Trademark space launch present and correct. So stoked for the album.
― sweet lids of the stars (seandalai), Thursday, 16 October 2014 22:35 (nine years ago) link
new song is so amazing
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Friday, 17 October 2014 06:00 (nine years ago) link
serious love for all three of these new songs
― Michael F Gill, Friday, 17 October 2014 22:24 (nine years ago) link
!!!!!!!!!!
― sweet lids of the stars (seandalai), Tuesday, 28 October 2014 10:26 (nine years ago) link
<3 this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V5vvGqZKdA
― sweet lids of the stars (seandalai), Tuesday, 28 October 2014 11:19 (nine years ago) link
d-_-b
― 龜, Tuesday, 28 October 2014 12:36 (nine years ago) link
Whole album up on Spotify.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 28 October 2014 13:23 (nine years ago) link
whole album is damn good but wow "sincronía, pegaso" especially
― dyl, Tuesday, 28 October 2014 23:08 (nine years ago) link
This album is so good. Think I already like it more than Mena.
― Kitchen Person, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 02:18 (nine years ago) link
The last minute of "Sicronia, Pegaso" is glorious bleep-bleep. If I were going out dancing as often as I did five years ago, I'd turn that last minute into a communal face off.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 02:48 (nine years ago) link
i'm so happy
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 02:49 (nine years ago) link
i have recently realized "espada" is one of the best songs in years
― dyl, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 06:05 (nine years ago) link
listened to this like 5 times, v much in love
― een, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 11:59 (nine years ago) link
Excellent sounding album, I find it more consistent that Mena
― nxd, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 12:04 (nine years ago) link
i wish i could speak spanish; i feel like that would only compound my enjoyment of this. last minute of "la joya" is some of the most breathtaking music of this decade
― uxorious gazumping (monotony), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 12:31 (nine years ago) link
production here is great and i think the songwriting took a big step forward too, love this record so far
― adam, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 14:50 (nine years ago) link
To be honest, I felt a little disappointed by this on first listen. It *sounds* great, but the songs weren't as immediately memorable as those on Mena. And it's sort of ... one-note, maybe? But I'm looking forward to digging into it more, so that its hooks and nuances reveal themselves.
― jaymc, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 14:58 (nine years ago) link
i completely disagree with you about the songs--i find them both more immediate and more interestingly constructed. "sincronia, pegaso," for example, has something of a disco slow burn that reads as confectionary, almost, but has these very finely wrought details like the "rapido, rapido" bit that's all slinky and just barely off the beat. and the title track works a very endearing st etienne vibe as it works itself up to that final synth meltdown/layered vocal bit that's discussed upthread, which is one of my favorite musical moments this year.
the last record got by, i thought, mostly on good synth sounds and a nice idea but lacked in catchy songs.
― adam, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 15:04 (nine years ago) link
i have to admit that i played a few of her songs on youtube and most of them had that sort of elementary-school sing-songy, rudimentary melodies that remind me of indie pop bands of the 1990s like stereo total or something. the production was often enjoyably busy and textured but the songs were almost insultingly plain. i recognize this is not a consensus opinion and maybe i just heard the wrong songs. but my immediate thought was that in terms of melody/song structure this sounds like a lot of iberian indie pop of the turn of the century which i largely found completely disposable... even if the dance-music textures made it a little more engaging.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:25 (nine years ago) link
she's from argentina, right?
Chile.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:25 (nine years ago) link
i mean that kind of super-sugary indie pop stuff has some currency in latin america, right? i imagine it's kind of a rich-kid thing, though i wouldn't know for sure.
xpost
ah, i see. sorry! my point still holds--or doesn't.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:26 (nine years ago) link
I like her, and she's about the best there is at figuring out how nuevo retro synth pop should sound, but, yes, often her vocal melodies on these tracks are just OK. My favorite song from the last album was the ballad "No Te Cuesta Nada," not the dance pop.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:27 (nine years ago) link
Chileans and Mexicans don't listen to the same music.
of course, i'm forgetting the names of those spanish (and some portuguese) indie-pop bands i sort of dabbled in ca. 1998-2001. i believe some were on the elefant label. generally speaking they were very post-sarah-records type of thing, and generally speaking there was an almost total absence of songwriting talent.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:28 (nine years ago) link
who referred to mexicans?
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:29 (nine years ago) link
iberian refers to spanish and portuguese -- i was just likening her songwriting to some bands from those places that i used to know. and IIRC there were also some chilean and argentinian bands of that time that had similar sounds.
but it also reminds me of plenty of anglo-american, french, even german bands of that period.... but the iberian stuff stands out in my mind as being particularly devoid of melodic interest, relying instead on musical citations of 1960s pop and general twee-ness to carry interest. but maybe this is kind of a thread derail in which case, sorry. :(
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:30 (nine years ago) link
Mexico is in Latin America.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:32 (nine years ago) link
yes, what is your point?
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:38 (nine years ago) link
I'm not picking on you, am, just pointing out that a Chilean musician is not Latin American and wouldn't make music that sounds like sugary sweet pop that has currency in Latin America. I get pricklier because it's close to home. It's like when critics refer ot "pop" as a monolith and use "African music" as a buzzword.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:44 (nine years ago) link
Latin America is the subregion of the Americas comprising those countries where Romance languages are spoken, primarily Spanish and Portuguese. It consists of twenty two nations which cover an area that stretches from the southern border of the United States to the southern tip of South America, including the Caribbean.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:45 (nine years ago) link
i recognize that there are distinctions among latin american countries, but it was my recollection that indie pop had some currency in both chile and argentina (which ,per every definition i know, are latin american countries), at least it once did. i said nothing about mexico.
Alfred has his own special definition of latin america iirc
― keep the meat alive: pampas grass (wins), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:48 (nine years ago) link
Latin America is Cuba. Just Cuba.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:49 (nine years ago) link
saying 'this music has some currency in latin america' does not imply that it's equally popular in e.g. mexico, argentina, belize, the dominican republic, etc.
never underestimate ILX's ability to be tooth-gnashingly pedantic. but i love you, anyway, alfred.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:50 (nine years ago) link
This makes more sense. I mentioned "Mexico" only as an example of a Spanish-speaking country nothing like Chile.
wins reminds me: Yeah, I was taught that "Latin America" stretched from Mexico to Panama. South of Panama was a continent called South America. And Cuba wasn't a part of Latin America at all – it was an island in the Caribbean. Same for the DR.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:56 (nine years ago) link
a side note: "Latin" is a meaningless adjective anyway. I have a native-born friend whose mother is a naturalized citizen born in Florence, Italy. He likes to call her Latin American.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 16:58 (nine years ago) link
it's not meaningless in the sense that it has some intersubjective meaning if i told most people, e.g., "i have been travelling a lot around latin america," they would know what i meant.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 17:25 (nine years ago) link
I love you, North American scum
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 17:42 (nine years ago) link
I love Pide.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 29 October 2014 17:44 (nine years ago) link
Have been assuming it's a song about
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/03/c8/0e/9d/chicken-pide.jpg
― legit new threat wrt to a norman invasion (seandalai), Wednesday, 29 October 2014 17:47 (nine years ago) link
I agree with you, amateurist, re Mena's melodies sounding influenced by that Iberian twee circa 2000… but to my recollection that sort of thing was never at all popular in Latin America (perhaps Entre Rios being an exception).
The thing that bothers me about Mena's singing though is not her melodies but her phrasing, which is sort of typical of South American indie and it kind of grates of me. I can only get past it because the music is incredible.
― daavid, Thursday, 30 October 2014 15:22 (nine years ago) link
I have grown to really love this album, with "Otra Era" and "Sincronía, Pegaso" being the stand outs...but that can change based on the day. I'm finding it hard to compare it with MENA since they seem like such different beasts.
Also, it looks like there is some countdown clock on her website counting down to Monday. Hopefully, that's when we can order the physical version.
― Non-Stop Erotic Calculus (bmus), Thursday, 6 November 2014 17:43 (nine years ago) link
wtf @ Alfred using "Latin America" as a synonym for "central america"
― jaymc, Saturday, January 25, 2014 10:16 PM (9 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― jaymc, Thursday, 6 November 2014 17:46 (nine years ago) link
i think this album is much better than mena
― dyl, Thursday, 6 November 2014 17:59 (nine years ago) link
this is really great
do all her albums sound like peak era kylie
― J0rdan S., Thursday, 6 November 2014 19:33 (nine years ago) link
Not really sure but Esquemas Juveniles is also really good
Mena is about half very good half okay
― 龜, Thursday, 6 November 2014 19:35 (nine years ago) link
nah, mena is 100% great, esquemas juveniles is about half very good half okay. they get less kylie-esque as you go back, afaict, but i'm no kylie expert.
― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, 6 November 2014 20:06 (nine years ago) link