By the Zonagirante.com team @spinning zone
The recording industry has changed drastically in recent years. Contemporary musical offerings are increasingly focused on releasing individual songs on digital platforms., And only when they have a sufficient number of recordings do they put them together and, without needing a common storyline between the compositions, release an album., But perhaps it's just to point to an era, a period in which the artist set a trend in their work and little else. Do we like that? Quite possibly not, but for the moment there's not much we can do. We miss multi-track albums as a common trend, but it has also suited many artists to transform their work into a collection of small projects released over a few months, seeking to integrate into current playlists and holding their own in the market with expressions of four minutes or less. For quite some time now, few people (in percentage terms, compared to the rest of the world's music consumers) have bought albums to expand their collections. And it's a tiny minority that enters the studio dreaming of putting together a whole album of songs in one go, trying to get the next hit. Let it bleed or the next Rumors of their generation. Today it's about being admired, bullet by bullet, in the midst of a nearly impossible battle to capture the audience's attention.
However, song compilations continue to be released. They circulate either in EP format (Extended Play, a collection of tracks too long to be considered a single, but too short to be considered an album), with 3, 4, or 5 songs and a maximum duration of 15 or 18 minutes, or in the now formally called albums, records, or nostalgically Long Plays, with a greater total duration and a larger catalog of tracks. And some of them are masterpieces, extraordinary pieces of sound that are better understood as a whole than in their separate, fragmented presentation (sometimes the puzzle is more admired when it is already assembled and one understands the remarkable effort of whoever took the time to organize the whole picture). On this occasion, we want to talk about eight remarkable productions made on our continent. In the spirit of Zonagirante.com, we have selected self-managed titles or titles produced with the support of small record companies, These are recordings that stand out for their quality and that we hope will soon be recognized by a wider audience. We have music from Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, and Peru that we want to become part of your personal soundtrack. Albums made, perhaps, to better understand the spirit of these confusing, turbulent times. In our selection there are a couple of names that already enjoy the favor and attention of a significant portion of the public attentive to independent expressions, and we are pleased by the growing attention they have generated. Other names are starting to pique the interest of those who investigate further and are already part of the local fans' buzz, which they share with their acquaintances. As a popular Russian woman on social media says, here you go.
(Editor's note: The notes below contain verbatim content used in writing the original reviews)
rule – Cro9quis
Chivas Argüello, lead singer and leader of this band based in the Argentinian city of La Plata, insists in every interview that his group's music is "uncomfortable." If that discomfort is reflected in the urge to jump and break down the walls as soon as we hear the first sounds of songs like Yisou, Love Us o Chimangos, If we get excited by the fussy noise of their guitars and if we manage to convince ourselves after listening to the forty minutes that this work lasts that rock, amidst so much garbage, still has its glimmer of hope, We must continue like this, outside our comfort zone, enjoying the value of the strange, the unusual, of the rare bird that confronts us. If we were forced to choose a single album that worthily represents what was published this year, we would not hesitate to choose this contemporary masterpiece.
Child God – Love, madness and other vices
We said it in our review at the time of this album's release: Carla Reyna, an artist from Monterrey who performs under the name Niña Dioz, has made hip hop the platform for her discourses on sexual diversity, the consumption of psychotropic substances, and eternal revelry, and has achieved a compilation of songs, called Love, Madness and Other Vices, that, As we listened to it, we confirmed, without a doubt, that few works have been so brave in their diatribe and so entertaining in their result. This is an album put together with the sum of hits made during the last few years, but, in configuring the package, it retains all the coherence that this remarkable Mexican woman intends, who never hides what she thinks and feels, and is able to laugh at all of us and at herself, in order to see us filled with a rebellious spirit that makes no concessions.
Camila Moreno – King
Another album that doesn't make it easy for the distracted listener, the one who simply wants to put on some background music while doing other things at home. This isn't an album to listen to for the first time with people you barely know. If you're going to listen King, by Chilean Camila Moreno, for the first time, Step away from your pack and prepare to be shaken by an emotional punch, by a hurtful caress that aims to move you from the very first second. If you wish, while experiencing the fifty minutes of this compilation, you might describe this record as strange, perhaps even bizarre. We reiterate what we said upon hearing it in the first review: Moreno, perhaps without realizing it, has personally constructed a referential sonic bible that may, in the future, allow those who listen to this material to understand, in some way, the intense days we have all lived through, the doubts in which we have foundered, and that small emotional respite we have found in masterpieces like this recording.
Sonoras mil – Omens
Do you know how many Colombian bands have tried to discover the ruthless formula for the right fusion between the raucous sound of rock and the diverse folklore of their homeland? Many, many, some with such offensive audacity that they still believe the formula is simply achieved by going dancing on weekends at trendy pop clubs, copying what they heard, and adding guitar distortion. How many managed to work the precise magic to create decent music and not fail miserably? Well, our list of the lucky ones who succeeded consists of only a few names, and the first one we include is this: Sonoras Mil. We suspect that the secret of this Bogota-based group lies in the psychedelia that permeates their work, in the respect they have for local sounds, to which they turn with due reverence., Because they never get lost on the path of creating good tunes, ready to make any graceful waist dance and any desire of the stiffest person.
Mariana Michi – Son of champions
Mariana Michi, it seems, tries to reinvent pop every day. Every time we listen to this album, there's a sound that gets stuck in our heads for days, an unexpected sound, one that breaks the genre's traditional molds and exposes us to a new auditory experience. Furthermore, it makes us sing along to its explosive melodies from the very first moment, melodies that, when they invade our ears, make us prisoners of them irremediably. Remember our clumsy jigsaw puzzle metaphor? In this case, many of us who have listened to this album would have loved to see the entire creative process, the experimentation involved, the way the artist approached crafting each track without losing sight of the overall composition. This is playful music, but, as Borges once said, «"We have to play, but we have to do it like children, seriously.".
Dom La Nena – Tempo
She lives in Paris. In her passport, this Brazilian artist goes by the name Dominique Pinto, and since childhood her instrument has been the cello.. That's where the difference starts to become apparent, isn't it? Her childhood and adolescence were divided between her native country, Argentina, and France. Her biographical information states that she has collaborated on artistic projects with prominent figures such as Jane Birkin, Jeanne Moreau, and Etienne Daho. Her third album, Tempo, It contains tunes made in Portuguese, English and Spanish, created using a combination of genres that range from tango and jazz to... chanson français, bossa nova and waltz, Where the priority is to move the listener, to make them feel an unprecedented tenderness, one that doesn't descend into sentimentality but rather floods us with a powerful emotion that protects us from the consequences of difficult days. An exquisite album that can be listened to and absorbed in any corner of the planet.
Aura Blum – Bittersweet
By including this short compilation of four songs among our favorite material of 2021, we not only want to honor the great work of this Lima-born artist, a brilliant exponent of what in the old days would have been called "shoegaze" or "dream pop." We also take the opportunity to highlight the evident strength of Peruvian female artists, perhaps one of the most interesting phenomena of the moment in Latin America, a treasure still hidden from most of the continent's audience, where, across a multitude of genres, women of the new generations are releasing some of the best music we can enjoy today. Returning specifically to Blum's work, Here we observe a beautiful essence of melancholy made with electric guitar, perfect music for an afternoon road trip., It leads us down paths once trodden by bands of yesteryear, such as the Scottish The Jesus and Mary Chain or Mazzy Star. A healthy sadness to end any day.
Hypermobile - South
Curiosity led us to discover this Chilean project on Bandcamp, which We would dare to identify it with an unusual mix of contemporary conservatory composition, jazz from the fifties of the last century and new hip hop. This is a musical piece presented in three cuts and four movements, Instrumentally, it features trumpets, trombones, saxophones, keyboards, bass, drums, sequences, and vocals. It lasts a total of 21 minutes and fits more easily into the format of a classical symphony than a piece with popular structures. This album is a valuable intellectual exercise that, amidst so much triviality sold to us to mask our misfortune, should prevail, at least for a while, in our memories, perhaps to remind us that in the midst of this crisis there is some benefit we cannot ignore and should enjoy. Bring your headphones and give yourself the freedom to listen to this unusual, daring, but ultimately splendid and unmissable offering.
