La Corporación (Erika Chuwoki) – Uruguayan Independent Artist

OK, I know I’m giving myself away big time here and tarnishing what little reputability I had to begin with, but… can you guess which album I have heavily rotated every day at my office for the past two months or so? Badly Drawn Boy’s turgid “Born In The UK”.

Don’t get me wrong – I admire the guy so much that if there were a Badly Drawn Boy plush toy it would be right there in my pillow every night. And if it came with interchangeable wool hats, then I would be the happier for it (jeez… talk about tarnishing one’s reputation! How far will this go?). But that particular CD is one of the biggest misconceptions ever since someone gave Scarlett Johansson the go-ahead for “covering” Tom Waits.

And now that I have brought the wool-hatted composer from the British Isles to mind, what I want you to imagine is what would happen if he went clubbing one night, met Syd Barrett at some mad one, and tripping out of his arse he crashed the night at Lou Reed’s. And recorded an EP before passing out. If you could indeed imagine the whole scenario, then: A) You need immediate assistance, and B) You will know what to expect from the debut EP that has been issued by this new Uruguayan artist going by the ceremonious name of Erika Chuwoki.

Erika Chuwoki

Erika Chuwoki

“La Corporación” [The Corporation] is a five-song EP. Moving within the stylistic parameters insinuated above (which the band aptly terms “pop psicobélico”), the album finely interweaves personal and collective appreciations on life, love and every single thing that goes “bump!” in the night. Yes, my little grasshoppers, that includes sex – the crash of romantic crushes is studied enthusiastically on “Amar El Mal” [To Love Evil], one of the noisiest, more memorable cuts of the whole disc.

Plus, the EP has a song named “Aguante La Puta Que Nos Parió” (an obscenity I can’t translate because merely looking for an English equivalent makes me blush and cry in my tea) – the kind of title that only Harlan Ellison’s psychopath music twin could dare use on an album cover. The phrase, incidentally, is not mentioned on the song once. As if the band were inviting a snicker in the finest rock & roll tradition, and then defying the snickerers by saying, “You morons, you judged something by the cover and not by its actual content”. Placenta, pleasure, placebo indeed… Continue reading

Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division) – Album Review

The Cover Of “Unknown Pleasures” (Joy Division’s Debut Album) Featured The Textured Graph Of A Star Going Supernova Over A Plain Black Background.

The Cover Of “Unknown Pleasures” (Joy Division’s Debut Album) Featured The Textured Graph Of A Star Going Supernova Over A Plain Black Background.

It is terrifying to realize how far some individuals can go artistically, and how little they can advance as human beings, what a feeling of deep unfulfillment they might still harbor to the very end. And that is a contradiction which can never be resolved. If it were, we would lose something that we can’t afford to lose: the sense of amazement, of wonder, of sheer dread that hits us when we come across these works marked by the truest lines if sacrifice, and which mark us in due turn.

“Unknown Pleasures” is one of the most distinctive debut records in the history of modern music. It shook everybody at the time of its release. The band, fellow musicians, the public, the critics… nobody was certain where they stood any longer. It was already a convoluted era – in 1979, people were still trying to figure out how to continue after the hurricane named punk rock had savagely altered the surface of the music scene. Well, Joy Division was to go one more, and take away what remained: the ground were everything had once lay to begin with. And the cataclysmic effect of “Unknown Pleasures” is felt as forcefully today as it was felt right then.

The album was to be produced by Martin Hannett, with whom the band was at loggerheads from start to finish. Hannett (later defined by bassist Peter Hook as “a genius, but an evil fucker”) took the band’s sonorous charge and shaped it into something which was luxuriously ordered, without compromising even a quarter of its impetus. He filled the songs with bizarre effects (alarms going off, bottles rolling and then crashing…) and airy echoes that gave the album a true other-worldliness. Continue reading

Despertando Del Silencio (El Umbral) – Uruguayan Independent Artist

The First Lineup Of El Umbral: Juan Loskin, Alejandro Nuñez & Javier Pedrazzi.

The First Lineup Of El Umbral: Juan Loskin, Alejandro Nuñez & Javier Pedrazzi.

Elvis Costello was right.

From the other end of the telescope, things can be seen.

Every Uruguayan echo boomer grew up watching bands on his flat top that he was resigned never to feel in the flesh. REM, U2, Nirvana, Guns ‘n’ Roses… he always knew such bands were hardly going to set foot in his home soil. If he had the money and the wayfaring spirit (not to mention parents that were either the pinnacle of coolness, or that just didn’t give a shit) he knew he could cross the River Plate and go to Buenos Aires to catch up with any of those bands as they toured South America. And no, nobody could have imagined back then that one day an overweight Axl Rose with a small army of guitarists in tow to replace Slash would play the Estadio Centenario. Neither could anybody have imagined that they would play the theme from the Pink Panther during an intermission as the ultimate sign of respect to the enraptured audience that attended the show.

Well, that was the way things were back then. And if it sounds like a bummer, it is because it was a bummer. Yet, the silver lining was there. And it was a particularly shimmery one.

In the same way that the best orators are always the best listeners, those who spend their lives contemplating are the ones who can take action more purposefully. And if there was something we were known to do back then, it was to wear one album after the other of all those bands that for us existed only in MTV. Assimilating the notes and inhaling the sounds as only those who know they will never watch their heroes live could ever hope to do.

Many of the Uruguayan bands that in a good and in a bad sense defined the musical identity of the country came together back then, and they are still around. Both La Vela Puerca and No Te Va Gustar, for example, became active performing units as the ‘90s were gathering pace.

And as always, the story of those bands that could never achieve mainstream success is every bit as interesting as the story of those who did manage to take all the commercial barriers down.

The story of El Umbral [The Threshold] certainly is. And the fact the band is still around (and about to issue its fourth album) just gives everything that vital throb of significance that always wins people over.

"Despertando Del Silencio" Was El Umbral's Debut Album

"Despertando Del Silencio" Was El Umbral's Debut Album

El Umbral officially came together in 1999, but the true inception of the band went way back to 1996, when three friends named Juan Loskin (bass), Pablo Riera (drums) and Alejandro Nuñez (guitar) would get together and play songs by Nirvana and Uruguayan linchpins such as Los Estómagos [The Stomachs]. That lineup didn’t last long, and the drummer was soon replaced by Javier Pedrazzi. At around that time, it was decided that Alejandro was also going to assume vocal duties, and the trio settled on the name El Umbral. The year was 1999. And two years later, the band finally managed to issue its debut album. It was titled “Despertando Del Silencio” [Awakening From The Silence]. Somehow, that name said all there was to be said. And what the name did not say, the music itself made clear. Continue reading

Cínica Releases Its Self-Titled Debut EP

Cínica’s Debut Is A Five-Song EP You Can Download For Free On Their Site

Cínica’s Debut Is A Five-Song EP You Can Download For Free On Their Site

Cínica was the first Uruguayan unsigned artist that I featured on MusicKO, way back in April.

Well, the band has just released its self-titled (and self-funded) debut EP. It has five songs: “Panacea”, “Conciencia” (my personal favorite), “Piso Frío”, “Velo Gris” and an acoustic take on “Panacea” (which closes the disc).

You can get the whole EP for free on their website.

A great way for them to send off the year!

Congratulations!

Pablo Honey (Radiohead) – Album Review

“Pablo Honey” Was Radiohead's Debut Album. Issued In 1993, The Album Was Named After A Popular Prank Call By The Jerky Boys - You Can Listen To It On The Song “How Do You”, The Band Sampled It There.

“Pablo Honey” Was Radiohead's Debut Album. Issued In 1993, The Album Was Named After A Popular Prank Call By The Jerky Boys (This Prank Call Is Sampled On The Song “How Do You”).

“Pablo Honey” was Radiohead’s debut album. It was issued in 1993, and I think you more or less know the story: its leadoff single (“Creep”, a marvelous exploration of self-hatred) was blacklisted for being just too depressing.  Yet, by a bizarre twist of fate the song began being played in Israel. Then, some import copies found their way into San Francisco. From there, nothing would stop the five friends from Oxfordshire, and England had to listen to what Yorke and his cohorts were screaming at the top of their voices.

Because “Pablo Honey” was the closest the band came to grunge. The material on this disc has serious difficulty sitting next to the songs from just any other Radiohead album. For example, Parlophone’s single disc compilation (released in 2008) included only the ineluctable “Creep”. And the enhanced two-CD edition had “You” and “Anyone Can Play Guitar” tucked near the end of the second disc, as if the songs had been added hastily to the tracklist when the compilers realized the band’s debut had been absolutely neglected.

The truth is that there is nothing wrong with “Pablo Honey”… leaving aside that it is a “conventional” album from a band that was to become renowned from its unwavering experimentation and inventiveness. Radiohead was to sound like nobody else on the industry. Yet, on “Pablo Honey” they did bring to mind other acts.

Of course, Nirvana was the first band one made an association with. Radiohead was actually dubbed “the British Nirvana” once “Pablo Honey” hit the high streets. And they were also mocked as “Nirvalite”, which might go into explaining why the band felt ill at ease about performing songs from their debut album live on later tours. Even the successful “Creep” was given a wide berth, much to the chagrin of audiences that (along with “Karma Police”) invariably thought of that song when the name of the band was mentioned.

Echoes of The Smiths, The Cure and U2 were also evident throughout. “Anyone Can Play Guitar” had it all, with an anthemic, double-time chorus and its microcosmic approach to success. Continue reading

Horses (Patti Smith) – Album Review

A Classic Of Classics, The Photograph Gracing The Cover Of Horses Was Taken By Robert Mapplethorpe At Greenwich Village.

A Classic Of Classics, The Photograph Gracing The Cover Of "Horses" Was Taken By Robert Mapplethorpe At Greenwich Village.

Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.

What an unrepentant way to start an album and to announce a whole career. Patti Smith’s debut came in 1975, and it was the first piece of vinyl whose surges bristled with the unsurpassed fire that was growing within the walls of the mythic CBGB, and which would gloriously run rife before a year had elapsed.

Patti (who was slightly older than members of most other acts associated with the famed venue) was certainly one of its most articulate participants, in no small part owing to her early explorations of different branches of visual and performance arts. She brought some of the most literate considerations to a scene that was also nurtured by the contributions of artists like Tom Verlaine (with whom she was briefly involved, and who actually added a typical all-or-nothing solo to the song “Break It Up”) and the Talking Heads (a band that I have never been that keen on – and I couldn’t love XTC more. Go figure.) And her actual romantic interest at the time “Horses” was released was photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, whom she had met at Pratt Institute (Brooklyn) and who would make a vital contribution to the album: its actual cover shot.

This androgynous photograph has deservedly gone down in the history of music as an absolute visual achievement. It captured the willingness of punks to transcend the blandness of conventional categorizations as much as the music included on the actual record, which Smith herself defined as “Three chord rock merged with the power of the word”.

You can’t call “Horses” a punk record, mind you. You can (and should) term it a record that set the scene for the arrival of a more vibrant and violent force of expression than what was available before.

In many places, “Horses” is an album that asserts the role of women in rock, what with male characters who are sodomized as in the first segment of “Land” and songs about female characters that defy conventionalisms such as “Kimberly” (a song which Patti wrote to deal with the lingering feelings of the baby she had to give for adoption when she was much younger).

You can’t call really call a record with songs like “Gloria” or “Birdland” a punk album.  “Gloria” references the Them song by the same name, and it was a clear nod to fellow CBGB pioneers Blondie. And “Birdland” is a piece of jazz that might even mar the flow of the disc, but which was actually an important piece for Patti if only because it acted as a symbolization of her mother. Continue reading

Full Moon Fever (Tom Petty) – Album Review

"Full Moon Fever" Was Tom Petty's Debut. It Came Out In 1989, And It Yielded Three it Singles.

"Full Moon Fever" Was Tom Petty's Solo Debut. It Came Out In 1989, And It Yielded Three Hit Singles.

An immensely accomplished record, “Full Moon Fever” was Tom Petty’s first solo album. It was released in 1989, right after The Traveling Wilburys’ beloved debut. Jeff Lynne was to helm Petty’s record, and both Harrison and Orbison would lend their talents too. That was the reason many pronounced “Full Moon Fever” the “true” continuation to “The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1”, and they also took the fact the next recording issued by the Wilburys was called Volume 3 at face value.

Well, that is always something which could (and will) be disputed and counter-disputed till the rivers all run dry. But everybody will always agree on something: Petty came up with a wondrous record from start to finish.

Five tracks were released as singles, and three of them have become staples of classic rock stations: “Free Fallin’”, “I Won’t Back Down” and “Runnin’ Down A Dream”. “Free Fallin’” is a dexterous study on growing up, with somehow childish verses at the beginning that eventually give way to a sudden, mature conclusion in a way that is beautifully startling.

On the other hand, “I Won’t back Down” is as cocky as its tile suggests, and it is the one cut to which George Harrison added backing vocals. The song was to be covered by Johnny Cash for his third American album, “Solitary Man”.

Finally, “Runnin’ Down A Dream” rocks and swings in equal measures, showcasing Petty’s influences in a distinct way. “Runnin’ Down A Dream” references Del Shannon in the first verse, and the song that is mentioned (“Runaway”) was actually covered by The Traveling Wilburys. It is now found on every remastered edition of the “The Traveling Wilburys – Vol. 3”. “Runnin’ Down A Dream” was written by Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne along with Mike Campbell. Campbell also got together with Petty to compose “Love Is A Long Road”, a song that fully recalls the sound of Petty’s combo. Yet, the production by Lynne gives it a sheen of its own, and the song was rightfully issued as a single. Continue reading

Auto (Mateo Moreno) – Uruguayan Music

"Auto" Is The First Solo Album Issued By Former NTVG Member Mateo Moreno

"Auto" Is The First Solo Album Issued By Former NTVG Member Mateo Moreno

The debut of Mateo Moreno (the former bass player for No Te Va Gustar, and one of its founding members) hit the shelves in Uruguay in 2009. Mateo is actually a multi-instrumentalist, and he handled the majority of guitars (including charangos) and also some percussion on his first solo offering. He also arranged all woodwinds and strings.

I became interested enough to buy this album upon listening to its first single (the outstanding “Simple”) on the radio. The song is a true capsule of sensibility and sensitivity in which different facets of affection are studied as if they were in the same plane, concluding in each case that love is a simple manifestation in itself. You can try to overcomplicate it, and you can also try to make it stand even simpler than it is. It will be all to no avail.

“Simple” is the best cut of the whole disc, and I also have a lot of time for the unbridled folk of “Souvenir” and the moody “Princesa Oscura” [Dark Princess], a song that mixes electronic passages with autochthonous sections in a surprisingly spontaneous way. And those who long for Mateo’s own evolution of the sound of No Te Va Gustar can always check out “Anestesiandote” [Anesthetizing Yourself], the best exponent of rock & roll the disc has to offer. Continue reading

Grace (Jeff Buckley) – Album Review (Part 2)

Read the first part of the review here. It mostly revolves around “Hallelujah” and “Last Goodbye”.

Any person who has to analyze “Grace” will necessarily have to split the review in (at least) two parts, since both “Last Goodbye” and “Hallelujah” deserve a major treatment. As a matter of fact, a Guardian critic even stated that “Hallelujah” was positioning itself as the most discussed song ever in the history of music. Looks like I made an (involuntary) contribution in part 1 of the review.

But there are other things going on in Buckley’s debut, and while the two classics elevate the album the disc would fall after heightening pretty quickly if it weren’t for some songs that are found on the second side. The few songs I don’t think that much of are all segregated on the first side, after “Last Goodbye”.

The second side is far more cogent, as it has “Lover, You  Should’ve Come Over”, “Corpus Christi Carol”, “Dream Brother” and “Eternal Life”. “Lover You Should’ve Come Over” in particular is revered by fans, and a poll I came across recently did amaze me because it was voted the second best song on the album after a knock-out tournament that saw “Last Goodbye” dropped from the running order after the second bout. The song is easy to like, with its backing vocals that match the excellence of the lead. Along with “Mojo Pin” and “Dream Brother” it is the best exponent of the dream-like mood the disc creates. That mood is difficult to define, actually. You listen to these songs and your head sort of goes up in the clouds, but at the same time you couldn’t keep a foot more firmly planted on reality. It is the strangest ethereal sensation I have ever felt, and I think the appeal of Jeff’s music lies there – in some place between what is here and what lies somewhere else.

And what we have here and what lies beyond this life is the theme par excellence of the disc, of course. “Corpus Christi Carol” is one of the clearest examples, with Jeff singing the Middle English Rhyme about a falcon who takes the loved one of a singer away. The singer goes after the falcon, and then he arrives at a chamber in which his beloved lies next to a bleeding knight and a tomb with Christ’s body in it. It is hard not to notice that the Carol has seven stanzas (like the Deadly Sins), and that Christ name is used in the final one only. Continue reading

Grace (Jeff Buckley) – Album Review (Part 1)

Jeff Buckley's Debut, "Grace" Came Out In 1994. While The Original Reception Was Tepid At Best, It Would Eventually Sell Over Million Copies Worldwide.

"Grace" (Jeff Buckley's Debut Album) Came Out In 1994. While The Original Reception Was Tepid At Best, It Would Eventually Sell Over 2 Million Copies Worldwide.

“Grace” was to be Jeff Buckley’s one and only “proper” album. It was not that successful when it first came out (1994), but the early demise of Jeff brought a lot of notoriety to it – a notoriety that it actually deserved the first time around. The music is quite hard to classify, and that might have been the reason why the buying public was not that keen on it when it was released. The only was to describe Buckley’s music is by making a multiple reference, with the gentleman that defined his music as “folk/pop-rock with a slight Goth touch” coming near the mark. If that label is a bit hard to get around even today, imagine what it must have been like in the mid-90s when genres like Grunge were the order of the day. Jeff was clearly ahead of the curve.

The first track is not really a great song, but it is a great way to start the album with its alternation between dreams (as represented by the lulling verses) and reality (as portrayed in the increasingly-loud choruses). The disc on the whole has an incredibly oneiric quality, and that is why such a song works perfectly as an album opener. The song is left to interpretation, with Buckley himself having explicitly linked it to heroin at least once.

The album itself does not hit a high note until “Last Goodbye” comes around (track number 3). I have already talked about the song in the general introduction, and there is nothing to add except maybe saying that it captures the humanity of Jeff’s voice like nothing else. The song gained a lot of notoriety upon being used in Cameron Crowe’s film “Vanilla Sky”, too. I don’t know how many of you are aware that “Vanilla Sky” is actually a remake of a Spanish film named “Abre Los Ojos” – the Spanish version gets the nod when it comes to storytelling, but Crowe’s version (as you would imagine) is unbeatable musically. Continue reading