So, as readers may not know, we do this thing called Drunk Radio Shower where we pick a country and listen to music from that country and drunkenly comment on the music (for better or worse). But we’re only able to do that every couple of months and we enjoy the excuse to discover new music (to us) from varied places around the globe. So here is a new thing where we do a post, maybe once or twice a month, where we pick randomly pick a country, and our contributors go out and research and pick a favorite track/band to share. The dice have been rolled, and for issue #1 it’s Uruguay.
July 26, 2016 @ 01:16 PM
Jim here with my pick for Uruguay. After much deliberation and listening I settled on the eclectic mix that is Power Chocolatin Experimento. First of all, solid name. And interesting mix of sounds. Some metal-esque guitars. Sometimes punk and sometimes indie pop. Some Pink Floyd-esque stuff. Some jazz fusion. And all well done. A really great mix of sounds.
And I had a couple of other close choices. I really liked the indie minimalism of hombre común.
And I liked this from Oneill too. Though technically tagged as pop punk I really liked it. I don’t think it’s really pop punk at all. More indie.
August 14, 2016 @ 05:24 PM
Matt here checking in with my pick, as Delouners rides two chords and some Black Lips attitude in “Family”, the title track to an album they put out just about this time last year.
And since that only took up two minutes of your time, here’s some bonus tunes: Los Shakers and Los Mockers seem to have formed some type of Uruguayan Beatles vs. Stones rivalry soon after the British Invasion swept across the pond, though I’d argue that the latter band had more of an Animals vibe about them. Judge for yourself below.
August 14, 2016 @ 07:13 PM
and now, it’s time for david to make his Uruguay choice! my listening, during an unusually busy august, has been more spread out in multiple casual backgroundish hearings, rather than any concerted effort to find *the* one band or song. it turned out, though, that i kept coming back to one of the first bands i’d found: Laura y los Branigan.
the minor key melodies, soft but driving female vocals, and ever-building rhythmic intensity (and, really, probably the reverb and echo-y delay) bring me back to my college days, listening to 1999-ish radiohead or portishead, or any other -head, really. it’s the music that got me to branch out into other styles, to look for something new that i might like but not yet know; and what better kickoff of a series meant to force us to do just that?
August 14, 2016 @ 09:30 PM
My pick is Carmen Sandiego. They are essentially español Belle and Sebastian. Good for a pensive hungover radio shower (i.e. late summer). Here is their video for Agustín from 2010’s Joven Edad :
The album’s lyrics are pretty solid, with themes including promiscuous Christians, Tamagotchi, and that garden variety subsect of gremlin boyfriends with a penchant for belching the alphabet. Worth translating.
While their latest Ciudad Dormitorio came out in 2013, they still seem pretty active, so if you’re around Montevideo on September 3 go check them out !
August 14, 2016 @ 09:45 PM
OK Sam again with a song for when you and your dildo are just tryna go to the discotheque…