Showing posts with label russian red. Show all posts
Showing posts with label russian red. Show all posts
Video: Russian Red - Casper
“Casper” is the first single off Russian Red’s upcoming album, Agent Cooper. This will be the third full-length record by Spanish pop singer-songwriter Lourdes Hernández, who was born and lives in Madrid and recently sang on Joe Crepusculo’s “Leyenda.” The video, directed by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, was shot in Los Angeles (where the album was recorded) and tells the story of a girl dreaming about a boyfriend who never comes, a story of despair, resentment and sadness.
Joe Crepúsculo - Baile de Magos
Mushroom Pillow, Spain
Rating: 76
by Glòria Guirao Soro
The punk troubadour, as we used to know Joe Crepúsculo back when he started doing music solo, comes back with an album that is clearly inspired by the Spanish techno of the '90s. Thus he completes the slow transition from his first lo-fi punk recordings as an outcast songwriter into these more deeply ironic canned techno rhythms as a satirical disco commentator. Composed and recorded in Mallorca, Baile de magos has a subtle Balearic taste expressed in very pushy synthetic progressions, sometimes mixed with a slight touch of free jazz and house sounds, but never abandoning the jokey, somewhat cryptic and rather philosophical tone of his lyrics and the scratchy, unprocessed voice.
It’s difficult to say whether this is nostalgia or just a jokey experimental trip, it seems to me that it is more of an homage to '90s Spanish electronic music, an epic appropriation of its sound, but in an estranged way, as the treatment of the voice track shows. As for the lyrics, Joe Crepúsculo keeps writing about life and death, relationships, drinking coffee, saints and robots, even about dancing in the bathroom. But, if we could just leave the texts behind and focus on the sound itself, we could see that this album is not like the five previous ones.
Baile de magos is about dancing in every way, starting with the reminiscences of the bakalao club culture and even the references to popular music and cumbia, like in “Hoy no me quiero levantar,” continuing with the structure of the songs, all of them having a strong climax that pushes us to dance (or at least to move our head back and forth), and ending with the epic lyrics of songs. “Nuevo Amanecer” describes a new awakening, “Mi fábrica de baile” presents Crepúsculo’s unstoppable dance factory, “Batalla de robots” tries to wake up the robot in us, and “Leyenda” (featuring Russian Red), with all its references to swords and fights, is the most epic track. Just don’t listen to this record in the office; it may be too awkward for your coworkers.
Russian Red - Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura, Russian Red Sony Music, Spain
Rating: 76
by Carlos Reyes
Lourdes Hernández is Spain’s most refined daughter; a radiant but quietly profound cantautora of the rarest pop commodity. Her 2008 debut I Love Your Glasses projected her silhouette, a national revelation with enough sparkle for cosmopolitan predisposition. Russian Red is also the aftermath of cloying theatrics, unbridled perceptions, and thawed pictorial postcards. It’s this combination of attributes in Hernández’s persona and Russian Red’s melodramatic wrinkles that make her music so divisive (even within our club). Under the production scope of Tony Doogan (Belle and Sebastian, Teenage Fanclub, Mogwai), Russian Red’s sophomore album accentuates her satiated pedigree and brings her incandescent imperfections afloat. Modulated with artistry rather than personal choices, Fuerteaventura survives its florid mimicry for what it does and what it doesn’t do. On one side, we get a record that doesn’t lack an ounce of vanity and yet is able to swim within its melodic proportions. On the other, we have an artist with a palpable penchant towards a Vogue-esque splendor that’s simply too sticky-sweet to fulfill.
Nomadic chords introduce the opening track “Everyday Everynight” which quickly sets the tone of the album and depicts the chanteuse as the survivor of a broken heart. The midtempo balladry approach is meticulous and elegantly scaled at the service of Hernández’s well-sheltered vocals. If you don’t have the gift of writing songs in your own language, you can always pay your debt in your titles (right Bigott?). “Fuerteventura” is as bouncy as the premise of its title, irresistible in every one of its outbreaks, and, yes, utterly gorgeous. First single “I Hate You But I Love You” is a clench-chest piece in which the artist’s voice rises against the backdrop of a looming choir. More than a page in her diary, this is the centerpiece of an album predominated by an absent lover theme.
So, when does this record go from transcendentally pretty to claustrophobically intimate? Right in the middle of it when Russian Red decides to play roles for narrative inquisition that includes an army wife (“Braver Soldier”) and sleeping beauty (“Nick Drake”). It is at these moments that Fuerteventura prolongs its arcane passion for something else. This is not my music critic anxiety speaking on behalf of the artist’s credibility; it’s the record’s structural cavity that needs further craft. Like Adele’s 21, Fuerteventura is mesmerizing at times and inattentive of its fillers. But the Spanish singer shakes off most of her flaws whenever she allows herself to be a big girl, a mistress, and an uncompromised sweetheart. In the end, the elaborated textile and framework of Fuerteventura turns out to be a double-edged sword; it’s capricious but also shows she’s not ready to make nice.
I Love Your Glasses, Russian Red
Eureka Records
by Carlos Reyes
Russian Red is one of the new great sensations coming from the rich indie scene in Spain. Her legit name is Lourdes Hernandez and releases a very confident first album that will have no trouble traveling. Universal music because her music is about emotions, singing in English with some of the best vocals I’ve heard this year. We immediately think of a much acoustic oriented Feist and definitely searching for folkloric waves and therefore following Ainara Legardon or even fellow Christina Rosenvinge. She owns a quirky personality that only makes her music even more charming, sometimes depicting nostalgia and even an eccentric way of seduction. Honestly, this album doesn’t feel Spaniard at all; it more accurately belongs to the great pop we’ve been getting from England lately.
The amusing vocals might overshadow the music a bit too much, causing the album to sometimes feel extremely dry and repetitious. But I Love Your Glasses is an album of great linear and a rare debut that understands music form; the organization of sound and silence. Listening to her performances on YouTube (watch this, WOW) decreased my admiration towards the album; it doesn’t capture the monstrous potential that could have been recorded in a much acoustic and atmospheric production. The sound design feels loopy, a great distinct quality to have when working with the gentle and delicate music.
Even if it has not been released as an official single, the track “Cigarettes” has become a signature song with plenty of catchiness and enchantment. Covers from fans are popping here and there. “All the cigarettes that I have never smoked, and all the letters that I have never smoked,” a song about the lack of patience one has, even for love. A song with vocals that follow its instrumentals and manage to develop itself in accord without overshadowing the backgrounds. The first single “They Don’t Believe Me” is probably the most energetic track of the album; a nu-jazzy piece based on repetition and backed up by response of second vocals.
To me, the best song in the album is also the less synthesized at the engineering studio. “Gone Play On” feels like almost like it is narrated instead of singed. “This never ending song is coming and is gone, it’s travelling on a plane on my way,” I just love when songwriters insert life into music principles. Another highlight is “Take Me Home” which I have no doubt has been influenced by Dolly Parton. Some of the songs in between don’t have as much charm, but are middling fillers that manage to support the mood of an impressive if not great first album. Expect to read and hear more about Russian Red, there are already rumors of a U.S. release date.
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