Tag Archives: alt rock

An Interview with Javi Yunes from The Plethora Project (Argentina)

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During my last trip to Argentina I became acquainted with Javier Yunes, the founder and frontman of a band called The Plethora Project. The band is currently introducing audiences to its second record, “Split Album” – a collection of songs that converse back and forth among themselves, showcasing identical realities from opposing viewpoints. Javi is as much of a filmmaker as a musician, having studied art school in the past, so the full conversation with him keep that very same spirit alive – it fluctuated between different artistic conceptions until arriving at some sort of realization about the nature of what he has set to create, and how.

the plethora project live

Thank you very much for being here today and sharing the story of your band with the readers of MusicKO. First of all, I’d like to ask you to introduce yourself, so that people who are new to your music will have a basic understanding of who you are, and how that translates into what you do.

Hey, I’m Javi Yunes from the Plethora Project. The band has been around for about ten years. In 2007, we had our first recording experience via a 4-song EP. Afterwards, in 2010/2011 we issued our first long play. It was named “This House Talks”. We were lucky enough to tour many Argentinean provinces, and nowadays we are introducing audiences to our newest record, which is called “Split Album”.

Which part of Argentina do you hail from?

I was born in Córdoba, and when I was three my parents moved to Catamarca. I lived there for fifteen years, I studied elementary and secondary school there, and then I came to Buenos Aires to get a sound degree, and keep moving towards my chosen path.

When was The Plethora Project started?

I moved to Buenos Aires in 2002. The Plethora Project came to be in 2005, after I had been on other bands. It started when I released an album bearing that same name. I listened to it the other day, incidentally. And I found myself thinking how cool it would be to record it exactly as it was, but with a better sound overall.

What makes your new album stand apart from your previous body of work?

This is our first record with both compositions in English and in Spanish – hence, the “split” Concept.

We have always sang in English. And we did so because of aesthetic reasons, it just fitted our music better. Yet, we understand that the language spoken here is Spanish. And this time around we could include it, and we feel it all coalesces together quite well.

Anyway, music is a language we all understand. And we strive to create a special mood. What we want is you to feel as if you were walking through a thousand different worlds when you are listening to our music. We aim to make your mind fly – and we’re not talking about drugs. I don’t believe I am entitled to “change” anybody’s mind, but what I want is to share a piece of mine with other people. Continue reading →

Dream All Day (The Posies) – Compilation Album

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“Dream All Day” Was The Posies’ First Anthology Ever. It Came In The Year 2000, And While It Included All Their Radio Hits It Bypassed Their Independent Years. This Is My Copy, Autographed By Ken Stringfellow When He Come To Uruguay. He Was A True Star And A Gentleman.

“Dream All Day” Was The Posies’ First Anthology Ever. It Came In The Year 2000, And While It Included All Their Radio Hits It Bypassed Their Independent Years. This Is My Copy, Autographed By Ken Stringfellow When He Come To Uruguay. He Was A True Star And A Gentleman.

Not only did Seattle give us the best grunge music ever in the shape of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains, not only was it the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix, not only did it regale us with the talents of Bill Frisell, the city was actually the home to one of the best alt rock bands of the ‘90s: The Posies.

The band formed in 1986 and it has undergone several transformations and periods of inactivity (they are now about to release a new album – titled “Blood/Candy”, it’s coming out on Rykodisc at the end of September). Its core member have always been Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer, and I had the immense pleasure (not to mention the honor) of meeting Ken face to face when he played in Uruguay in the summer of 2009. He was such a humble and engaging person that even to this day the friend who accompanied me to the gig can but tell me when we meet and there is a minute of silence “¡Fa! ¡Qué bueno que estuvo lo del Ken!” [¡Man! ¡Ken’s gig was the bee’s knees!].

That day, I was lucky to have him sign my copies of The Posies’ first anthology, “Dream All Day” and what was then his latest album: “Smoking Kills”.

Lindolfo

Smoking Kills

I’d like to tell you a little about “Dream All Day” now. The compilation was released in the year 2000, at a time in which the band was inactive. It did include tracks from their three major label albums (they were signed to DGC, an imprint of Geffen Records). These albums are “Dear 23” (1990), “Frosting On The Beater” (1993) and “Amazing Disgrace” (1996). No tracks were included for the independent albums “Failure” (1988) or “Success” (1998), and the live disc “Alive Before The Iceberg” was also bypassed by the compilers.

What remains is an anthology that has their major radio hits: “Dream All Day” (it hit #4 at the time of its release, when grunge was all the rage), the beautifully-harmonized “Suddenly Mary” and “Golden Blunders”. The latter was not a bondafide hit, but it was covered by Ringo Starr within weeks of being released as a single. Continue reading →