Club Fonograma Archive: videos

Showing posts with label videos. Show all posts

Planta Carnívora & Diego Adrián - "Playa Salvaje"

New tropicalesque singles from Astro, Bomba Estereo, and now Planta Carnívora & Diego Adrián are the first signs that we're very close to welcoming the summer. The latter is specially exciting for how intoxicatingly cool it manages to be. While most bloggers took "Maracanaso" as a plain novelty piece for the world cup fervor and the RSS feeds, we applauded the song's proposal of something Andrew Casillas called, "alternative reggaeton." For their new collaboration, Planta Carnivora and Diego Adrian keep it risky and very, very weird. "Playa Salvaje" boldens the casio keys and triples the use of the reggaeton beat to steady results. Planta's delivery of the verses is strong and often hillarious, while Diego's near-broken pitch is almost too obtrusive for its own good. Nothing should work here, and yet everything DOES. In a year where too many singles have lacked a definitive chorus, it's refreshing to hear a piece that doesn't stop at the bridge and actually goes for the kill. Download the MP3 of the track via Soundcloud.

Buscabulla - "Caer"

With the blessings of Dev Hynes (Blood Orange), Buscabulla (Raquel Berrios and Luis Alfredo del Valle) have launched their highly anticipated Self-titled EP and a gorgeous video for leading track, "Caer." It's exciting to see that from our small Caribbean paradises, new artists are emerging and creating fresh sounds mixing our Caribbean roots with the rhythms of the zeitgeist. All with a charisma that winks to the 80s. In this song, Raquel's voice is like the coming together of Grimes and Angela Carrasco singing Boca Rosa, and of course sexier than that. In the frame, we almost get hypnotized with the lights that scroll across her silky face. The music is unfolded in such a way that it pulls us to the neon dance floor -is like a toy store saved in a music box.

We will get to publish a proper review of Buscabulla soon, but we can truly say it's a gem. It's like each song is a unique blend with the brush of Raquel's voice guiding the magic. At the moment, if I was to call a Hot Line, I wish for Raquel to be on the other side of the phone. The styling of the video is haunting. From oversized shirts and clean faces, to the distant appearance of Luis Alfredo eating a banana and playing the maracas, there's true aesthetic depth on every frame. This is psicomagic, modern witchcraft. Twice we hear the song sigh "to' lo malo se va," and you can only wonder how Buscabulla is playing with trends and yet able to sound more alternative than what's on the market today. They are keeping it real.

Video: Ave Negra – "CSI"

By now, many of you (may) know that apart from being talented musicians Ave Negra’s Felo, Russel and Fede are also quite a formidable goofball team. Maybe you’ve seen the bit they did recently in their debut video “Tengo una Nenita,” where the trio commits petty theft to achieve their dreams about starting a band. Or maybe you’ve seen it in their live performance. Either way—with a little digging—it’s not hard to tell has become big and heavy but still quick enough on its feet to entertain us with their weirdness.

Ave Negra definitely has a penchant for strange but inventive music videos, and this one is no exception. The latest video from the costaricans accompanies "CSI", off their upcoming debut LP due probably next year. It's a typically goofy, VHS-style clip, starring the group in La Patria’s empty pool, skating and dancing along with druggy and bizarre visuals by Pollux. The video was produced by local well known collective Super Legitimo and S3R Audiovisual. What’s impressive is that even though the duo ventures into a juvenile video, the knack for catchy melodies and heavy riffs improves, making this both true to their roots and indicative of huge maturation.

Video: Ama Ia - "Voces"

One of the best news from the last few weeks is the forthcoming debut LP from Ama Ia, who just won the 2014 Autoplacer’s demo competition. Member of Kokoschka for the last six years, Ama Ia started writing songs and, as she believed they didn’t fit in the band’s style, she decided to try her luck and start a parallel solo project. "Voces" is the hit in her demo. It is a song about a break up, or better said, a song about a dying love story written after its end -at that moment when the sequence of events that lead to the break up seems clear. Dreamy atmospheres over a pop basis, with synth melodies and rich textures, result in a devotional and nostalgic ensemble. The video reflects this environment of intimacy and sadness by translating the lyrics in blurry, almost vintage, images literally. Three other songs about feelings in the aftermath of a break up are included in this first demo (listen to it in Ama Ia’s bandcamp) that recalls the extinct girl duo Granit and, in some ways, the music of Aries but in a darker tone.

Video: Javiera Mena - "La Joya"

My dissection of “La Joya” (at first glimpse) was one of mixed emotions. In fact, I doubted the single’s self-sustainability and joined the club of skeptics for what was to come. Three months have past and I must say that there’s not another song I’ve listen to the most all year long. The song went from middling to becoming one of her best singles to date (better than “Espada” for sure). At around the 50th play, “La Joya” dusts away its tongue-in-cheek polish to reveal itself as daring and brilliant piece of pop composition. The clip for the song, directed by slurpTV & Vladimir Crvenkovic celebrate the song’s ever-shifting melodic directions, rejecting to become a template (and pushing for platforms instead). The frame is overstuffed and at times too busy to look out, but it sure services as one of Javiera’s most colorful moments –a bold step towards pop stardom.

Onda Temporal, Episodio Once: Santos

When director Carlos Matsuo sent me all the links of the episodes that made up Onda Temporal I skimmed through about half of them. Then I decided I would wait and unfold each episode one at a time –unfolding the narrative on a more nuanced and less exclusive pace. It’s intriguing to see the second to the last episode of the series take place at a cemetery. While Matsuo’s scope had taken us to holy grounds on its second episode (Alberto Acinas), this new one pans through a cemetery where the grass is sublimely green and rows of gravestones appear to be mysteriously new –perhaps belonging to the outburst of deaths the drug war has caused in Mexico. Looking like a not so friendly monk with dark shades, Tijuana’s Santos sings “Sin Salida” with a certain militant (not freed of irony) tone that registers as both, truthful and sinister.

Onda Temporal, Episodio Ocho: White Ninja

The newest episode of Onda Temporal presents an untitled new track by White Ninja. The previous seven episodes of the series served from an outside setting that in cases defined their purpose –they sure where easier to dissect than this one. Shot in a rehearsal room (recording room?) filled with both analog and digital machines, this might be the less memorable episoide yet on the surface, but as part of the Onda Temporal narrative, it’s truly significant. Leaving the topics of pedestrian and suburban life, White Ninja and director Carlos Matsuo choose to stay within walls as a way to shelter a song that’s still a work in progress. As the camera circles around, surveying the space and its subjects, it’s especially fascinating to see the blinding light coming out of the window. Whatever lives outside that room must be magnificient, for it manifests its prescence through splendorous white noise.

Onda Temporal, Episodio Siete: Verano Peligroso

Episode seven of the Onda Temporal webseries features the most chilling setting so far. It’s a travelogue of a tiny strip of what makes up Mexico City, starting at the infamous Bar Heaven, a club where twelve people were dissapeared (murdered) by organized crime. We can see the wall of the bar stamped with posters made by the victims’ families. While La Blogotheque’s visit to Mexico brought out lovely performances (framed by beautiful touristic vignettes), you really can’t beat the profound and emotional rawness idiosyncracy offers to director Carlos Matsuo. The travelogue is musicalized by Verano Peligroso, a little known duo by two familiar names to most of us: JackintoDiYEah! (member of Furland) and EsaMiPau! (radio host at Mexico City’s Ibero 90.9). “This goes to any people that has suffered a dissapearence,” they say on the intro, quickly establishing an emotional connection (contrasted to the expansive architecture of the buildings that surround them) with all of us that have gone through the estrangement of a loved one, including love itself of course. With brushes of twee and a beautiful cascade of whistles, Verano Peligroso encounter a great way to take their pop melodies out of the bedroom.

Video: Chico Unicornio - "Ahora Te Puedes Marchar"

Pop always proves every generation’s need to revive the memory and legacy of the dead or seemingly retired idols. As Jean Baudrillard once said, “every possible art form has already been explored. All that’s left is to deconstruct an play with the pieces.” Strange and colorful, Chico Uniconrnio has subscribed to this exercise by reconditioning one of Luis Miguel’s most renowned post-childhood hits, “Ahora Te Puedes Marchar” from one of his first mature records, Soy Como Quiero Ser released back in 1987.

The video directed by Chilean Andrea Guzman (who is also Chico Unicornio’s drummer), shows a character that, consumed by stifling routine, is falling into insanity and gets disconnected from reality and the people around him. These are witty images that are very well connected with the sound. Completely different from its original, the Peruvian band turns to a lo-fi arrangement, transforming the pop cues into rock, and the rock cues into punk. Without the intention to sound fatalistic, the verse “si no supiste amar, ahora te puedes marchar” transfers in this narrative as an advice for this quirky young man –it pushes him to either escape and never look back, and presents him with the ironic option of committing suicide. A nice addition to accompany other covers like that of Capullo’s “Déjame Vivir” and Los Abandoned’s “Como La Flor”.

Onda Temporal, Episodio Cuatro: Los Nuevos Maevans

Whenever I’ve had to practice my film scholar studies to advice very resourceful projects, I often encourage them to shoot at super markets. Because really, when working with a tight budget, that’s all the art direction you need. Who knew the little store at the corner of your neighborhood would also do the job? On the fourth episode of Onda Temporal, we witness hardcore punk band Los Nuevos Maevans march into a miscelanea and turn the tight space into a sprawling arena for one very assaultive and memorable number. Using one of the members as keyboard legs and featuring a mysteriously small sound technician are only a few of the well executed gimmicks by a band that’s known as a performance act –so much that they practice playback on their gigs. When they’re done detonating the noise of “Antorcha Campesina,” they walk out civilized. The woman at the counter watches with some amuse (hard not to find it hysterical), but she’s not terrorized by it –she’s probably seen much, much worse.

Onda Temporal, Episodio Tres: Sanidad Mental

The third episode of Onda Temporal (following the first numbers featuring Capullo and Alberto Acinas) showcases the conception of Sanidad Mental, a new act by two of the most exciting rising music makers around. New-blooded and full of urban urgency, Josué Josué and Siete Catorce first showed they made a terrific team in the single “Linus” (from Josué Josué's debut EP) where they showed introspection of lyrical and musical forms, and even flirted with reggaeton. As framed by this project by Guerrero Negro, Sanidad Mental (performing "Demencia" and "Morras") bolds up the visceral and suburban-decaying discourse. Rejecting to shoot in pretty, or rather digestible places, director Carlos Matsuo elevated and wired-up his guests on the roof of a neighborhood in Tijuana, registering forgotten construction developments, pointy wired fences, and even a dog cage. These are powerful (if circumstantial) images that serve as symbolism for the struggle of the common pedestrian (including the artists) against their thorny surroundings.

Onda Temporal, Episodio Dos: Alberto Acinas

The second episode of Onda Temporal scopes the oddball mind of Spaniard songwriter, Alberto Acinas. Certainly one of the most eccentric and divisive acts from Vale Vergas Discos, he’s been slowly percolating fans into his own little cult. Which is why this performance of Acinas performing at a cemetery, inside a chapel dedicated to Juan Soldado (a folk saint with an ever-growing cult) sustains the concepts of devotion, cult, and the riveting of the flesh into a very rewarding whole. Surrounded by grateful plaques of the miracles accredited to Juan Soldado, Acinas rumbles his chords with bold conviction. His voice however, registers a sense of tragedy (for both, the rejected embrace Acinas sings about in the song, and for the alleged false accusations of rape and murder for which Juan Soldado was executed). Director Carlos Matsuo surveys the humble temple with respect (offering no vignettes), but with enough curiosity to capture some devotees as they wait in line for their turn to light up a few candles and worship the saint with flowers.

Onda Temporal, Episodio Uno: CAPULLO

Video: Coiffeur - "Guarida"

Quemasucabeza keeps providing us and encouraging us with a source of essential, brave, and diverse tunes like their recently signing of Diosque and, of course, bumping Ases Falsos to the first leagues with their formidable sophomore album, Conducción. Now we have Coiffeur’s newest video for "Guarida" from last year’s album, but still resilient in our eardrums, Conquista de lo Inútil. The video directed by Luciano Rubio (who also directed the controversial "Mientras Tanto") captures Coiffeur’s musical call for liberation, the transcendental physics in movement and time, the escapism from Plato’s cave, the truth that we find in science, art, nature, and dreams. Coiffeur’s Conquista de lo Inútil showed us that being brave enough to venture into different rhythms will more often than not, provide us with great results.

Onda Temporal, Episodio Uno: Capullo

We start the unveiling of Onda Temporal, a 12-episode web series by Guerrero Negro featuring live performances from some of our favorite artists, with none other than our favorite pop group from Mexico: Capullo. As if there weren't enough reasons to love them, this clip makes Capullo more real, at least to those of us not lucky enough to have seen them live. They put the emoticons and virtual windows aside and allow director Carlos Matsuo into their personal space. Shot on a roof that seems to just have been showered by the sky, Capullo performs their rendition of Juan Gabriel and Rocio Durcal’s “Dejame Vivir” (with a second part featuring another cover of Los Ganglios). With all due respect to the gentlemen of Capullo, singers Cri Cornejo and Sandunga Mil really steal the show. When the ladies choose to walk away from the guys, they create the space to show their strong bond. Watch the rest of the Onda Temporal web series here at Club Fonograma during the next two weeks.

Onda Temporal: Demo

We are beyond thrilled to present Onda Temporal, a series of live performances shot by the sharp and poignant scope of Carlos Matsuo through documentary production company, Guerrero Negro. This isn’t the first time Club Fonograma is approached with the proposal of presenting Vicent Moon-inspired clips, but this is the first time we’re genuinely moved by the power of celluloid to capture/provoke raw and unnerving faculty from the performers. In the search for attaining artistic freedom. Perhaps half of the merit itself belongs to the curation of the series, which includes house favorites such as Ases Falsos, Capullo, and Matilda Manzana, and is sure to present us with future obsessions. Watch the series unfold its 12 episodes here at Club Fonograma in the next two weeks.

Los intercambios de electrones entre las neuronas y las sinapsis dentro del cerebro están sometidos a la imprevisibilidad cuántica; sin embargo, el gran número de neuronas hace que el comportamiento humano esté tan rigurosamente determinado como cualquier otro sistema natural. No obstante, en ciertas circunstancias extremadamente raras una nueva onda de coherencia surge y se propaga dentro del cerebro; aparece un comportamiento nuevo, de forma temporal o definitiva, regido por un sistema completamente distinto de osciladores armónicos; entonces podemos observar lo que hemos dado en llamar acto libre.

Video: Fuckaine - "Hooray"

For some reason the exterior shots of this video by Madrileños, Fuckaine, are in Queensland, Australia (streuth!). And for some reason, a curly-haired boy slingshots a dead marsupial with its baby still alive and kicking inside its pouch. Inexplicably, there's bloody ragu, fatty hearts, a plate of maggots, and a disciplinary priest. Things get even more surreal (or really just more symbolic) when the boy walks in on his anteater-cum-koala-cum-elephant head parents fornicating while the Third Reich marches on the TV in the background. It's all rosary beads and phallic noses until, for some reason, the boy fashions a mask from a Hessian sack to find acceptance into this bizarre family. Cake ensues.

For some reason this take on psych/surf-rock seems rather fresh. It could be the tight production that emphasizes the melodic noise while muffling the more standard instrumentation, and the not-really-all-that-important lyrics. Not to mention getting back to the feeling of rock: the fuck yeah, I'm horny and disgusted at the same time feels; the growing up's a joke feels; the wtf is lyf feels; and the what the fuck is wrong with that communion wafer thought you'll have by the end of this video.

Video: Juan Molina - “Sin Guía, No”

If you call yourself a movie fan you’ve probably made your best effort to visit your city’s art house to see Jonathan Glazer’s masterful Under The Skin. Beautiful in all its abstraction, it will probably take a while before any other visual assault confronts you as deeply. Juana Molina’s latest clip for “Sin Guía, No” (single off Wed21) shares a great deal of the themes (desire, ritual, disobedience) and visual techniques (the forest as a character in the narrative) used in Under The Skin. Except that, unlike what happens in the film, “Sin Guía, No” maintains its characters grounded –and at human level. This is a coming-of-age story at the grace of folk magic. “Filmed in Tierra de Fuego, and inspired by the Hain initiation cermonies of the Selk’nam people,” reads the clip’s premise. Director Dr. Sepian keeps his scope open for universal absorption, and although the clip could do without the mockingly dance around the fire, the clip redeems itself beautifully in its waterfall, aerial, and cleansing conclusion.

Video: Jennifer Lopez - "I Luh Ya Papi (ft. French Montana)"

Jennifer Lopez’s 1999 debut On the 6 celebrates its sweet 15 this summer. She's recently dropped the single “I Luh Ya Papi (ft. French Montana)” from her upcoming tenth album. In the way that “Same Girl” before it retraces the singer’s Bronx roots, “I Luh Ya Papi” is one big callback to her turn-of-the-aughts, early singing days. The clip begins with one of Lopez’s ‘homegirls’ jokingly singing “Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” one of her first hits. Then, they set up the video’s premise (to make a video that objectifies men) and proceed to envision the Boogiedown Boricua rocking a jumpsuit very reminiscent of her iconic 2000 Grammys Versace dress.

The rest of “I Luh Ya Papi” takes place in mansions, on a yacht, and around lounging, ripped, speedo-clad dudes. The cut leaves no ostentatious hip-hop video (or reggaeton or urban bachata, for that matter) trope unturned. In doing so, Lopez inadvertently(?) taps into another figure from the era (and her past)—Sean Combs. “I Luh Ya Papi” is also a little reminiscent of the mid-to-late 90s Bad Boy Entertainment/Hype Williams-esque style that may well have birthed all of the misogynistic and materialistic clichés being critiqued. With “I Luh Ya Papi,” J.Lo’s proving she’s still got it—“it” being the last laugh.

Video: Luciana Tagliapietra - "Tormenta"

Chilean visionary director Bernardo Quesney has been on a roll lately, releasing one impressive clip after another. First it was for fellow countryman Pedropiedra (“Para Ti”), then for Uruguay’s current MVP band Carmen Sandiego ("Ocupaciones y Oficios"), and now he’s visualized the melodic scope of Argentine songstress, Luciana Tagliapietra. These nation-hoping ventures by Quesney are not only standouts for his pedigree, but also speak of the existent (yet often unnoticed) brotherhood and collaboration amongst the different indie scenes of the continent. “Tormenta,” is the first single off Tagliapietra’s latest record, La Luna. The clip starts outlining the singer’s silhouette against a backdrop of smoke and steam. Her breaking of the fourth wall is quickly empowered by way of neon lights. A classical, beautiful way for music to acquire visibility. Maybe a bit discrete compared to the image-packed offerings Quesney has accustomed us to, but restraint proves to be effective when visualizing Tagliapietra’s soulful voice with affection and grace.

Video: Daniela Spalla - "Folk Japonés"

Argentine artist, Daniela Spalla, has released a second single before the upcoming release of her anticipated second album, Ahora vienen por nosotros; the rollicking brush off of "Folk Japonés." Here, the protagonist doesn't just give a pop-tastic middle finger to an ex, but tie him up and try to commit several creative forms of homicide. The video, directed by Salomon Simhon, is a mash up of the girls of St Trinians, The Hunger Games, and witchy-anime - while Daniela Spalla continues to impress with her song-crafting: the phrasing similar to Bebe without the acento Extremeño, and song structure reminiscent of Chile's Francisca Valenzuela. We're excited to hear what other sounds Spalla experiments with on the album after this, and the grind of first single "Arruinármelo."

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