Club Fonograma has been invited back to Ruido Fest for the 2016 edition of Chicago's premiere "Latin Alternative" Music Festival. Last year was glorious- an affirmation of the power of Club Fonograma and our quest to catalog and document emerging and established music from our milieu. From hanging out backstage with Dënver, getting drunk with Silverio and Jessy Bulbo (Jessy, I still have your luggage), to performing onstage with Maria y José, Ruido Fest 2015 was the place to be.
This year, we will have the privilege of hanging out with Ibiza Pareo all weekend- fresh from their Argentinian Grammy nomination. We will also be catching up with Marineros and hand delivering some flowers to our girls, Natalia Lafourcade and Las Robertas. We most definitely will make contact with Miranda! and touch base on their artistic trajectory and their collaborations with our prince of pop, Alex Anwandter. We wanna chill hang with Helado Negro and personally thank him for the shout out he gave Club Fonograma in the LA Times. & Silverio might not attack me with a beer this year so there is plenty to look forward to this weekend at Ruido Fest 2016.
Purchase tickets here and stay tuned for Ruido Fest 2017. There were many Club Fonograma favorites who were considered for the 2016 edition of the fest (Javiera Mena, Alex Anwandter, Fakuta, Ases Falsos, Diosque, Tego Calderon) that might make the cut next year. Check out our in-depth coverage of Ruido Fest 2015 and our explosive conversations with Dënver, Silverio, Jessy Bulbo, and more.
Ibiza Pareo, Ibiza Pareo Geiser Discos, Argentina Rating: 80 by Zé Garcia
Sand, water, heat, jungle. These are the words that illustrated an emerging band from Argentina still in its demo phase. Ibiza Pareo "couldn't be more devoted to dance and the sun" the girls explained to me via email: "we are inspired by the sun, nature, travel, and the dance floor". All of these elements are present on the band's self titled debut. Ibiza Pareo sounds like 90s music: alt rock, lounging house, & a lethargic hi-NRG. Ani & Marina perform some compelling vocal performances (wailing in anguish but also rapture) yet the entire album is sung in the shadow of an alluring deadpan delivery. Ibiza Pareo is arid dance music. Ibiza Pareo is tropicgoth.
Second tracks on pop albums are generally a slot reserved for the album's top banger. It is interesting that Ibiza Pareo choose to devote this space to "Viva, Ahí Están los Chicos", a song that only begins to reveal its appeal after repeated listens. This is also true for the rest of Ibiza Pareo, an album that would undoubtedly fall under the "grower" adjective. Ibiza Pareo is a quiet hit with a promise that signals Ani & Marina's best work is still to come. The choice tracks on the record employ a flute that could be described as Andean (think "Suerte"). The beaches of Ibiza don't come to mind while the flute plays, but the Sonoran and the Atacama Deserts do. "Dame un guitarron, esa dulce flauta" Ani & Marina beckon on the foggy safari of "Cha Rup" whereas second single "Ritmas" is the perfect example of the way that flute delves into a more personal space and demands spiritual communion. "Ritmas" sounds transcendant, the keyboards echo, become decidedly house by the end of the first chorus. Where the chorus of "Ritmas" speaks to the soul, the verses are delivered with an attitude befitting Sentidos Opuestos. First single "Arido Espejismo" is a candidate for Record of the Year. A live version has the potential to create something akin to our generation's Negra Tomasa, Ibiza Pareo just has to allow the track to become an all out tropicgoth cumbia. Vocals are pushed to a certain extreme,"Sigo tus huellas movedi-ZAS" the effect is almost psychotic, but the girls catch themselves: "siento la intensidad del aire. Aaaaah". The harmonizing laments (auuuuu, aaaaaah) sound desolate & divine and work as the track's de facto chorus. The flute soars high above the heavens- an avian cry full of stoic pain. The lyrics sound romantic, but their delivery suggests a vía dolorosa: "busco tu imagen en la arena / te veo en el reflejo del sol".
"Viajeros" is another key feature of the many accents of Ibiza Pareo. The synths this time are atmospheric & introspective- the textures of Klaus & Kinski come to mind with the percussive claps of "Triangle Walks". An elegant saxophone meets unrestrained electronic effects channeling a dimension where empathogens, psyschedelics, & a somber poise connect. "Viajeros" (like the rest of the album) is sung in a druggy delirium that is made all the more powerful by Ibiza Pareo's affirmation: the world is in chaos. "Disco de Verano" sounds mischievous and operates like an interlude (in a similar vein to the aptly titled "After") for the road, high from the party you just left, on your way to the next oasis. It is unclear whether the sun is setting or rising: this is for the low-key pregame or the sleep deprived, blissful comedown. "Discoteca" also sounds like an interlude, but this one has lyrics that signal the album's mantra: "que el beat tome mi cuerpo / quiero viajar en el sonido, en la melodía". Six minutes into the trance and you are swept under its somber, spellbinding qualities. "Nuestro Amor Es Musica" takes us on a far out, melodic techno odyssey right before we escape to the cascading closing track of "Tunisia" where synths rise and wane. A guitar wails, the club beat thumps. "Tunisia" becomes impossible not to picture the silhouette of las chicas losing it on guitar and keyboards in a live setting- the strobe lights steady, sweat streaming down your face.
Ibiza Pareo proves that even dance records in the 2015 Club Fonograma sphere carried a moodier tone. A trend towards guitars and distortion will be even more noticeable as our Best Of 2015 lists become available in the days ahead. On Ibiza Pareo, we find ourselves club hopping in the desert. But these days and nights spent turning up aren't vapid. This desert nightclub is a place for introspective wonder, a place to process, celebrate friends, celebrate bodies, movement, & melody. Ibiza Pareo have technically delivered a dance record, a dance record veiled by the morose: "esta noche voy a bailar con mis amigos, celebrar que estamos vivos."
Argentinean newcomers Ibiza Pareo make music sustained by tone: songs with their own pace, helmed by minimalist resources and a deadpan delivery that's anything than instantly gratifying. Marina La Grasta and Ani Castoldi seem to lack interest for the zeitgeist, and yet somehow their first single "Arido Espejismo" touches the same heart strings that make acts like Linda Mirada and MKRNI so relevant to our generation. In fact, we could easily compare the duo's music to revivalists like Los Wendys and Afrodita, subtracting the cultural appropriation of course. Featuring the best use of spaghetti western chords in any indie song since Víctor Hugo's "Así es como se arruina un verano," Ibiza Pareo's single transports us to the steamy and cleansing revelations of the dessert -just like in its video. The lack of a real definitive vocal chorus will alienate more than a few, but reward any chords lovers out there.
