juana pollina

can't decide between the last two. there isn't a second of less than amazing music on either

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I have only heard the last three but of those, Wed 21.

only heard the last four but i think i have to go with un dia. un dia's where it all comes together, swirling sui generis psychedelia. great headphone album.

I voted for Un día but could have almost as easily gone for Wed 21. her last two albums may be less experimental than her earlier work, but they're much stronger in terms of production and sound design and cohesiveness, as if she realizes that 'Sálvese quien pueda' is her best song and she's been tweaking/refining its formula ever since.

Rara is my least favorite album of hers, but it's the odd one out in that Juana didn't produce it and it's more of a conventional pop-rock album than what came after (in the same way that Shiina Ringo's first album doesn't really fit in with rest of her discography). but 'En los días de humedad' is one of her best songs, and I'd kinda like to hear it redone in the style of her later work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLUTOBq3QSo

yeah otm re the "cohesiveness" of un dia. i kind of had trouble listening to it at first, it was just too much and made me kind of nauseous. it didn't seem as "micro" or exploratory as tres cosas or son. there seemed to be a lot of adventurous "detour" moments on these albums, like exploring little cul-de-sacs or something... with un dia onward it's just relentless cascading waves of music, almost a recursive quality to it. both it and wed 21 completely won me over, both engendering full-body experiences and mind weightlessness.

seeing her live is a blast. i don't know what her setup is these days but in '08 she basically recreated her music from scratch using voice + guitar + nord sampling keyboard.

when I saw her last year, she played an electric guitar and sampling keyboard, and she shared the stage with a bassist and drummer for all but two songs. she's been touring with supporting musicians for several years now, but she still performs unaccompanied sometimes.

Juana y sus hermanas

this is the real odd one out in that it's a collection of comedy songs from her show. I'm curious about how she rates as an comedian/actor, but I guess I'll never know unless I learn Spanish.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

when I saw her last year, she played an electric guitar and sampling keyboard, and she shared the stage with a bassist and drummer for all but two songs. she's been touring with supporting musicians for several years now, but she still performs unaccompanied sometimes.
― scarlett bohansson (unregistered), Sunday, August 30, 2015 8:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i saw this tour, was amazing. she would make some wild looped maelstroms with her voice and guitar