BFlecha - “A Marte”

BFlecha’s full-length debut album βeta is our most anticipated album for the remainder of the year and it will see the commercial light in less than two weeks. The album is already at the Club Fonograma headquarters, and all we can say at the moment is that it’s not a record delivered on a silver platter (a very good thing). “B33” (one of the hits of the year) has earned Belén Vidal an intercontinental following anxious to dissect her new songs. Arkestra Records has unveiled “A Marte” as the album’s new single, and it’s a tour de fource. The horn-heavy, triumphant intro sets up a kaleidoscopic, love-in-space song that strangely resonates with the most pedestrian feelings. The beats are swooning and estranged from symphonics. “No tienes que preocuparte, voy a Marte a buscarte.” It’s beautiful how BFlecha builds a relation and trust with the listener by holding and releasing her synth ammunition in circular, compassionate streams. We know cinema is the art of light, but BFlecha’s technical and humanist approach to (and through) the beat shows light can truly transcend any form lines.

Featured: Neon Indian - "Polish Girl"

Featured: Neon Indian - "Polish Girl"

Mom & Pop Music, USA



It seems like Alan Palomo took a few marketing courses over the summer. Or maybe he just found savvier consulters. The promotional path toward the release of Era Extraña has been splendid at resolving past ghosts and brilliant at keeping momentum. Two years ago, the success story of Palomo as a major figure in indie music started in the Gorilla vs. Bear platform, and Psychic Chasms went on to receive a BNM tag from Pitchfork. Neon Indian followed his debut’s success with a series of actions that made fans question his credibility, especially for his carbonated sponsorship deal with Mountain Dew.



Era Extraña brings him back to humble conditions, keeping bloggers busier than usual. When “Fallout” hit the web last week there was Neon Indian fever on every corner, but some of us missed the spacey catchiness of earlier Neon Indian singles. New song “Polish Girl” has a spellbinding entrance, middle section and finale, enough to give M83's "Midnight City" a run for its money as far as summer hits go. It also brings the bounciness back into Palomo's nostalgic spectrum. Except for that truly unfortunate album cover, everything else about this album is looking beyond promising. This song in particular shows the synth-groove stylist working under a more polished soundscape, keeping his vision bursting in chillwave wisdom and crescendos.

♫♫♫ "Polish Girl"

New Single: Andrea Balency Trio - "Una Linea Va"

Last year, prior to recording the sublime Defensa EP, Juan Manuel Torreblanca couldn’t hold his contentment when the up and coming Andrea Balency showed up with a jaw-dropping cover for his long-time revealed “Parece Navidad.” In the following months, Balency appeared as a guest musician of our dear visionary to eventually, become part of one of the hottest new bands around. The gorgeous singer has an album ready to release and is ready for her own project to breakthrough, the Andrea Balency Trio. “Parece Navidad” is such an important piece to the Torreblanca and Andrea Balency Trio projects, an inevitable bond they share that now finds a place in an equally stunning new song titled “Una Linea Va.”

Andrea is the owner of a gifted voice and a natural ability to own words, and utilize them to dispatch her feelings to incredible places. If like us, you agree Balency’s heartbreaking line “que me quema los ojos y me quiebra los pies” is one of the year’s most beautiful layers, than you’ll love every second of “Una Linea Va.” A track about self-remorse and the agonizing fear of love, to feel love, “quiero cegarme y no ser.” The song reaches monumental value when Torreblanca’s calming back vocals show up to in to reinforce the mutual soreness love leaves behind when the line (of living in uncertainty) goes on.

New Single: Juanes - "Yerbatero"

Juanes’ new single “Yerbatero” was sent out today to start the on-fire promotion of his latest album. Just as a clarification, we don’t hate Juanes, it’s more of a resentment many of us have towards the industry for filling up our FM radios with what they claim is the ultimate ‘Latin rockstar,’ when we all know he isn’t. He fills the rock-alternative quota with utterly underwhelming songs, not as terrible as Mana per say, but still, a boredom. You didn’t see it, but our staff deeply disapproved of Andrew Casillas' decision to include “A Dios Le Pido” on our Songs of the Decade list, only to find ourselves admitting the song’s unavoidable virtues (plus Un Dia Normal is quite good). But I challenge Mr. Lawyer Casillas to defend “Yerbatero,” it’s awfully bad.

The Colombian star will premiere his single today at the South Africa FIFA World Cup, as if Shakira (and her WakaWaka) wasn’t enough. But see, Shakira is like a goddess, even with such a laughable song she is a better musician and a charmer, something Juanes lacks on every level. As mean as I might sound, it won’t level up to the ridiculous raves this song will be getting in the upcoming hours, example, Latin Gossip: “WOW WOW WOW… it’s amazing, everything we expected and more! Totally Juanes! Totally rhythmic! Totally it!” Sorry for making you read that, but hopefully you get what I’m saying, the balance is off.

Sure, we could act cool and oversee the song and just not talk about it, but this is a Latin Pop music blog, we must speak up. If anything, this song comes to reaffirm Juanes’ sharp sensibility while picking up Colombia’s folklore, something done cleverly in "La Paga" but that sensibility doesn’t go too far when you barely have a template to work with. When trying to be catchy, Juanes falls into the toxic exoticism. Juanes is particularly misguided outside the Santaolalla circuit, something truly noticeable here at the hands of English producer Stephen Lipson. Perhaps not as awful as “Odio Por Amor,” but still painful, this is anything but uplifting, self-remedy ain't for you Juanes.

New Single: Adanowsky - "Me Siento Solo"

Adanowsky comes from a family of poets and visionaries, we might be romanticizing the whole thing a bit too much, but after listening to his latest single “Me Siento Solo” (via Panamerika) it really seems like we’re framing him right. With just one album under his arm, one can’t deny that much of his colossal success arrived through his charm as a seductive heartthrob, but he happens to be quite a good musician too (and a hell of an entertainer). “El Idolo” was a consuming single so powerful that it defined Adanowsky as a character rather than as an author, but the risk was justifiable because the song was mesmerizing.

When he announced that he was killing “El Idolo” (the character), we were very skeptical of the future, mostly because everything pointed to a much sober and serious Adanowsky, one we didn’t really like in “No” and “Estoy Mal” because the guy drowned these melodies in shallow sentimentalism (not to mention he sounded half-sleep and a bit drunk). His new song “Me Siento Solo” from his forthcoming album Amador is anything but drowned, it’s well measured and although not the happiest song in the world, it justifies every second of it as pure honest emotional rest.

A song to recognize flaws and confront the blurry lines of between the one's self-esteem and aspirations. He will no longer be an idol but an ‘amador’, we’re thinking more of a Don Juan, but we’ll see. Amador will be out next month and according to Panamerika, it features a collaboration with Devendra Banhart.

New Single: Javiera Mena - "Hasta La Verdad"

You rarely see Club Fonograma as excited, enthusiastic and wholehearted as when we sit down to write about Javiera Mena. It’s no secret we’re head over heels about her, Esquemas Juveniles has inspired us like no other album; it’s our reference to how pop music should sound like, and how complex and danceable it should be. After providing our generation with monumental anthems like “Al Siguiente Nivel” and “Sol de Invierno”, or the shining “Como siempre soñe” and “Camara Lenta”, our favorite girl in Latin Pop is ready for her next journey, her much-anticipated sophomore album.

Javiera is the one shining artist responsible for our Song of the Decade “Al Siguiente Nivel” and our #2 favorite album of the decade, we’re clearly thrilled to present hew brand new single “Hasta La Verdad”, first cut from her new album titled Mena. The record was in the works for over 3 years, a long gap in which the Chilean artist refined her youthful fixation into pop prisms. Everything brilliantly captured and elevated by Cristian Heyne, the genius producer of Esquemas Juveniles and other great Chilean landmarks including Gepe’s latest Audiovision.

“Hasta La Verdad” reveals itself as a utopian universe of its own, with tumbling unassuming vocals, disco strings (by the great Kelley Polar), and striking reflective lyrics. It’s flowery, shimmering and very flirtatious. What’s truly fantastic about this is to see Mena’s search for musical landscape intact, her qualities have clearly evolved, but the hunt by which her music breathes is as grandeur (in all its simplicity) as before. It might not be as immediate and accessible as any of her past singles, but it only takes a few spins to roll with it and discover its greatness.

The single will be published in Mexico by the recently formed project Union del Sur and FV Management. If this is any indication, the upcoming 9-track Mena sure seems like another winner.

Jennifer Lopez - "Louboutins"

Jennifer Lopez is one tricky artist to analyze, her limited abilities are no secret but she’s got some very good people molding her music. Her albums never add up to much, but there’s always a single or two that make her look like a legitimate pop star. Her first albums go from vile to lame, but as opposed to her film career, her music has gotten so much better, except for her laughable Spanish-language effort Como Ama Una Mujer. Her last album Brave had not one but two awesome singles, “Hold It Don't Drop It” and “Do It Well”, we weren’t around that time but any of the songs would’ve shown up on our Best of the Year list easily.

Her new album titled Love? is set for a 2010 release with a very bland first single “Fresh Out The Oven” featuring Pitbull. But her performance of another song at the American Music Awards had at least half of our club chatting about it. Shakira was there too, but JLO was clearly determined to grab the attention, and she did. “Louboutins” is hot! It’s so bouncy and flashes on and off as a woman with high heels would walk to victory. By the way, this was produced by The Dream whose Love vs. Money is fantastic. “Boy, watch me walk it out, walk it out.”

Ely Guerra - "Stranger"

Ely Guerra proves once again that it is okay to take years in between albums as long as the wait merits the quality of the music. She is no longer signed on EMI, instead, she’s releasing under Honey Company, her new (and probably improvised) record label. Lotofire is one of my favorite alternative albums ever and her jump into pop (Sweet & Sour, Hot y Spicy) was very pleasant too, so yeah, I can’t wait for Hombre Invisible. And it’s starting on the right foot as the first single titled “Stranger” is exquisite; it has like the best of Cat Power and Christina Rosenvinge, in the way it establishes its celestial vibe to the point of alienation, only letting a handful of guitar riffs stand on her view.

The album will be sold exclusively through Mapamondo, a Mexican digital store. I usually don’t like music services outside iTunes or Amazon but despite the lack of material and the terrible website feel, Mapondo is taking good care of her album. “Stranger” is up for free download (after opening an account) so that’s a great start. They’re also unveiling the album song by song (one per day), I’ve decided not to listen to the rest of the songs until the whole thing is out and because honestly, the Juanes and Bunbury collaborations scare the hell out of me. Oh and yeah, love her new look, sexiest rockstar in the world (to me).

"Teclar", Os Mutantes

I’ve received a few emails pointing me to Pitchfork where you can download “Teclar” by Os Mutantes, and it’s not that I’m not aware of the song, I’ve taken some time to really process it. It’s been a week and I must say I hate it, the kind of stuff you hate not only because they don’t sound good but because they could’ve sound amazing. But I’ve been a skeptic ever since hearing the news of a new album (via Anti Records), so far I’m anticipating it as the year’s letdown (not really a letdown since I am anticipating a weak album, but you get me), of course we have to hear the entire album first. For the first time they’re sounding like ‘world music’, and it's not like they're missing Rita Lee, the 3 albums she has released this decade are kind of depressing, at this point I would prefer a comeback by Tribalistas. You can hear/download the song for free at Pitchfork; let me know if I’m wrong.

Gustavo Cerati - "Déjà vu"

The world I carry myself around stops whenever he releases a song. Today is the big release of "Déjà vu", the brand new single by legend Gustavo Cerati from his upcoming album Fuerza Natural. Both, the song's title and the album's title are boring as hell, been there done that, but this is Cerati and he even jokes about this in the song. I was never a hardcore fan of Soda Stereo I might confess, but I am a huge fan of Cerati as a solo act. "Deja Vu" is not near as good as "Crimen", my friend already whined about it being too much of a 'pop' song, which it isn't? I was going to stream the song in here, but believe me, Sony would strangle us, so I'll just wait for it to show up on YouTube. Update... yeah ready!

Mr. Shoji, Single

It’s sad to admit, but I buy vynils only for the sake of collecting and showing them off (plus they look great on the wall of any college kid) One thing is for sure, labels never send promotional vynils because that’s what’s hot right now, but you need some friends from La Madre Patria so they can send you the goodies, because unlike any other country in Iberoamerica, the Spaniard labels are on top of the business offering vynils to the market. In some cases, such as Anntona’s En La Cama Con Anntona, the album is given for free as a digital release and they produce a limited number of copies to sell to those people, who like me, want to have the physical thing but will be hearing the songs on the iPod.

Well, there’s that, I received Single’s latest 7’’ titled “Mr. Shijou” but never listened to it, although the artwork cover always intrigued me. But then yesterday, Rulo from Reactor tweeted that the song was the best he had heard this month and maybe the whole year, and he’s not kidding, it is one of the songs to keep in this 2009. For those not aware of this band, this is the project by Teresa Iturrioz and Ibon Errazkin, whose previous works have been featured on our now gone Rocolas. They’re everything Fangoria isn’t, and that’s why I like them so much, don’t get me wrong Fangoria is had its interesting time but now I find them boring? Teresa has a thing for birds, they’re always present and although this time the cover doesn’t feature this animal, you’ll hear plenty of them as they are the soul of this track.

Who is Mr. Shoji? He’s a Japanese DJ who has collaborated with the act on previous albums. “Yo y Mr. Shoji tenemos un asunto” the band explains the reason behind creating the track, they have an issue to resolve, it’s a well-kept secret but seems like they always wanted to do this song and finally got the chance to do it, that’s the easy/lazy interpretation. The song ask for exaggerated guesses, I’d like to think it’s a combat between a man in a horse (Mr. Shoji) and the girl surrounded by birds (Teresa), kind of a dazzling fight a la Kill Bill.

New Single: "Faquir", Niña Dioz

New single by enfant-terrible Niña Dioz, “Faquir” is her confrontation with Mexico’s crude and enchanting capital. People say ‘el defectuoso’ changes souls but she is forcing her way convinced of who she is and wants to let the city know she won’t change a bit, a provincial thought that had not been fully envisioned outside the ‘regional mexican’ genre. Her Marcapasos EP left many of us enchanted, and after collaborating with Plastilina Mosh, Mood Fu and bringing one of the best tracks in the Rudo y Cursi Soundtrack, we can pretty much declare her album as one of the year’s most anticipated releases.

"Faquir"

MP3: "Bigote", Turbopotamos

The new single by Libido leaked last month and I must say I’m profoundly disappointed, the kind of song you can almost tell they sharpen a bit too much to get it into radio. While I can’t deny they will continue to be Peru’s most valuable asset (you can’t ignore history or “tres”), it’s time to shift our way to the next big thing, they are already big in Peru, but los Turbopotamos are taking way too long to internationalize. We talk plenty about them only because they ought to have some love from these grounds. They have a new song and are glad to share it with us; “Bigote” will bring out the insecurities of all the guys who, unlike me, couldn’t grow a mustache in their teenage years and somehow got offended by it. It’s a song about lament, masculinity and first impressions.

♫♫♫ "Bigote"
MySpace

"Vivire Para Ti", Los Amigos Invisibles ft. Natalia Lafourcade

While Andrew, Carlos and I fight over who gets to review Los Amigos Invisibles’ latest album Commercial (out May 26 in the states through Nacional), we’re going all gaga-gaga for their collaboration with Natalia Lafourcade in the song “Vivire Para Ti”. The track itself is a very traditional collaboration, but nonetheless it’s juicy and delicious moment in the already spicy career of Venezuela’s most representative act. As far as Natalia’s new album goes, we haven’t heard the finish product, but everything seems lined up for a masterwork of some kind, plus having Juan Son and Julieta Venegas in the credit doesn’t hurt. It’s exciting because in this first year of Club Fonograma we’ve never reviewed neither of the artists. Los Amigos is one of the most creative bands out there, like my fellow writers said, they ARE Latinoamerica. And the first single “Gracias” is awesome too, is the most truthful anthem for any guy with some truth on his mind. I found the song over at YouTube, stream it, believe me it's worth the time.

New Single: "Hiedra Venenosa", Instituto Mexicano del Sonido

Instituto Mexicano del Sonido will be releasing its third production titled Soy Sauce (Nacional Records) due in early April, we were big fans of both Mejico Maxico and Piñata, not only are they great musical efforts but selective material I find to be important to our identity. This new single is right out of the oven, and it’s an exciting one. “Hiedra Venenosa” is a fun adventure with a charming scope on the kind of love that hurts since first impression, but it’s too fun to even try to let go. I think we just found our leading track for the next Rocola.

New: "Azul", Natalia Lafourcade

So I don’t know about you, but I’m truly looking forward for the new material by Natalia Lafourcade, who as I said before, comes redefined. I remember listening to her self-titled debut with much admiration but as I look back at it wasn’t as good as the hype or my initial reaction. Her work with La Forquetina was better, but after a long break where she has dedicated her time on traveling and making great music. Natalia announced yesterday at her MySpace more details about the album and we now get to listen to the leading track “Azul”, which will probably just be a digital single and believe me, it’s a beautiful one. In case you don’t visit Club Fonograma on YouTube, you’re not missing out on much since we go very parallel in content with the blog, but if you are curious subscribe to our ‘videos’, which are not even videos but just songs with the cover art, but hey it’s better and more convenient than the MySpace player. 

Update: Thanks to loyal reader Chassidy * Kassidy for letting us know Natalia will be interviewed by Reclu & Sopitas in Reactor tomorrow @ 7:30 P.M. (Mexico City time), which I remind you it's available for live streaming. 

Fiesta de Locos, Calle 13

Sony International should really take care of Calle 13’s upcoming Los De Atras Vienen Conmigo, which was initially supposed to be out today, but has been pushed for release on the 21st, date that will coincide with the release of Rio, Aterciopelados’ latest, that Tuesday will be multi-orgasmic. In the mean time the album is leaking track after track, we love what we’ve heard so far, especially “Que Lloren” and the lastest leak “Fiesta de Locos”, the most lauded song by the public at the MTV Tr3s VMA pre-party. This song is on fire, a club banger with some great male vs. female chorus, controversially religious and the great infectious humor Rene Perez is known for. “CALLE 13 VIENE SIN LUBRICACION.”