javiera mena

"La Joya" video is on-brand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oSXpoWg5U

I love that synth solo.

I just now noticed she did a guest vocal on a Dapuntobeat single in 2012. It's deece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtNOacGXe2w

That is not her in the video, obvs.

So. There's an album out on 28 October! Called "Otra Era". You can pre-order: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/otra-era/id927854929?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaB2WA7A9S0

1 Los Olores de Tu Alma 5:00
2 Otra Era 4:04
3 Esa Fuerza 4:33
4 Sincronía, Pegaso 4:45
5 Pide 3:27
6 La Joya 3:27
7 Que Me Tome la Noche 3:28
8 La Carretera 4:49
9 Quédate un Ratito Más 3:40
10 Espada 4:14

The album cover (NSFW): http://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10689907_10152494262547637_5811857414121889378_n.jpg?oh=313c99e4a0659394ce5b394ce44eb0ad&oe=54AD6737

yisssssssss

:D

So soon!

Title track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1rckkIw1_s

this is great!

nice! the outro with layered pitched vocals <3

that is really nice

yay!

been bopping to this all day; i love it

love la joya and love this, god so excited

espada's been out for a long time, too, if you haven't heard that. or maybe you just don't love it.

Trademark space launch present and correct. So stoked for the album.

new song is so amazing

serious love for all three of these new songs

!!!!!!!!!!

<3 this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V5vvGqZKdA

d-_-b

Whole album up on Spotify.

whole album is damn good but wow "sincronía, pegaso" especially

This album is so good. Think I already like it more than Mena.

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.

i'm so happy

i have recently realized "espada" is one of the best songs in years

listened to this like 5 times, v much in love

Excellent sounding album, I find it more consistent that Mena

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

production here is great and i think the songwriting took a big step forward too, love this record so far

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.

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.

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.

she's from argentina, right?

Chile.

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 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.

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.

xpost

who referred to mexicans?

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. :(

Mexico is in Latin America.

yes, what is your point?

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.

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 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.

is it better than the last one? didn't get into that at all

It wouldn't have surprised as a follow-up to Otra Era

More highlights:
- When Javiera says "Hola" at the start of a song
- The Radiorama-level of Italo overdrive on "Sombra" (is that a lion-roar sound effect?)