By the Zonagirante.com team @spinning zone
Let's clarify one fact to begin with: Many of the world's artists and bands are not thinking about recording albums these days. The dynamics of digital platforms have imposed the dictatorship of the single, the individual song, of releasing at least three or four tracks spaced out before considering an extensive compilation of recordings circulating under the same title. There is a certain distrust of the most recent generations, because it is thought that they do not maintain attention for very long on a single package of songs., who have become more easily accustomed to the discipline of the playlist, where everything arrives in a varied way and every two or three minutes a different sound wakes them up and keeps them alert to what's playing. Many of the musicians work in the production of hits momentary, lasting only as long as the listeners can endure them, this period being a very short space, months, perhaps weeks, or certainly hours of sudden explosion and early disappearance.
That's why we can't help but appreciate the audacity of some who present works of several songs united by a particular spirit. which helps the audio set to shine more brightly than it would on its own. There are still romantic listeners who can dedicate many minutes to discovering the nuances of these extensive works, searching for the appropriate sound of the era. Although it sounds antiquated, we still enjoy albums. And for this reason we have selected eight of them, made on our continent, which, we believe, mark in some way what happened in the Latin American musical environment. We reviewed each of them during 2019 and we want to summarize those texts to invite you to remember and learn more about this material, which comes from Mexico, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.
Le Butcherettes – bi/MENTAL20
Under the production of Jerry Harrison, ex Talking Heads, Mexican artist Teri Gender Bender releases this compilation of thirteen songs that we can describe as a sum of elegant rudeness, full of details of vocal experimentation and unusual sound textures, They recapture elements worthy of progressive rock and other resonant expressions of the seventies, without losing sight of the present. Within the usual intensity of rock, this album brings innovative electronic instrumental moments that add a powerful corrosive edge, adding a dynamism that contrasts appropriately with moments of soothing tenderness that Gender Bender expresses in his vocals. It is a work with a multitude of details that are revealed as the reproduction of it is repeated. It's an album that reveals itself little by little in its beauty and complexity, but it captivates from the first listen, especially with songs like father/ELOHIM, struggle/STRUGGLHey /BREATH.
Slowkiss – Patio 29
This is an album made to silence the skeptics and the distrustful who believed that today's artists couldn't capture and renew the rock spirit so sorely missed in such decadent times as these. This Chilean band, led by a petite woman named Elisa Montes, has powerfully blended that aroma of 90s alternative sounds, filtered them through the lens of classic punk, and recalled the shoegaze of the English underground bars and recover the old grunge that so captivated us at the time. Yes, it's like putting Alice in Chains, My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Siouxsie and the Banshees and La Polla Records in a blender, and the mixture brings us a flavor in keeping with the times. Yes, because Slowkiss sounds, without exaggeration, tremendously contemporary, outrageously current.
Burning Caravan – Lighthouse City
The Colombian group (though comprised of locals, Chileans, French musicians, and a woman of Russian origin) Burning Caravan is a different kind of band. They still retain the "rock" label in their name, but their true strength lies in using whatever sounds suit them to construct their theatrical and dramatic performance, which serves to tell stories in an exquisitely poetic way., with an evident mix of chanson francaise, ska, old-school rock and roll, Klezmer party music, and touches of Caribbean winds that graze their recordings. With this, their third album, the progress of these peculiar buccaneers, happy and constant travelers of the permanent musical migration, is confirmed., whose songs we hope can be enjoyed without reservations all over the planet, including, as they say in Streets of the world, Cartagena, Osaka and Beirut.
Jarina de Marco – Spoiled
This Dominican woman, daughter of a Brazilian father, residing in New York City, releases this six-song EP that can be taken as an effective attempt to reinvent what we have always called "Merengue". What De Marco does is take the original speed of this rhythm, invented at the end of the nineteenth century, and then very well known since the sixties, and successfully assimilate it with hip hop and the electronic music of the American ghettos, giving it a more colorful language and one closer to the rebellious attitudes typical of modern times. What has been achieved in Spoiled It is pure, non-stop intensity for 18 minutes, where the sound bombardment is constant and, although the aim is to agitate the masses, there is always room for experimentation and the intelligent breaking of pre-existing schemes. It's about managing the everyday use of bilingualism by Caribbean people in the United States in their own way and taking advantage of its cadence to make it part of the beat and of the turmoil present in each theme. Here is a generational identity response at a time when the world is once again caught between accepting integration and migration, and the segregation to which the most resentful want to drag us.
Wos – Caravan
He was registered under the name Valentín Oliva, but millions know him as Wos. In Argentina, a country where hip hop was a quasi-marginal movement until a few years ago, he, like several artists of his generation, is now setting the standard., and they register tens of millions of plays on digital platforms. This rapper is establishing himself as an icon for a generation that has had a rough time in recent years in his country, and yet he gets everyone moving., Because it's clear that he understood that protesting doesn't mean standing still or missing the opportunity to dance. This album is 19 minutes long, with seven songs. And, although you might suspect that's not enough, in barely a third of an hour, it covers everything. Wos made sure to have a musical offering that was solid instrumentally, that one should not rely solely on digital arguments, And that, moreover, he had the ability to bring together old-school hip-hop fans and those from other genres. He is an undeniable genius who is cementing his place in the music world with an album that will remain in the collective memory for a long time. His voice must be heard everywhere in this damned and beautiful world.
Deer – There's no future
This Mexican couple, residents of distant Hong Kong, has published a powerful machine of dark tones ready to occupy, like a relentless industrial army, every pore of our ears. This album is a blend of chaotic digital violence and an unusual sensuality that lurks in the most unexpected places. At times, it has elements reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails' 90s era, and at other times, moments that pay homage to Björk's early work. Army of Love. There's also a sensibility stemming from 1980s synthwave and the experimentation of contemporary Japanese techno. This is a work of vehement beauty, offering no pause or respite to the listener. It is the result of distance, of experimenting outside the comfort zone, distanced from the original home, forging new paths in uncharted territory. Deer testifies that the world is vast and, at the same time, ever-shrinking.
Capsule – Bestiary
To the new generations, or at least to a significant portion of their members, They no longer enjoy rock and roll because they no longer feel that it contains the excitement, the joy, the rebellion. All that remains is the dictatorship of nostalgia, the unhealthy return to times that will never come again. But luckily, the spirit of garage rock survives in certain bands dedicated to recapturing the attitude and the joy, as this group of Argentinians living in the Basque Country does. Luckily, there are still artists who know how to work magic with songs of three and a half minutes or less. They don't need complicated gadgets or pyrotechnics to dazzle their fans, nor stadiums to showcase thunderous experiences to excite those who still see rock as a living, evolving entity., regardless of what grandparents or radicals full of outdated clichés say. Luckily, true friends in joy, we can still listen to albums like Bestiary, an album that is an intense jolt full of life, 12 recordings that remind us, amidst so much repetitive zombie music, that there is still something to look forward to in that great circus called Rock and Roll. A noisy stroke of genius ready to be celebrated anywhere on the planet.
Mountain – V
Every time we hear new material from this Costa Rican trio we ask ourselves Why does this band continue to occupy a odious category of hidden gem for most fans? And he doesn't go on to occupy a prominent place among the artists who consistently create well-rounded, vibrant songs throughout their careers. These guys know how to deceive us; they draw us into a story we suspect will be rosy, and then they reveal their true intentions. His songs feature backing vocals that, with an initial sweetness, gradually convince us that things are not easy and that the corrosive nature of the message never lets up. Sometimes music is made to save the listener from everyday despair, and when it arrives in time to make us raise the flags of hope, that is when we should be grateful, even if doubt about divinity prevails.
