drama-free intensity
By Iñigo Lopez Palacios
I got it
This stupid world
Matador / Popstock!
In 2012, Big Day Coming: Yo La Tengo and the rise of Indie Rock was released, a book by journalist Jesse Jarnow that tells the story of the group. It wasn’t a particularly exciting volume. In fact, the writer focused on what was going on around them (clubs, other bands, fanzines, labels, broadcasters, record stores…) since the Hoboken, NJ group’s trajectory doesn’t exactly lend itself to a Netflix film is. No sex, no drugs, no drama. What happened to them over their 40-year career would fit on any Monday morning of Mötley Crüe.
All of this isn’t bad at all, it’s just surprising in a world where trauma is the most common creative fuel. All the more so because they have managed to put everyday civil servants at the center of their work and it makes us just as happy to know that everything will stay the same. Let’s take an example of their latest album, a true marvel, the best they have released in ten years. The adorable “sorry letter” is exactly what the name suggests: someone who apologizes after an argument. One of those couple fights that started because they caught you and you couldn’t tell in time: “I was wrong. / I knew right away, but I played clueless. / This trick never works. / It took me too long. / And then I got angry because you got angry. / Another of my charming manias”. It’s sung by Ira Kaplan (all three in the group are singers) so we’re assuming without proof that it was he who made a mistake and that the recipient is his wife, Georgia Hubley. It’s already 17 albums in four decades and we know them like family. Ira, guitar, and Georgia, drums formed the group when they met in 1985. They had been married for five years when James, bassist, joined the group in 1992 and the lineup remains unchanged to this day.
The easiest way to explain “This Stupid World” is that it’s a great Yo la Tengo record. I mean it’s a great record, quite simply.
For Yo La Tengo devotees, their albums are comforting to us. “Putting on a Yo La Tengo record and turning on the heater while it’s playing is the same thing. It’s nice in there,” a friend told me. Let’s face it, they’re not Celine Dion; if they want to make noise, they make a lot of noise. Someone called them “the quietest loud band in the world and vice versa”. But his fans are people who don’t care if an album starts with a seven-and-a-half-minute song, three of which are distorted guitars, and they’re more than it seems a priori, they’re recognized from the first chord because they nailed it have to be a style of their own and without boasting about their influence, much of what they have created is recognized in the groups of the new post-punk wave.Which is logical: Yo La Tengo were a late in their beginnings Postpunk group then they digested that style until they made it their own and now it’s coming back thanks to musicians who took it from them The easiest way to explain This Stupid World is that it’s itself for a great Yo La Tengo record ha nds. I mean it’s a great record, quite simply.
will be inevitable tomorrow
By Xavi Sancho
young fathers
hard hard
Ninja Melody / PIAS
It’s been almost a decade since they burst onto the scene with their debut album Dead, winning the Mercury Music Prize and convincing us that the idea of a Scottish hip-hop band wasn’t all that weird or bad. Now, a five-year hiatus since their acclaimed third album, Cocoa Sugar, the trio return with another album that confirms their infallibility. Without seeming to underestimate their ability to craft catchy, surprising and, if not novel, original songs, this album confirms that they have what it takes to be artistically successful.
Its concept might not be the most resilient, but it’s so attractive and so alluring that you only need to vary it slightly to maintain interest. Beautiful people have surgery to be beautiful, beautiful people have surgery to stay alive. And the latter is a bit like what the Scots do here: injecting botox into their hip hop, dubstep, ska, pop and, when the concept is toned down, writing songs on the no longer rough surface that are as good as before. This is more than evident on tracks like “I Saw,” which indulges in new wave and the polluted sound that defined northern Britain between the late ’70s and early ’80s. In “Shoot Me Down” they instead expand, embrace their quirks, and instead of fighting them, dance with their eyes closed.
New dads are festive and withdrawn, but because they’re so good, even when they’re circumspect, it seems like they’re partying. Of all the stews that have shaped the musical evolution of the 21st century, his is one of the best and most natural tasting. Their crossover of styles is not created by friction but by caress, and for each dissonant element they find three consonants that smooth the transition. Heavy Heavy only lasts 32 minutes but is worth so much more. now and tomorrow Because they can be ignored today but seem inevitable tomorrow.
The complexity of relationships
By Beatriz G Aranda
Kelela
Crow
Warp/music as usual
The British label Warp has always known how to move intelligently in this fluid world shaped by technology. A recent example is his support for American Kelela, a composer of rhythm and blues, soul and electronic desires, a new incarnation of the traditional role of black women in dance music, who is releasing her second album, a work about the complexities of relationships. Among the 15 songs, “Missed Call” stands out with its addictive melody over broken rhythms and “Divorce”, a ballad with atmospheric synths and sensational voices that also perfectly reflect the two extremes between which the album oscillates.
Shots in all directions
By Laura Fernandez
Gorillaz
Cracker Island
Parlophone/Warner
The eighth album from the band of Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett shoots sounds in all directions. His usual cameos prove it, starting with Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac), in a cut, “Oli,” which he sprinkles with something that made his ex-band mythic. Gorillaz art pop seems fitter than ever, sometimes bright and overwhelming (‘Skinny Ape’), sophisticatedly cool (‘Silent Running’), sad and 90s (‘Possession Island’) or Caribbean: yes, on ‘Tormenta’, and beyond Bad Bunny, Gorillaz themselves take a step forward in alternative reggaeton. And yet the flow of the album’s title track remains unbeatable. It is the epicenter of a record that strengthens a project so mutable and malleable that it cannot fit into the present.
From the last romp to the end of the relationship
By Carlos Marcos
Carol G
tomorrow will be nice
Universal Latin
Aside from his success with Shakira, Karol G’s new job shows several strengths. It is certainly the Colombian’s most compact disc, which is also helped by the fact that the common thread is overcoming an emotional break. The lyrics deal with the phases that accompany the end of a relationship: the reproach, the last romp, the new love, the refusal to try again. The reggaeton that Karol G makes is smooth, without harshness, thanks to a clear and personal voice. Mexican rhythms, pop, sophisticated electronics or Jamaican cadences can be heard. It’s a danceable record that should please even those who resist this ubiquitous style. Karol G is different even if she does what everyone else is doing.
open doors flamingo
By Fermin Lobaton
José L. Montón and Gorka Hermosa
Flamenco Etxea 2
Cozy time
Eleven years later, the flamenco house (etxea) keeps its doors open and expands its spaces to welcome new visitors who bring their instruments and culture. Montón’s flamenco guitar and Hermosa’s Basque accordion play generous hosts with striking naturalness for a variety of compositions that integrate them into their own universe. We are facing a peaceful coexistence of music and not just fusion. The Basque voice of Jon Maia or the African voices of Piruchi Apo and Mû Mbana, the Txalaparta of Oreka TX, the Txistu of Garikoitz Mendizabal and the presence of the Zumarragako Trikitixa are as relevant in their songs as the flute of Aracil and the voices of Sandra Carrasco and Roko in lyrical compositions by Montón.
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