla de las Bufandas, just with different topics, but not enough proximity among its pieces to formulate a concept or a sharp theme. What makes the album particular is Damunt’s personality breaking through the music and unveiling herself; sometimes in direct down-to-earth songs like “Perdoname” and even more interesting is to see figurative language make an appearance through fantasy and glossy stories. The big standout among these imaginative pieces is “Su Nombre Es Chaan”, a rapid half pop half trova piece about her encounter with a character that feels too lonely in this world, through the description, leaves the impression of being some kind of inspiring and kind witch. “El Hundimiento del Sirio” is the other track that fully gets its concept; there are plenty of details to make the story of a sinking boat traveling to the Americas believable. Despite its virtues, songs like “En el fondo del mar” and “Eco Eco” fall short to the artist’s premise, these are songs that work great individually but once put together experience a drought of notion. The incredibly fun and honest “Guinglain” arrives at an awkward moment, it's crude and with lines like "a las damas enamora con su seriedad", it's an engaging story of an emblematic knight. It is the moment to disclose full confidence as she riffs the strings at full potency, a triumph for the story-teller and the one song in the album that places the artwork’s armor and architectural beauty as levelheaded.  

♫♫♫ "Guinglain"
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Club Fonograma Features: Lucio Mantel

If you go through our Best of 2008 post, you’ll see that the 14^th best album of the year was never reviewed or commented; Nictografo by Lucio Mantel got to our hands extremely late and at a very busy time, but I knew it had an assured spot as it is a tremendous breakthrough album not to be missed. It joins the great works of Lisandro Aristimuno, Jorge Drexler and Ulises Hadjis as one of the most powerful folk-pop recollections of this decade. I would go as far as to say that anyone who fell in love with Fleet Foxes will embrace this instrumented poem. Nictografo senses fears, transforms them into illuminating images that luckily find great harmonization by a masterful lyricist with a great voice.  It’s a work of quiet passages, pointing us to a talent that will most likely have a long healthy career ahead. For all our features we allow the artist to pick their own song, but I was determined to get “Nadie En El Espejo”, which still makes my eyes watery, aren’t those moments beautiful too? With all due respect to all the great artists we’ve featured so far, I must say this is my favorite track thus far, hopefully a label is smart enough to acquire it for U.S. distribution. 

Club Fonograma Features: 
LUCIO MANTEL. 
Track: "Nadie en el Espejo" 
Album: Nictografo
Label: Independiente
Country: Argentina
>>>MP3
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Pynandi Los Descalzos, Chango Spasiuk

PYNANDI: LOS DESCALZOS
CHANGO SPASIUK
World Village, Argentina ****
Rating: 82
By Carlos Reyes

Accordionist folk virtuoso Chango Spasiuk releases his latest, most complex album yet. Among the Latin Alternative scene he is most known for his instrumented contributions with fellow Argentinean band Divididos. But it was his multi-awarded 2006 album Tarefero de mis Pagos that brought light to a guy possessing colossal craftsmanship on his pastoral intimate music. Pynandi embraces every little moment by transmitting its emotional depth through a commanding instrumental sophistication, enough to request a visual contemplation to match the sounds. While listening to this, I couldn’t stop visualizing cinematic images from today’s most thrilling Latin-American film directors: Carlos Reygadas, Lucrecia Martel, Lisandro Alonso and Claudia Llosa. All four directors are known for their limited or absence utilization of music, and I’m not suggesting Spasiuk’s music for their films, it’s just that their approach to common life and beauty pumps from the exact same vein. First track “Tierra Colorada” embraces his origin bursts through it with a fascinating travel; there is some diffusion of instruments and the accordion struggling to explode, but most than anything there is no moderation limiting how Chango wants to depict his scenery. “El Camino” remotes those feeling of leaving or coming back, definitely one of folk’s most prominent themes, perfectly accentuates chords and boxsets to give a sense of an individual walking through a path, rediscovering his surroundings and re-coloring memories. “Infancia” is, as the title indicates, the most playful piece here; it’s imaginative and carries the speed and affection of childhood itself. Probably the most illuminating moment arrives with “Viejo Caballo Alazan” is a rich poem to the horses, peaceful mountains, food and odors of rural life. “Alvear Orilla / Estancia Santa Maria” unifies different styles of traditional Latin music; it touches Colombia and scratches the Southern Mexico. Pynandi departures with “La Ponzonosa”, a blissful musical festivity rounding up an enchanting album. 

buy it @ amazon.com

Negro Fluo, Negro Fluo

NEGROFLUO, NEGRO FLUO
Unsigned, Argentina ***1/2
Rating: 79
By Carlos Reyes

This is the first 2009 album we get from South America and a beautiful one. It had been a while since the word psychedelic had popped up while listening to an album, even having heard the latest masterwork by Animal Collective. This is my answer to emotional abstract music; it doesn’t need to complicate itself with vocal patterns or cosmetic lyrics. Negro Fluo is Jorge Nikliso, this Argentinean shackles into a grasping moment of post-folk, distorting a bunch of elements along its journey and ultimately bringing a quite fantastic first set. Negro Fluo sounds epic; something phenomenal considering this is a solo act, takes full advantage of its resources and accentuates passages that like the art cover, feel aquatic. Sure the music is at times sloppy, but with its position on both salvation and fatalism, it’s careless because it needs to be. A track like “El dia te llama” is surrounded by a futuristic force, a cold surface of expectancy. Meanwhile “Delirios en mi” it’s all about detailing a spectrum of new beginnings. It feels like the album bounces through locations with much sympathy, it wants to grab its listener to that physical or fantasized space and even if it’s not always able to acclimate, it tries to get there at an appropriate phase. Also fascinating is the artist’s idea of personifying music and its made-up characters, pretty much like the visualization of Mexico’s Austin TV but of course, a lot more lyrical. An instant highlight is “Hidden Clouds” (the only English-language song here), whose delicate vocalization evokes Cat Power and Juan Son, a very anthem-like track that is surprisingly very radio-friendly. “10 minutos para despertar” is dreamy and delicious, and a summary of how careful one has to be while listening to this. There are some weak spots especially on the second half of the album, which is not necessarily a fall but it becomes more alienating. I also recommend looking for his 2007 EP titled Arenero, which should be as pleasant as this. 

♫♫♫ "Hidden Clouds"
♫♫♫ "La Lluvia"
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Alida St, Y La Bamba

ALIDA ST., Y LA BAMBA
Gypsypop Records, U.S. ****1/2
Rating: 92
By Carlos Reyes

Y La Bamba is the project of Luz Elena Mendoza, a mexican-american based in Portland Oregon, points up to Frida Kahlo and Javier Solis as big inspirations of her art, Adeila St. is her debut album. This is an astonishingly confident breakthrough with a precise scope in its angelical vocals and the revelatory lyricism which is evocative and religiously codified. With huge possibilities to succeed in the world music circuit, it’s also a charmingly catchy album that should be able to overpass its folk and break into the pastoral side of the melodramatic popular song. It might be a difficult digest for the purists, but we find a groundbreaking vision in full command by its author. Production-wise it lacks glossiness, but rather than it working against her, this collection of home recordings bring out emotional depth through atmospheric surroundings, where there is space for the listener to refill the sound bites of space. In a song like “Isla de Hierva Buena” she embraces the music of her parents, results in one of those songs that is able to breathe culture even with its funky vocalization. It goes even further with “Las Aguas Venenosas” which carries with it the colorful search of her roots, this gets into the ranchero fields and really strikes for glory. First and lead single “Alida St.” brings out a fascinating factor here, it’s soulful essence and that elevates the intimate exercise and positions it into easy-listening moments of pure joy. It brings back the basics of Brian Wilson or the more contemporary India Arie. The soon-to-be single “Fasting in San Francisco” frees itself from any pretentiousness; its bouncy design is quite seductive and one song that could transcend into mainstream if, say the iPod marketing was to come along. Interesting enough, the album is surrounding by a spiritual layer that gives the album an elegant roundness. “Worshiping intelligence, leading to spiritual ignorance, doesn’t it hurt?”, it’s conditioned as an edgy project in the likes of the melancholy beauty of Devendra Banhart or Beirut. Stream the whole album in the following player.

♫♫♫ "Alida St."
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Club Fonograma Features: Domingo En Llamas

Domingo En Llamas is José Ignacio Benítez from Caracas Venezuela, one of the most amusing encounters I had last year with a solo project. I felt short while reviewing Fledermaus (reviewed here), it’s the kind of album that proves how misleading ratings are, especially on albums that have their own pace to be digested, but scores are still very helpful. The album keeps unfolding like a true masterwork that should not be overlooked; we are in front of a great lyricist and an instrumentalist of true transcendental vision. In my review I had included the tracks “Cuando vuelvan los que ayer corrian”, “Leonora” and “Trabalenguado”, all three getting much love on The Hype Machine, which tells me his sound can be appealing to a broader proportion. I love the run-ons in his pitch, the attitude of the strings and especially the accommodation of words that find a space to work together and sound great together, the emotion keeps building and once you catch it, it’s hard to let go. By the way, you can download for free the full LP here. The featured MP3 is for the striking "Depredadores", again one of the many jewels in his album.

Club Fonograma Features: 
DOMINGO EN LLAMAS.
Track: "Depredadores"  
Album: Fledermaus
Label: None
Country: Venezuela
>>> MP3
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