So I mentioned that I'm going to a bunch of concerts this summer. I actually kind of feel like I shouldn't talk about it yet, because it's too early. But I'll just give a quick summary, I guess. Technically I guess the concerts started with Wondergarden, the New Year's Eve festival that Mike and I went to in Auckland. I thought it was mostly New Zealand bands, but actually I have no idea. There were some Aussies and others there as well. But the two bands I was really looking forward to were Icarus6 and Kllo. Icarus6 has not done anything for years, but I did really like a couple of songs way back in the day. And turns out that she was the best performer of the night. Kind of Little Dragon-y. Which is never a bad thing. And much better live than recorded. Which is a great thing. Plus she had some awesome back-up dancers. But yeah, that was the first concert of the summer, but when I refer to my summer of music, I'm really thinking about 2019 in Australia. Which started out on January 7 which CHVRCHES at the Sydney Opera House. Haven't seen those guys in years, and I think they've just gotten better. Even if it was weird to be sitting down in a theater to watch them instead of up and dancing. But it was a great show. And then was Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, who is incredible live, and Nai Palm, the singer from Hiatus Kaiyote opened up for him. Talk about a damn good lineup. Although I would have much preferred it be Hiatus Kiayote and not just Nai Palm. But still. Good stuff. And up next will be Leon Bridges when I'm back. Plus I've got Florence + The Machine, Hozier, and Lauryn Hill coming. Those are probably the ones I'm most excited for. But also there's like 10 more shows. What a good summer. I'll keep you updated as I go.
But let's move into music from none of the artists I am seeing. We're moving south to Latin America. Actually all the way to South America. And I've got 3 bands for you today, the first of which is Rubio. I actually can't remember how I found out about her, but she makes weird music. I guess think something like Grimes? Sort of dirty art-pop (I've added art in front of the music made by a few bands recently in conversations, which really is just a bullshit word that tells you nothing, but when I say it, I mean it's weird. But like good weird. And we all know I like good weird. And also just weird). So yeah, dirty art pop. Why the hell not? Just listen.
So that was Las Plantas. Weird stuff, right? But very compelling and very good. So Rubio is the solo project of Chilean singer Fran Straub, who used to have (or maybe still does have) a band called Miss Garrison. And now she makes music by herself. And it's music I like very much. She put out her first solo album called Pez back in October, and she gets two songs from that album today, because she's the one who got me to actually write this blog about Spanish music. So I'm also going to play you Mátame. Which is actually one of the least weird tracks on the album, but just a fantastic song. But if you want other weird stuff, I had a hard time choosing, and you can go and listen to Hacia el Fondo, Árboles, or pretty much the rest of the album. Great album.
Up next is Niños del Cerro from Chile as well. This is the first of two bands on here who came off of an article I found when trying to find out more information about Rubio. I found a Spanish list of the top Spanish albums of 2018, and it put Pez into the Top 10 (and Rosalía #1 and Kali Uchis at #2, the first of which I'm totally on board with, the second of which I can respect even if I don't agree). With those albums in the Top 10, I figured I better listen to the rest of the Top 10. And Niños del Cerro was definitely the stand-out find. They just put out their second album, Lance, in 2018. Now, if I'm being honest, it was kind of hard to pick a song to play you because a lot of the songs sound the same. But damn is it a good sound. Fun and uplifting and rocky and shiny and just wonderful. I love it. But I think I'm gonna go with El Sueño Pesa.
The other one that caught my attention is LOUTA. This is the stage name of Argentinian Jaime James, whose dad was the creator of the performance group Fuerza Bruta. He's also put out his second album this year, called ENCHASTRE. And it is interesting. Very interesting, and very eclectic. There's everything from dance to pop to white-boy hip-hop to grungy-rock stuff. Who knows what it is. But it's interesting, for sure. And good. And everything I've read about this guy pretty much just talks about how crazy his live show is. This one is also hard to pick a song off of, because it's hard to pick a song that exemplifies LOUTA's sound, and which I also really like. I like all of it. But nothing really gives you an idea of what he does. So anyway, I'm picking CUENTITOS. Although I was close to picking PUEDE SER or SOMOS TAN INTENSOS, both of which I think I like more than CUENTITOS, but I think CUENTITOS does a better job of showing what LOUTA does. At least when it comes to the more poppy/dancy stuff. Not the other stuff. But to me, when I think of LOUTA, I think of fun and dancy and poppy stuff. But also a bit dirty. And that's what this song is. Anyway, whatever you do, just make sure you go listen to the whole album.
But let's move into music from none of the artists I am seeing. We're moving south to Latin America. Actually all the way to South America. And I've got 3 bands for you today, the first of which is Rubio. I actually can't remember how I found out about her, but she makes weird music. I guess think something like Grimes? Sort of dirty art-pop (I've added art in front of the music made by a few bands recently in conversations, which really is just a bullshit word that tells you nothing, but when I say it, I mean it's weird. But like good weird. And we all know I like good weird. And also just weird). So yeah, dirty art pop. Why the hell not? Just listen.
So that was Las Plantas. Weird stuff, right? But very compelling and very good. So Rubio is the solo project of Chilean singer Fran Straub, who used to have (or maybe still does have) a band called Miss Garrison. And now she makes music by herself. And it's music I like very much. She put out her first solo album called Pez back in October, and she gets two songs from that album today, because she's the one who got me to actually write this blog about Spanish music. So I'm also going to play you Mátame. Which is actually one of the least weird tracks on the album, but just a fantastic song. But if you want other weird stuff, I had a hard time choosing, and you can go and listen to Hacia el Fondo, Árboles, or pretty much the rest of the album. Great album.
Up next is Niños del Cerro from Chile as well. This is the first of two bands on here who came off of an article I found when trying to find out more information about Rubio. I found a Spanish list of the top Spanish albums of 2018, and it put Pez into the Top 10 (and Rosalía #1 and Kali Uchis at #2, the first of which I'm totally on board with, the second of which I can respect even if I don't agree). With those albums in the Top 10, I figured I better listen to the rest of the Top 10. And Niños del Cerro was definitely the stand-out find. They just put out their second album, Lance, in 2018. Now, if I'm being honest, it was kind of hard to pick a song to play you because a lot of the songs sound the same. But damn is it a good sound. Fun and uplifting and rocky and shiny and just wonderful. I love it. But I think I'm gonna go with El Sueño Pesa.
The other one that caught my attention is LOUTA. This is the stage name of Argentinian Jaime James, whose dad was the creator of the performance group Fuerza Bruta. He's also put out his second album this year, called ENCHASTRE. And it is interesting. Very interesting, and very eclectic. There's everything from dance to pop to white-boy hip-hop to grungy-rock stuff. Who knows what it is. But it's interesting, for sure. And good. And everything I've read about this guy pretty much just talks about how crazy his live show is. This one is also hard to pick a song off of, because it's hard to pick a song that exemplifies LOUTA's sound, and which I also really like. I like all of it. But nothing really gives you an idea of what he does. So anyway, I'm picking CUENTITOS. Although I was close to picking PUEDE SER or SOMOS TAN INTENSOS, both of which I think I like more than CUENTITOS, but I think CUENTITOS does a better job of showing what LOUTA does. At least when it comes to the more poppy/dancy stuff. Not the other stuff. But to me, when I think of LOUTA, I think of fun and dancy and poppy stuff. But also a bit dirty. And that's what this song is. Anyway, whatever you do, just make sure you go listen to the whole album.
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