The World According to Natalia Lafourcade

   By Andrew Casillas | Nov 21st, 2019

    Artwork by Alonso Ayala (@ouchal)

Only ten short years ago, I interviewed Natalia Lafourcade on the balcony of the Austin Convention Center; conducted during our annual SXSW coverage, it was the first interview ever published on Club Fonograma. In the decade that followed, Natalia:

• Released the seminal indie album Hu Hu Hu;
• Shot straight into the upper annals of Latinx pop stardom with Mujer Divina (which included a performance at the Latin GRAMMYs);
• Released “Hasta La Raíz,” Club Fonograma’s #1 song of the 2010s;
• Released an accompanying album by the same name – Hasta la Raíz – which won an actual Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban, or Alternative album and was nominated for Album of the Year by the Latin GRAMMYs (and led to another performance on the telecast);
• Performed on the seminal American music series Austin City Limits;
• Released her highly-successful Musas album series (which led to ANOTHER Latin GRAMMYs performance); and
• Performed the Academy Award-winning theme from Coco, “Remember Me,” which included a performance on the telecast.

Phew. Seriously, that all happened within ten years of performing “No Viniste” before a ballroom of laconic, half-bored music industry middle-managers (and one overeager blogger) in central Texas. Even the Kim family in Parasite would impressed by that quick rise in stature.

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 Julyssa Lopez’s excellent NPR essay 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.

For the casual Latinx pop fan in March 2009, to see Natalia Lafourcade go from playing the token “Latin” SXSW showcase to performing on the fucking Oscars would have been unfathomable. But even the high of that creative peak was quickly diminished upon seeing many U.S. media outlets (including one self-anointed “Most Trusted Voice in Music Criticism”) 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.



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.

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 United States of America was a Latin trap song headlined by three Latinx artists. And rather than have J Balvin in the studio for a remix, Beyoncé jumped on J Balvin’s own song and made him the special guest for her iconic 2018 Coachella performance. 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, Grammy Awards).

Of course, there’s also the issue of “Despacito.” One of the 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 Gary Suarez’s excellent Vice article.) Ultimately, however, those tracks were able to avoid “cultural fad” status. And the fact that general music fans can look beyond 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 – our artists – are operating within something bigger than a movement. It’s something that’s growing to scale, and will survive into the next generation.

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.

Think about that the next time you read an interview taking place on a non-descript balcony. Club Fonograma forever.


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 @PincheAndrew. 

Déjenme Llorar: Thank-You Letters To The Songs That Held Me 2009-2019

   By Phoebe Smolin | Nov 11th, 2019

    Artwork by Alonso Ayala (@ouchal)

To all of my friends, who are also songs:

I am right here because of you.

Here 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?); here 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. Here is home, and the way I’ve come to understand it across latitudes. Here is a sound that rings of one moment and every moment since – you are that sound, you are my here.

To all of my friends, who are also songs: let me briefly explain how we got here.

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, deep 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.

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.

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.

So, to all of my friends who are also songs, this is for you.

Dear “Los Adolescentes” (Dënver), 

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.

Dear Fonogramaticos Vol. 10: Nosotros Los Rockers,

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.

Dear “Abrázame” (Los Rakas, Uproot Andy mix),

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.

Dear “Yo Sería Otro” (Dávila 666),

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.

Dear “Pa’ Respirar” (Bomba Estéreo) [via a very stylish Vincent Moon one-take]

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 Amanecer bangers and Blow Up 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.

Dear “Rie Chinito” (Perotá Chingó),

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.

Dear “Sacar la Voz” (Ana Tijoux ft. Jorge Drexler)

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.

Dear “Derecho de Nacimiento” (Natalia Lafourcade)

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.

Dear “Jardines” (Chancha Vía Circuito ft. Lido Pimienta)

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.

Dear “Jamaica” (Ela Minus)

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.

Dear “Give Me Some Pizza” (Nathy Peluso),
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.

Dear “Te Guardo” (Silvana Estrada),

You are where memory activates – echoing so many of the trovadoras 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.

Dear “Convéncete” (Princesa Alba),

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.

Dear This Is How You Smile (Helado Negro)

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: “quédate que hay luz.”

I will, I promise.

As Christopher Small (Musicking, 1998) so simply put it: “to take part in a musical act is of central importance to our very humanness.” So, to all of my friends who are also songs, thank you. Without you, there is no me.

Here’s to another ten,

Love,
Phoebe


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. 

IG: @phoebelousmolin
Twitter: @phoebesmolin

Club FonoGRAMMYS - Best Alternative Song

Los nominados al #grammylatino @astrosonidoespa 🌈🌈🌈🌈

A photo posted by JAVIERA 🌹 (@javieramena) on Sep 25, 2015 at 3:39pm PDT

Finally, after years of twisting Carlos's arm, Club Fonograma presents it's First Annual Latin Grammy coverage! Join a few of the crew as we give our thoughts on various categories. And, if you're catching this early, hang around our Twitter account during showtime as Andrew Casillas provides real-time analysis of presenters' hairstyles and identifies which performers sweat more than Patrick Ewing. So without further ado, let's kick off the 2015 Club FonoGRAMMYS!

Category 1: Best Alternative Song

Famasloop — "Allí Estás"

Astro — "Caribbean"

Natalia Lafourcade — "Hasta la Raíz"

El Cuarteto de Nos — "No Llora"

Javiera Mena — "Otra Era"

Zé Garcia: The Alt Record of the Year category shows the expanding spectrum of the Academy's considerations. On the (as expected) terrible end, we have Venezuela's Famasloop with "Allí Estás." Clearly, we can think of dozens of recordings more deserving than what sounds like background music for a Comcast commercial.  El Cuarteto de Nos is not as terrible as the Febreeze pop of "Allí Estás" but "No Llora" is still pretty annoying. Visually, "No Llora" channels the work of Kraft Mac & Cheese commercials complete with cute (read: obnoxious) child. The "Gloria Estefan-but-on-acid" bros of Astro also land a nomination with the pretty cool "Caribbean," but clearly one of our girls is taking home that prize and it's probably the recording industry's darling, Natalia Lafourcade. Yes, "Hasta La Raiz" is clearly one of the finest recordings of the last year, a song whose poetry and strings measure up to the word "epic." But it's going up against "Otra Era," one of the best songs of this young century. "Otra Era," our pick for 2014's best song, would probably land the top stop in a Club Fonograma mid-decade's best list. And why shouldn't it? "Otra Era" is sublime. It contemplates empires--a time-space pop gem composed of an ulterior reggaeton beat, the urge of a disco house piano, and a final climax that sounds like a doomsday siren. Mena's vocals get pitch shifted into a malformed future in the song's final moments and the effects are both terrifying and exhilarating. The transcendent quality of "Otra Era" has the ability to drive a perceptive listener to tears- a recording to match a beautiful & tragic existential crisis.

Andrew Casillas: I legit lol'd at your comment that "Allí Estás" sounding like a Comcast ad. I mean, you can't be mad at El Cuarteto de Nos sneaking in here--I mean, there are way worse dinosaur bands getting Latin Grammy nods. By the way, when did "Caribbean" become Astro's breakthrough? DID NO ONE LISTEN TO "DIMENSIÓN SUPREMA?!" That song's got bars, son. So yeah, it comes down to the CF darlings Natalia and Javiera. I think we can agree that "Otra Era's" mere presence is a legitimate win for the 21st century Chilean pop monolith. And it's certainly the most innovative song in the category. But I'm not 100% certain that "Hasta la Raiz" isn't the better song. I may prefer "Otra Era" as a whole, but Natalia Lafourcade's spent an entire career working her craft to make something as instant and delicate as "Hasta la Raiz." And let's take a minute to understand how difficult it probably was to craft something like that. Is it her best song? No. But is it something worth giving an award to? Damn right.

WHO SHOULD WIN: Javiera Mena, "Otra Era"
WHO WILL WIN: Natalia Lafourcade, "Hasta la Raíz"

Video: Natalia Lafourcade - "Lo Que Construimos"

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. Each successive clip has brought a unique thematic performance that’s helped underscore the beauty in the music. "Hasta la raíz" moved us as we saw Natalia carried by a crowd, drawing strength with each smile and embrace. A powerful image of community from a singer we once boxed in with idiosyncrasy. “Nunca es suficiente” took on relationship games where harmony and discord spun like a carnival ride. A third clip, and perhaps the best so far, brings to life another characteristic theme of Hasta La Raíz: solitude.

Directed by Alonso Ruizpalacios (Güeros), "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.

Natalia Lafourcade - “Hasta la Raíz”

Any Natalia Lafourcade comeback single is surely welcomed around these parts, but a New Years Day premiere? Sit down Kanye and Macca, cause los Reyes Magos knew what I REALLY wanted this year. “Hasta la Raíz” is the first new original piece of music we’ve heard from Lafourcade since 2009’s divine Hu Hu Hu. Between that masterpiece and her Grammy-winning Agustin Lara-tribute, the criminally underrated Mujer Divina, the stakes are certainly high for Lafourcade’s next effort. And while “Hasta la Raíz” doesn’t sound like a bold step outward for Natalia (sounds more like something from Camila Moreno), there’s certainly no need to lower your expectations. At the least, “Hasta la Raíz” SOUNDS rich. If that Grammy’s gonna pay for anything, it’s gonna pay for a bigger budget, right?

Natalia Lafourcade - Mujer Divina

Mujer Divina, Natalia Lafourcade
Sony Music, México
Rating: 80
by Carlos Reyes

Too often in music, attaining maturity equals compromising the musical search. This might never be the case for our generation's darling Natalia Lafourcade. In an interview earlier this year Lafourcade confessed feeling incredibly moved by Mexico’s bicentenario, where she played chanteuse as part of Alondra de la Parra’s Travieso Carmesí. The event led her to a renaissance of national composers from the past, falling in love particularly with Agustín Lara (“El Flaco de Oro”). The follow up to the majestic Hu Hu Hu is a duets tribute album to Lara, to his ever-peeling melodies and the poetry of his profound words.

For the first time in a long time (perhaps since Café Tacvba’s pre-drums era), Mexican indie is witnessing an appreciation for Mexico's music. And it’s happening at different levels: from the indie-gone-mainstream success of Carla Morrison to the cult-gone-classic feat of Juan Cirerol. These artists are reinstating the fact that it’s okay and beautiful to sound Mexican. This observation is of particular significance when considering Hu Hu Hu was the result of Lafourcade’s creative expatriation to Canada. Mujer Divina finds a Natalia Lafourcade that’s less transitional and more acquainted to a classicist artistic scope. She’s quieter than we usually like her to be, but refinement has its perks. Featuring a stellar lineup of accompanying men, this is a record that skips the innate charm of duets and carves for deep emotional exchange.

Mujer Divina starts at a high point, with the always-comforting voice of Adrián Dárgelos (Babasonicos) describing the haunting gaze of a divine woman. When Lafourcade’s voice enters the spectrum, she quickly resolves the biggest anxiety felt by the album’s gendered premise: Will Lafourcade play a passive/recipient role or will she be an active participant in the storytelling? From track one, she refuses to be the muse of Lara’s love songs, and not once does she bow submissive in front of these worldly celebrated men. Lara would be proud of her stance. Lafourcade and her respective companion approach every song with due respect, negotiating rhythmic pace and idiosyncrasies without hurting the album’s overall refined coherence.

Leading single “La Fugitiva” (featuring Kevin Johansen) is a slow-burning cut where tangents from Lara’s original composition are subtly revealed. While the departure might seem impersonal, there are historical margins to be followed. Lafourcade’s approach is considerate and, with the exception of “Aventurera” (featuring Dominican singer Alex Ferreira), she opts to step away from the mounting orchestrations that defined a lineage between Las 4 Estaciones del Amor and Hu Hu Hu. Other standout numbers include the flourishing “Limosna” (featuring Café Tacvba’s Meme), the whimsical “Farolito” (featuring Gilberto Gil), and the ethereal “Amor de mis amores” (featuring Devendra Banhart). To be totally honest, the idea of a tribute collaborative album never really excited our staff, but we should know better than to underestimate the pulling of our heartstrings at the touch of the eternally consoling Natalia Lafourcade.

Video + MP3: Natalia Lafourcade & Various Artists - "Un Derecho de Nacimiento"

It’s been crazy in Mexico ever since the electoral campaigns began. Sick of manipulated information and biased content generated by Latin America’s largest television network, Televisa, which has manifested an evident tendency towards presidential candidate, PRI’s Enrique Peña Nieto, the movement #YoSoy132, led mostly by young people and students, has grown into a consolidated cause over the whole Mexican republic, demanding impartiality in information and condemning the imposition of a presidential figure by corporate media.

Aware of this alarming climate, many Mexican musicians (#MúsicosConYoSoy132) have joined the movement. Brilliant composer Natalia Lafourcade has been a strong supporter. On May 9^th, through her Twitter account, the songstress announced her followers she would write a song “asking for positive things in the country” and invited them to contribute ideas. One month later, “Un Derecho de Nacimiento” was born. Originally premiered at a #YoSoy132 concert on June 16^th at Distrito Federal’s main square, this first take had Lafourcade hypnotically looping her vocal melodies into a raw, conscience-awakening, awe-inspiring chant. The final version, featuring some of our favorite artists (Carla Morrison, Juan Manuel Torreblanca, Marian Ruzzi, Vicente Gayo, among others) is more conventional without losing any ounce of impact that the first live recording transmitted. In fact, hearing all these figures collaborate together in such a uniting manifesto, results in something hopeful and deeply touching, despite what certain outspoken bands may think about the authenticity of their endorsment.

Today is the elections day, and “Un Derecho de Nacimiento” came in the perfect time, resounding as an awakening anthem for this transcendental date. Myself, being a Mexican, living in this beautiful country and having the chance to vote today, feel profoundly moved by this hymn and, with all my heart, expect the change our beloved country deserves, finally arrives. Today’s citizen's participation is decisive for Mexico’s course. And, as the song’s chorus affirms, “Yo no nací sin causa/Yo no nací sin fe.” Let’s make our voice count. It’s truly a birth right.

♫♫♫ "Un Derecho de Nacimiento"

SXSW Entry #9: Natalia Lafourcade, LA ENTREVISTA

Photos by Daniela E. Galindo

A lot of us already know that Natalia Lafourcade will soon release the highly anticipated follow-up to Hu Hu Hu. But, up until a few weeks ago, basic details about the record felt like a complete mystery. Luckily, Club Fonograma got a chance to speak with Lafourcade about the new album following her outdoor presentation (a day performance of Torreblanca & Amigas) at Auditorium Shores. Many thanks to Lafourcade for the interview (and for the nice words about the blog) and to her manager for making it all possible.

Giovanni Guillén: How would you describe this new record?

Natalia Lafourcade: This album is going to be very different from the other ones. It’s a covers album. It’s a tribute for this artist and composer, Augustín Lara. Augustín is the inspiration for the record. And also, the artists who are collaborating with me because every artist had something to do with the way the songs sound. I have a collaborator on every song, mostly male singers.

GG: With these collaborations, would you say you're continuing to produce–like what you did with Carla Morrison and Ximena Sariñana?

NF: Yeah, I love it. I love producing people. Probably as much as I love singing and being on the stage. And it’s a thing that I just started to do, like, a year ago with Carla and Ximena. I don’t think I would do it with a project I don’t really like because you put a lot of energy–you have to focus. (Like) when we finished Carla Morrison’s first album, I was so emotionally involved that at the end I was exhausted! But in a good way. It’s just because I’m like that. I’m very passionate about things that I like.

GG: Do you know what kind of producer you are?

NF: I don’t know if I consider myself a producer yet. I love producing people but I don’t know how to do it. I just go in and tell them my opinion. I have a good team with my engineers, my studio, and some other friends and musicians that will help make the song. I remember when I was making my first album, I had this difficult time with the producers. It’s very difficult when you, as an artist, want to do something with the sound, and then the producer has another vision and they don’t let you go where you want to go. And I think that, I mean, I don’t know how to produce but my intuition tells me that you have to let the artist go where the artist needs to go. That way you build the perfect environment. To get it there, to get it right, in the end, it’s their album, not mine. When I worked with Ximena and Carla I was just giving my opinion. We could do this or go there but, in the end, the decision was taken by them.

GG: You mentioned Augustín Lara, and I know you performed at the Bicentenario. It seems to me that lately you're getting more in touch with your Mexican roots.

NF: Yeah, definitely

GG: What inspired that?

NF: The Bicentenario. Totally. Before I was more like, “Oh, yes. I want to go out of my country."

GG: Places like Canada?

NF: Well actually, Canada is a part of my heart. Definitely. I need to go back to Canada and be there for a while because I miss it a lot. But, when I was working with Alondra de la Parra on the Bicentenario, on the show, she told me, "You should go and reach some composers and writers–Mexican writers. Not just, like, José Alfredo Jiménez, the ones we all know. You should go and reach for someone that you don’t know and see if you can find a song that you want to sing." And then I went on the Internet, on YouTube, and I started searching names and I ran into Augustín Lara. I heard all the songs from the past that we know, but I also started listening to the songs that I didn’t know and I fell in love. Especially with the way he used to write. I was like, "Wow! This is so amazing!" The music, the harmonies, the lyrics, the poetry. And I was so impressed that we had that talent in our country. I also wondered if the people my age would know his music and his compositions.

GG: So, you're also trying to introduce him to another generation?

NF: Definitely. I wanted to do another thing–working on a covers project–but I didn’t want to do just any covers. I was actually thinking about Violeta Parra. La Chilena. But I also wanted to expose something from Mexico. So, when I ran into Augustín’s stuff I fell in love. Hopefully there will be someone who'll feel connected the same way that I did.

GG: I know that Augustín Lara composed a lot for films, is that something you want to do? Soundtracks and movie scores? For me, Las 4 estaciones del amor sounds like a movie soundtrack.

NF: I hope one day I can definitely do that. I imagine myself living in a small cabin in the fields, taking care of children and making music for movies, you know? (Laughs).

GG: But then where would you perform?!

NF: Well, I love performing too. But it’s in my list of dreams. It’s something that I love. To me, music, the images, and all of that come together. When I’m writing, I’m also imagining a video to the song, I’m thinking about the images. Also, when I build the concept. I guess it all comes together and, eventually, I see myself working on soundtracks.

GG: Your last album, Hu Hu Hu, was full of organic sounds. But then there was this b-side, "Lluvia que cae," which featured electronic music. Is that also something you want to experiment more with?

NF: Yeah, probably yes. Especially now I feel like I want to go there. It’s funny because this new album doesn’t have that at all–it still has this organic thing that was in Hu Hu Hu. It's as if Augustín Lara and I would’ve sat together and written the songs. It's very pretty.

SXSW Entry #4: Kali Mutsa, Alex Anwandter, Astro, Natalia Lafourcade

Thursday night’s array of SXSW showcases felt like being transplanted into a real-life Fonogramaticos. And that’s not even including shows from Il Abanico, Juan Cirerol, Bam Bam, and Neon Indian, which we were unable to catch due to conflicts. But what we did see…oh man.

Kicking off the night at the bottle service maven Buca Lounge was Kali Mutsa. After fervently applying her makeup in the ladies restroom (according to Gio’s girlfriend), she and her band came out like bohemian gypsies who were really trying to get picked for Let’s Make a Deal. The show was a bit subdued at first, which is weird considering the band was clad with just a mic, accordion, clarinet, and fiddle (and barefoot, nonetheless!). But Mutsa made the best of the small crowd, crouching every verse with dead-eyed stares and flippant histrionics. In between songs, she pleaded with the crowd to dance while taking swigs of beer as if it were contraband. Despite all this, and the fact she spoke 4-5 languages during the entire set, the crowd was pleasantly surprised. I’m now convinced that Kali Mutsa is alien genius like Abed from Community.

After a brief Jimmy Johns break (free smells!), we made our way to Alex Anwandter’s set at the “Latino hotspot” Maggie Mae’s. Anwandter was in peak form, with his mid-'90s Morrissey close-cut and satin jacket. But he also knew what his people wanted to hear. Pick your favorite song from Rebeldes. He played it. Anwandter milked the favorable crowd for everything it was worth, as he even went into the crowd to dance with the audience at various points. For the Anwandter-worshipping fans in attendance, it was a gig from heaven, and for everyone else, a rocking set.

After these two barn-burning shows, it was inevitable that Astro would disappoint for the mere fact that it was…a rock concert. Dudes with guitars on stage playing their hits. Not that people weren’t feeling “Manglares” and “Ciervos,” but it just didn’t hit over the head like Mutsa and Anwandter did. There was a bit of catharsis with “Maestro Distorsion” as the closing number, but overall it was merely solid. I did appreciate how everyone in Astro has the exact same haircut, though.

Closing the night back at Buca Lounge was Natalia Lafourcade. Ditching the (literal) bells and whistles, Lafourcade played an acoustic set armed with a piano, guitar, and vocal loops. Her charisma was in full force, connecting with her legion of devotees by playfully asking for free drinks and taking song requests even as the show crept into the 2 am hour. The setlist itself was a mix of her favorite Hu Hu Hu tracks (“Azul” will NEVER get old) and random oldies, such as “En El 2000” and “O Pato” (!), and the crowd hung on her every word. It appears that Lafourcade seems fairly comfortable in her role as a sort of torchbearer for Mexican indie, and one can hope that her upcoming covers album will reflect this. In a sense, this kind of set was the perfect palette cleanser for an epic (and very loud) night of music.

Alondra de la Parra - Travieso Carmesí

Travieso Carmesí,
ALONDRA DE LA PARRA
Columbia, México
Rating: 76
by Blanca Méndez

In this slough of the Calderón years and the failed war on drugs, much of the news about Mexico that reaches us in the States involves violence, corruption, and fear. But last year, in the country’s bicentennial, the air was more jubilant and festive. In the fireworks and confetti we saw a nation’s deep love for their country, and it was inspiring. One of the most moving celebrations was Alondra de la Parra conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas in a performance of some of the most treasured pieces in Mexico’s memory. They, accompanied by three of the country’s loveliest voices (Ely Guerra, Denise Guiterrez of Hello Seahorse!, and Natalia Lafourcade), paid stunning tribute to their beloved Mexico with Travieso Carmesí.

Alondra de la Parra is one of today’s most talented conductors, having founded the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas at the age of 23 and having conducted some of the most accomplished ensembles in the world in captivating and stirring performances of works that range from European standards to South American ballets. On this album, she directs her orchestra in performances of 10 classic Mexican songs that are at times bold and aggressive and at times light and delicate, but always respectful of the original compositions.

On the latest Hello Seahorse! album, Denise Gutierrez explores the operatic ranges of her voice and, while this move may not have been well-received by everyone, in this setting no one can deny the splendor of her voice. The vocals unfurl lovingly as Gutierrez embellishes the classics while still maintaining a marked reverence for the history of the songs. In “Estrellita,” a song composed by Manuel M. Ponce in 1912, Gutierrez relishes in the warmth of the lower notes, then soars into higher octaves effortlessly in a mesmerizing rendition of the timeless song.

The sweetness of Natalia Lafourcade’s voice is perfect for Agustin Lara’s “Farolito.” Even the song’s arrangement – the pleasant cadence of the brass, measured march of the snare, fluttering flute, dainty xylophone, and elegantly swelling strings – suit Lafourcade’s style. In “La Llorona,” Ely Guerra’s smoky voice with its signature seductive melancholy takes control of a song that’s intimidating in all aspects. Guerra manages to navigate the emotional complexities of the song and delivers a beautifully nuanced performance.

In the songs featuring all three singers (“Cielito Lindo” and “Solamente Una Vez”), their voices complement each other and allow each other to shine with an almost “you first, no you first” respect and admiration for one another. This isn’t a VH1 Divas-style sing-off. It’s not even really about the women singing. It’s about the country they are singing to and about capturing the attention of a younger generation so that they can come to appreciate and love the music of their grandparents and great-grandparents and perhaps, through that music, gain a better understanding of the history of the country that they call home.

A Mexican Take Away Show

La Blogotheque shot a handful of episodes for their ‘A Take Away Show’ series in Mexico last year, needless to say La Blogotheque has rarely been as colorful. The French collective had unveiled individual songs from some of the bands; most notably that great take of “Light of Day” by The Plastics Revolution, joined by a Mariachi at Xochimilco. Apparently, they’ve now released all the episodes (except for the highly rumored Café Tacvba, which might be just that, a rumor). Whoever curated the series lineup forgot about Mexico’s most exciting bands (Maria y Jose, Bam Bam, Quiero Club) but overall, the bands pulled out some amazing performances. Here are our favorites.

Natalia Lafourcade - 14 Días en Japón

If you need any more reasons to fall in love with Natalia Lafourcade, make sure you keep an eye for Natalia’s webseries 14 Dias en Japon, a travelogue documentary of one of her recent trips to Japan. We all know Natalia’s music is universal, but apparently, her sensibilities click tremendously well in that part of the world (no wonder we get so much undisclosed traffic from Asia). Perhaps Natalia’s relationship with Japan would be similar to that of ‘Morrissey and the Mexicans.’ Here is episode #1, it’s gorgeously shot and seriously, the Mexican chanteuse gets prettier every day. It’s so nice to see her promoting her gig, and that guy at the record store is hilarious… “me gusta Luis Miguel.”

Natalia just finished a mini-tour in the states, and is starting to get everything ready to release a new album next year. The 14 episode series (which is actually a documentary) is produced by Mexico’s amazing video project RaRaRa, expect a new episode every week.

Bimexicano, Nuestros Clásicos Hechos Rock, Varios Artistas

Bimexicano, Nuestros Clasicos Hechos Rock.

Varios Artistas

Nacional Records, Mexico/Mexican Honorees

Rating: 60

by Carlos Reyes

Mexico’s Bicentenario is a big deal, my friend Aldo Alvarez Tostado couldn’t say it better “it’s not about celebrating the ineptitude of our political apparatus or the questionable side of our social movements… Mexico is much more than its failed political record… I celebrate a fascinating, complex, monumental, almost indecipherable nation, Mexico is the motor of my curiosity, of my searches.” If all the events and projects leading to this celebration were in the name such feelings, keep the love coming. Nacional Records’ Bimexicano is a compilation featuring some of today’s most well-known Latin alternative acts versioning classic Boleros and Rancheras.

Bimexicano is not a scattered pop anthology of the Mexican folklore, it’s much more sophisticated; these are songs every Mexican and non-Mexican know. Only half of the album’s lineup is exciting (and only a few get it right), but it’s interesting to see different generations thrown into the mix. Jaguares starts the festivity with a surprisingly refreshing cover of “La Martiniana”, after years of creative decline they’ve managed to sound sober, almost refreshing. Natalia Lafourcade’s version of “La Cigarra” is predictable, but engaging from beginning to end. We never want to bring up Enrique Bunbury, but, seriously? His cult is so scary. The best moment of the album arrives with the always-reliable Los Aterciopelados with a heart-punching cover of "Un Mundo Raro"; they have a masterful eye for dramatization unlike the very underwhelming and gimmick versions by Sussie 4, Le Baron, and Sr. Flavio.

Nuestros Clasicos Hechos Rock misses substance and barely has any personality between one artist to the next, but the transcendental songs save the day. At the end, these altered reinterpretations work as ideas and good-intentioned cultural leisure.

Video: Natalia Lafourcade - "No Viniste"

| Natalia Lafourcade will re-edit her grandiose 5-star Hu Hu Hu very soon, which will include this gorgeous video for the equally charming “No Viniste.” Her upfront single “Azul” was our #1 song of 2009, we love every second of it, but there’s something about “No Viniste” that has kept us mesmerized, it’s transcending as a nearly flawless anthem for lovers out there. I particularly think of those guys from the big Mexican cities who go to visit their girlfriends/boyfriends to those smaller municipalities around, things usually go wrong... but of course, that’s just from my experience. It’s warm, cute and very glossy (as glossy as that Where the Wild Things Are movie), but above all, Natalia’s beauty here is spellbinding.

Summer Jamz 2010 - Let Me Put My Rhythm In You [UPDATED LINK]

It's that time of year. Summertime. Not just the time of year when the sun begins to make you hallucinate so badly that you begin running after a paleta that's JUST OUT OF REACH. No, it's SUMMER JAMZ SEASON! The "Summer Jamz" series started out at wonderful Stylus Magazine, where the staff would create customized mixtapes based on a general mood, theme, or meditation influenced by the season. And even though Stylus lies in the internet graveyard, many of its writers still continue the "Summer Jamz" tradition through the website The Passion of the Weiss, which is run by the world's greatest hip-hop writer (and former Stylus alum) Jeff Weiss. This year's other Summer Jamz have been running on that site throughout the summer, and will continue for the next few weeks, and I'd highly recommend checking some of them out.

However, I'm here to post the entry compiled by me and Jeff Siegel, another Stylus ex-pat who's an overall brilliant and talented man. He's also responsible for that funky bit of cover art above. Our general theme was "hypnotic and lazy," and I hope we've delivered. The link and tracklist are below (with many of your Club Fonograma faves!). Please, pick your feet up and enjoy this sweet, sweet digibrilliance.

Link: Let Me Put My Rhythm In You [updated link!]

Disc One*
1) Cluster & Eno - "Schöne Hände"
2) Café Tacuba - "13"
3) Memory Cassette - "Surfin'"
4) Los Espíritus - "Pacifico-Atlantico"
5) Mark E - "Smiling"
6) A Tribe Called Quest - "Electric Relaxation"
7) Emilio José - "Rio Grande do Sul"
8) Hoahio - "Jellyfish"
9) Pérez Prado & His Orchestra - "Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom"
10) El Guincho ft. Julieta Venegas - "Mientes"
11) Horace Andy - "Money Money"
12) Loop - "Mother Sky"
13) Andrew Paine - "The Radioactive Cat"

Disc Two*
1) Los Amparito - "Los Miradas de Magaly"
2) Fantastic Mr. Fox - "Bricka-Brac"
3) Actress - "Hubble"
4) Glissandro 70 - "Bolan Muppets"
5) Prissa - "Lógica"
6) Joyce w/ Nana Vasconcelos & Mauricio Maestro - "Metralhadeira"
7) The Meters - "Cissy Strut"
8) Natalia Lafourcade & Emanuel Del Real - "Diente Blanco, No Te Vayas"
9) Four Tet & Rothko - "Rivers Become Oceans"
10) Illum Sphere - "Psycho"
11) Madame Mboty Mamy & dit Mama Tsara - "Maman Ny'Lisa"
12) Juana Molina - "El Perro"
13) James Ferraro - "Blacktop Tumble Weed"
14) Santo & Johnny - "Sleep Walk"

* This mixtape isn't really two separate folders. I just like to conceptualize it that way.

Jóvenes y Sexys Remix Natalia Lafourcade

It’s hard not to fall in love with Jóvenes y Sexys, we certainly are. Every song they put out reinforces what we’ve been saying; they’re the new great South American band and will breakthrough as high and loud as Hello Seahorse! did with Bestia. This time they’re surprising us with a daring remix for one of HuHuHu’s most celebrated tracks, “No Viniste”, recently covered by Carla Morrison.

The remix is one of the many revisions expected to pop up on consideration to appear on Natalia Lafourcade’s special edition of her critically acclaimed album, planned to hit the shelves in a few months and which will also feature a collaboration with LoBlondo from Hello Seahorse! The Venezuelan duo did a sublime job, and as a fun fact, yes, that is Cheky singing! Watch out for the anticipated Bruno Remixed release through The Poni Republic out really soon, there's some awesome remixes on it as well from Nuuro, Pepepe and María y José.

Video: Carla Morrison - "Pajarito del Amor"

This is an elegant, flat-out gorgeous video of Carla Morrison singing "Pajarito del Amor", a heart-warming new song (away from loops) that will probably be part of her first LP Mientras tu Dormias, out later this year. In the last couple of months, we've become very attached to her new demos, she will be teaming up with co-producer Natalia Lafourcade soon to finish up what already seems like one of 2010's essential albums. Carla will also join Julieta Venegas as part of a choir at this year's Vive Latino. We can't emphasize it enough, what a voice! "yo se yo tengo la culpa, yo se te debo disculpas, yo se..."

Video: Torreblanca - "Defensa"

The stunningly gorgeous website Oh Colour Me In premiered Torreblanca’s very first music video “Defensa”, the first single from the band’s upcoming Defensa EP. The video is as intense as the song, inquietante. Well, things get even more exciting as the same website is also streaming the 4-track release. The physical release should arrive soon. As stated before, the album features collaborations with Natalia Lafourcade and LoBlondo from Hello Seahorse! From initial spins, we can pretty much predict that we’ll be listening o it a lot. We’ll be reviewing it soon, but pay close attention to “Parece Navidad”, heart-trenching!

Featured: Carla Morrison - "No Viniste" (Natalia Lafourcade Cover)

Featured: Carla Morrison – “No Viniste” (Natalia Lafourcade Cover)
Unreleased, Independiente

Carla Morrison just had a big boost in popularity as her song “Esta Soledad” from her recently digitally-released debut Aprendiendo a Aprender was selected as iTunes’ Free Download of the Week in both iTunes Mexico and iTunes Latino. She has received raves from just about any corner of the blogosphere, which can also be said from the amount of artists who have expressed their admiration towards the ‘new girl on town.’ Recently, she opened a show for Natalia Lafourcade and like most of us, Lafourcade became an instant fan. Later on we had them singing Lykke Li’s “Dance Dance Dance” together and collaborating at Teatro Fru Fru for Natalia’s official presentation of Hu Hu Hu.

Their friendship has endured so much that Natalia is helming Carla’s next album as a producer. We’re probably not supposed to say this but we’ve heard the first finished song from it, and it took our breath away. The album will be titled Mientras Tu Dormías and although it was originally planned as an EP, it has naturally extended into a full length feature. The album will also get a helping hand from Leon Polar, the ex-Sin Bandera singer who is winning our hearts with his support towards new emerging talent, from Pedro Piedra to Torreblanca. But enough said, let’s get to our feature.

On her recent visit to Phoenix, Carla Morrison decided to record Natalia Lafourcade’s “No Viniste”, and it sounds great. Perhaps the cover is a bit too loyal to the original, but it’s so beautiful it gives us goose bumps. Natalia just turned 26 years old, we’re sure this cover is one of the most precious gifts she received this year.

♫♫♫ "No Viniste" (Natalia Lafourcade Cover)
DOWNLOAD! (right click, save as)
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Andrew Casillas' Best Music of 2009: Part 2...”All up on you like a monster truck”

Hello everybody. Andrew Casillas here again, with the second part of my 3-part “Best of 2009” piece. The last part, my top 10 singles of the year, will be posted next week as soon as its published in it’s alt-weekly counterpart. But don’t worry, Carlos and the guys will be back before then with some new stuff. Saludos! [I’ve also included an SOT (“stand-out track”) that you should seek out if you think you might be interested in the album being blurbed. And this time, I’d added links for both this post AND the previous post, so you can hear the songs that I’ve shouted out. The vast majority of these albums are also available for streaming in-full on Lala, so please, enjoy!]

10. Miranda Lambert – Revolution: What’s amazing about Revolution isn’t how Miranda Lambert was able to avoid a disappointing follow-up to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (the second best Country album of the decade), but rather how much the new album illuminated the previous one. For example, while “White Liar” may not be as hummable “Gunpowder & Lead,” the former trades shock and violence for candidness and wound-exposure to plumb emotional depths that the latter couldn’t touch. Even the down-tempo songs provide a similar effect; “Dead Flowers” and “Desperation” may cover similar moods, but the Revolution track sounds like the work of a woman, rather than the ruminations of a young adult. And then there are brutal and powerful tracks like “Me and Your Cigarettes” that are worthy of 10,000 word essays in themselves. Revolution may have more dead weight than Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, which is why it doesn’t quite reach the previous album’s level, but it’s more than enough to place Lambert in the upper echelon of musicians working today.

SOT: "Me and Your Cigarettes" LALA

09. Junior Boys – Begone Dull Care: I don’t really know much about the duo of Junior Boys on a personal level, but I’ll admit this: they’ve got balls. Who else would have the gall to use the word “Dull” in the title of their most straightforward and subtle album? Saying that, yeah, it’s a bit dull—if you’re the type that couldn’t be bothered with nuance. While, on first listen, “Parallel Lines” and “Work” seem to drudge with languor, careful listens reveal gradual shifts in tempo and restraint worthy of the finest minimal techno or Kompakt Total compilation. Then there are the party starters “Bits & Pieces” and “Hazel,” which can be quite excellent for dancing in the dark (and I ain’t referring to what Springsteen was talking about, knawhaimean?). Oh, and I can’t leave out “Dull to Pause,” if only because I’ve been screaming for a banjo-centered electronic beat for years, and FINALLY! I can die now…

SOT: “Dull to Pause” LALA

08. Buddy & Julie Miller – Written in Chalk: Again, who? Well, if you’d been paying attention to independent Country-rock for the past 20 years (Gawd, what is wrong with you?!), you’d know the following: Buddy Miller is a great guitarist. His wife Julie is a dynamic singer-songwriter. They’ve made a few notable records separately, and this is the second album that they’ve collaborated on. And it’s fantastic. Recorded in their Nashville home, the album is a hodgepodge of basically every Country subgenre: country-rock, country-soul, country-blues, country-lite jazz, etc. There's an ebb-and-flow to this record, almost as if this were a 12-song suite. The lyrics and guitar work is boozy and triumphant, even when the tempo slows down. It's obvious that these two play so well off of each other that they know precisely how much power and depth to give each track. Of particular note is Julie Miller's soft expression as she sings, revealing a sense of agony and uncertainty, even when she's trying to be humorous—then again, I subscribe to the theory that women should sing everything.

SOT: “Gasoline & Matches” LALA

07. The-Dream – Love vs. Money: In 15 years, there will be a great discussion of utmost importance. It will exhaust the mediums of debate and cross all lines of decorum. That debate can be summarized thusly: Who had the better career: R. Kelly or the-Dream? And Love vs. Money will be Prosecution’s Exhibit A, because for all of Kelly’s singles-awesomeness, he was never able to create an album as consistent and glorious as what Terius Nash created in 2009. Love vs. Money is one of those albums where everything is saturated but nothing is subject to overkill. Sex, money, synthesizer, booty-beats, pick up lines alternately clever (“circle the stars and bring you one back”) and straightforwardly disgusting/hilarious (“can we fuck now?”), everything just seems to work in spite of logic. The-Dream even out-R. Kelly’s R. Kelly on one track, telling a girl he’s “all up on you like a monster truck.” I think even Kells would agree, the-Dream has him beat on that one. R&B album of the year, easy.

SOT: “Mr. Yeah” LALA

06. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!: On first listen, I sort of dismissed It’s Blitz! for, among other things, making Karen O sound “too much like Gwen Stefani.” Then I realized that it sounded like what would be labeled “alternative pop”—the type of music exemplified by the Killers or MGMT, two bands who get on my nerves (though “Time to Pretend” is admittedly awesome). Then I realized that my hatred of all things Brandon Flowers shouldn’t be a deterrent and began to recognize that this production aesthetic wasn’t some detour for Yeah Yeah Yeahs—it was their destiny. The aggression giving way to dancefloor bliss, the melodrama leading to genuineness, the use of obtuse arrangements to assert idiosyncratic euphoria—this is what this band does best! The fact that this is the best album from one of the best bands of this decade goes to show you that you should always steer away from prejudice. That’s not to say that I’m going to give Hot Fuss another chance, mind you…

SOT: “Soft Shock” LALA

05. Matias Aguayo – Ay Ay Ay: A couple of years ago, I spent a sweat-filled, drunken night in Juarez, Chihuahua (this was before CNN wasn’t filing reports called “DANGER ON THE BORDER” every night). I don’t recall much about it, but I remember the vibrancy of the city streets as all the clubs let out and people made their way to diners, after-parties, or the United States. Ay Ay Ay seemingly creates that experience. For 11 charming and breathless tracks, Matias Aguayo deconstructs minimal techno into a schizophrenic street party of his own creation. I say “breathless” because the majority of the album’s sound is literally sampled from Aguayo’s own vocal sound effects, yet he surrounds these hums and pops with enough ear candy that you can’t help but start shaking in your seat. From boombox hums conveying the feeling of a roller-rink party (“Rollerskate”) to the sluggish, reflective hangover of “Koro Koro,” to the predatory coos of “Ritmo Juarez,” these are songs about those late nights that can quickly turn into early mornings. Or as you probably know them as, the greatest nights of your life.

SOT: “Rollerskate” LALA

04. St. Vincent – Actor: One look at Annie Clark, otherwise known as St. Vincent, and you get the feeling that you know everything about her. She looks like one of your grandmother’s dolls, and dresses like the world’s most fashionable mannequin. She looks like the type of girl that everyone wanted to date, but was too smart to actually approach. I could go on and on, but there’s certainly one thing that that picture could never prepare you for: the girl can fucking shred. On Actor, Clark juxtaposes her skillful, and at-times brutal, guitar work with orchestral flourishes worthy of classic Disney movies. You’d be forgiven for thinking this approach to be awfully coy, but you’d also be mistaken; this is a complicated and contemplative rumination on modern love. Almost every song conveys the sense that something sensual, frantic, or gruesome is approaching, or may be already here. Luckily, Actor is buoyed by such fine songwriting that these dark feelings end up sounding beautiful. (And for what it’s worth, “The Party” also contains my favorite lyric of the year: “I sit transfixed by a hole in your t-shirt/I’ve said much too much in the trying to speak up”)

SOT: “The Strangers” LALA

03. The Field – Yesterday & Today: The Field is the pseudonym of Swedish DJ Axel Willner, who doesn’t just mix tracks together like a typical techno producer. He actually mixes tracks with live instrumentation, recording it live as if it were one great, intimate performance. Yesterday & Today, his second album, is a marvelous example of this technique. Criminally mislabeled as “minimal techno,” there’s hardly anything minimal about this: these are hazy, sprawling, elaborate tracks reminiscent of shoegaze or dream pop. For the layman, think My Bloody Valentine with no guitars but the same sheen; or Sigur Rós without the gibberish lyrics or indie chords. Some would complain that this sort of music is meandering and seems too tied to a formula to withstand more than a cursory listen, but this is where you’d be wrong. There’s an ambiance to each track, which acts as the foundation by which little nuggets are casually dropped and processed through, providing numerous avenues for the listener to explore. And it’s this aspect of the album that makes it so striking: you can hear the fun and abandon and delight being taken in this music, and as we all know, joy is infectious.

SOT: “Sequenced” LALA

02. Juan Son – Mermaid Sashimi: Formally of the highly-popular Mexican indie band Porter, Juan Son’s debut album is a concept album about (stay with me here) a human who finds himself transformed into a sea creature by a mermaid, all the while teasing an octopus, commenting on the politics of the underwater world, and, um, travelling through time. Hey, I didn’t say that it was the most realistic story—but you have to admit, it sounds a HELL of a lot better than Avatar, right? Regardless of how well that concept sold you, you won’t be able to deny the music’s brilliance. Encompassing styles ranging from electro-pop, post-punk and New Wave to Broadway jazz, IDM, and ambient, this is an album rich in equal parts pop goodness and avant-garde WTF?-ability. That being said, this album is simply gorgeous. There’s a tendency in the post-Arcade Fire world to make every song sound like the end of the world, mistaking catharsis for bombast. Mermaid Sashimi has a similar element of drama and ruin, but it’s not crying that the sky is falling; it’s setting its feet to the ground, and daring you to follow it into the sea. I suggest that you do what the album says.

SOT: “Mermaid Sashimi” LALA

01. Natalia Lafourcade – Hu Hu Hu: As a (part-time, typically unpaid) music critic, I have to listen to a lot of music in attempting to keep up with what’s “going on.” And most of that stuff is pretty routine, uninteresting, or downright awful. But every once in a while, you get to hear something so unique, so special, and so stunning that you want to shout about its greatness to every person who will hear you. So I’ll go into all caps when I say that Hu Hu Hu is one of the FINEST POP ALBUMS…EVER. The product of Mexican songstress Natalia Lafourcade, Hu Hu Hu bridges the borders between art-rock, indie rock, and pure pop to create a world where kaleidoscopic grandeur and reflective emotionalism can share the same stage without conflict. Lyrically, each song is an introspection of a character’s journey through post-adolescent confusion and longing into self-discovery, but that’s not to say that the album is heavy-handed or precociously coy. Instead, the lyrics provide shades of realistic grays and blues to the instrumentation’s vibrant colors and shapes. Yet it’s this vibrancy that stands out most on Hu Hu Hu. From mid-period Beatles-aping jaunts through your endorphins (“Cursis Melodías”) to glockenspiel-filled tales of disappointment (“No Viniste”) to wall of sound rock escapism (“Let’s Get Out,” “Look Outside”) to seemingly Sesame Street-inspired mood pieces (“Niño Hojas,” “Hora de Compartir”) to two singles that include virtually everything including the kitchen sink (“Ella es Bonita,” “Azul”), this isn’t so much an album of pop songs, but a quasi-play celebrating the power and possibilities of musical expression. Albums like this are the reason that we listen to music—because of the slight possibility that you’ll hear something that you’ve never heard before, or transcends what you’d think was possible, or that you’ll simply want to hear over and over again. Thankfully, Hu Hu Hu is here to reaffirm that belief at least for another year.

SOT: “Cursis Melodías” LALA