“Celebración” [Celebration] is one of the tracks on Garo Arakelián’s debut album that hits the hardest. And now, the song has got a promotional video to go with it.
This clip was shot at the Teatro Macció, in the City of San José de Mayo. It was directed by filmmaker Pablo Stoll, and it features Garo and his band getting ready for a show while a former star finds himself stranded where dreams and reality collide.
Garo Arakelián was a key figure in the history of Uruguayan rockers La Trampa. To a lot of people, the band’s credence was rooted in his literate approach to songwriting.
“Un Mundo Sin Gloria” [A World Without Glory] is his first solo album. It has been issued by Bizarro.
In case you want to know more about La Trampa, then check this review of “Laberinto” – while neither fans nor critics single that particular album out, it is the one record by theirs that I feel puts emotions together more expertly.
The most recent promotional video from Uruguayan musicians the Mushi Mushi Orquesta:
The song is named “Alba” [Dawn].
It’s from their forthcoming album, “Otro Cuerpo, Otro Esqueleto” [Another Body, Another Skeleton].
It’s been recorded at Arizona Studios.
It’s been masterminded by Germán Luongo and Virginia Plottier.
And since it’s an instrumental track, my ability to make inane jokes and include unrelated content on the post has been dealt a devastating blow.
Sigh…
I’ll just drown in a river of stillborn tears while this clip flashes back and forwards in the eye of my mind:
“Power Ranger” is the latest single by a Uruguayan band known as “Power Chocolatín Experimento”.
The song is featured on a split that the band recorded with Cadaver Exquisito, and the Argentinean band Cuco. You can download it for free on CaracolRojo.com.ar.
To cut a short story even shorter, I’m including this video on MusicKO simply because any person that comes up with a lyric which goes “Quiero vivir como un hombre, y morir como un Power Ranger” [I want to live like a man, and die like a Power Ranger] can instantly consider himself my blood brother.
You can download Power Chocolatín Experimento’s music on their bandcamp profile. It basically comprises a 3-song EP named “Ernesto Paz”, and an eponymous album with 9 tracks.
This is it. I’ve had it with pop music.
Say what you will, but the whole scene has deteriorated irrevocably.
First, Tay Tay released that trainwreck of a music video for “I Knew You Were Trouble”, which was the kind of thing Lana Del Rey would conceive before sitting down to write her suicide letter.
And then, the world was in a state of shock when it was discovered that a fan of Justin Bieber had sent multiple death threats to Kim Kardashian because of her recent comments regarding the teen idol.
That was just horrific.
The fan said she would use her lunch money to hire a hitman.
OK, sack it. Making jokes about Justin Bieber is getting stale. You have to respect an all-around singer, composer and stage-performer when you see one. That’s the last time I mention the Canadian star on MusicKO…
Incidentally, did you read about the trip that Justin Bieber and Selena Gómez made to the mountains with Taylor Swift and Harry Styles (when Taylor and Harry were still an item)???
Wow, man. That should have been radical.
I mean, can you imagine all the giggling, tickling and pillow fighting… in the boys’ room alone???!!!
Well, in view of the above, I hereby declare that trash metal will be my favorite genre from now on. And this new Uruguayan band will be the standard-bearer for me.
C.O.M.A. is a young Uruguayan band that is in the process of finishing its debut album. And they have already released a promo video for their first single, “Nada ni Nadie” [Nothing and Nobody]. Give it a look:
The band is made up of Martín Petrone (vocals/rhythm guitar), Gastón Simone (lead guitar), Dennis Noda (bass) and Marcelo De Souza (drums). This particular video was shot and edited by Cristian Montes for ValvularTV.com.
A music video that I’ve grown instantly attached to, “Loco Train” is the latest single by Wakeup Starlight.
This band was started in 2010 by Caleb Cummings and Chris Noble, and they’re currently augmented by a bass player named Dave Janssen. You can read their bio on this website, but (basically) they’ve already put out a couple of EPs. Their sound was more rock-oriented in the beginning, but now a prominent folk element permeates their oeuvre, and they’re releasing the kind of songs that you play and record life moments to. They got in touch with me just the other day via e-mail, and I’m more than pleased to have discovered their music. Continue reading →
(English version of an article first published on Cooltivarte.com)
It is a strange dusk. There are flowers from other springs, there is a world that spins around but a heaven that stands still, as if it no longer had a reason to exist, but which stands there for lack of a better frontier to aim for.
And it is a strange dusk simply because all which is connected with the end of feelings is strange. And you know the night will have a bosom that will expand like a century of memories, way beyond hope, deception, and each and every glimpse of mercy there could ever be. And way, way beyond that yesterday in which everybody dares to say “tomorrow”.
Such is the context of the album under review right now: “¿Sueñan los Lobos con Ovejas Lunares?” [Do Wolves Dream of Lunar Sheep?] by ¿Lobo Está?, the solo project of Gonzalo Saavedra, a musician from the City of San José who was a member of the now-defunct band Pueblo Viejo [Old Town]. The album (get it here for free) has been helmed by producer (and frequent instrumentalist) El Niño Que Toca Fuerte [The Child Who Makes A Racket], and it features Emiliano Pérez Saavedra on drums and Juan Chilndrón on bass. And Matías Gonzáles (from Vincent Vega) has a guest spot on the song “Viento” [Wind].
All of the songs included on the album come together and then come undone throughout that strange dusk. They are there at that time in which lots of things end, and many others have a chance to truly begin. Gonzalo himself says as much as “Entrego Mi Cuerpo Al Viento” [I Yield My Body To The Wind] starts playing:
Todo lo que fuimos no será nada Comparado con lo que seremos
[All we have been will be nothing Compared to what we will become]
When the CD begins spinning, the tone is more or less conciliatory. But the message mutates very swiftly indeed, as if all these things that have already come and gone became a clamp of angst, a hindrance to all these things the future could hold. Darkened rooms are opened, and truths are revealed. There are words which become unpronounceable, and reasons no logic could abolish.
“Entrego Mi Alma Al Viento” is surrounded by songs such as “El Túnel” [The Tunnel], “Mañana” [Tomorrrow] and “Invierno” [Winter]. In all cases, these songs partake of the insecurity that characterizes every ending, and reality is transformed in a way that creates either a pact of silence, or the longing for a vicarious exaction.
On “El Túnel”, a fear which is strafed both by ineptitude and by guilt grabs hold of the soul and refuses to ever let it go. To think about time all the time (“Mañana”) is the most untimely of duties. And doubts can vilify even the freest lives in a song such as “Invierno”, and the enumeration of a past which wasn’t that wearisome to begin with ends up sounding like a joke that nobody has even told Continue reading →
Nameless is a Uruguayan metal band that is about to release its third album, “7 Caminos” [7 Pathways]. Nameless is also one of the three bands that will be opening for Lacuna Coil on the 28th of February, when the seminal Italian band plays in Uruguay for the first time. The other two are Catarsis and Cínica.
By all accounts, it’s going to be a memorable month for the band. And just to set the ball rolling in the best of ways, they have issued an acoustic bonus video to go with their new album.
The song is called “Canción de Cuna” [Lullaby], and it’s an acoustic composition that signals a whole change of pace for the band.
Singer Betto had this to say abut the song on her Facebook profile:
“Lullaby” is a very personal song for us.
We weren’t going to include the song on the album at all, but we grew really fond of its “unplugged” or “raw” version, since it gave the CD a completely different emotional aura.
The photos you can see at the end are true, and they are really ours… each one of them tells a very specific story…
In my case, it goes along the lines of “we all have that special someone who has taught us how to tie our laces, how to ride a bike, or who has even scolded us for our own good. This is a song for all of them. Because we all have had that one person who once sang us a lullaby…”
My photo is the third one. I’m on the arms of my dad, who now has got Alzheimer. I miss our conversations more than anything in the world.
Below you’ll find the poster for the band’s upcoming gig in support of Lacuna Coil, along with the clip for the song “Partir” [Parting Away], which was featured on the band’s second album, and which is my favorite song of theirs.
What’s the worst thing that can happen when someone who was in a band you admired launches his solo career? Well, that his new work will take after his former oeuvre excessively. That’s a bit like having a loved one revived as a zombie that will chase you around mindlessly. And if Daryl Dixon isn’t around to shoot the fucker in the head with an arrow, things can get pretty heavy indeed…
Fortunately, that’s not the case here. Marcelo Gezzio (the erstwhile bass player for Sordromo, a key Uruguayan band at the turn of the century – see here and here) is now fronting a new outfit which is named “Kubricks”, and which is striking out more than excitingly.
The band has just issued its first promotional video (for the song “Dame Eso” [Gimme That]), and an album (tentatively called “Conexión”) should see the light of day before too long.
The band is Marcelo on bass and vocals, Fernando Fontes on drums and Alejandro Gorgoroso on guitar.
While there are clear nods to Sordromo, it’s good to see that Marcelo is trying to keep things distinct.
I seem to think that the overall sound is rawer, and the finale in particular is very rallying, with some solemn soloing that’s sure to rouse anyone within earshot. Continue reading →
Man, pause your porn and check this out, it’s worth it.
Somebody came up with a symphonic version of The Bear Season’s “Infinity”, and uploaded it to SoundCloud.
The Bear Season! My friends! My precious! They were first covered here, and I have made a point of staying on top of all their latest releases. And (as you probably don’t remember, because not even their groupies read that particular post) my favorite song of theirs is “Infinity”.
This new symphonic version of “Infinity”, now, is the one to harbor in your heart, and rediscover time and again.
If I ever walk away from an exploding building in slow motion, then I want this to be playing in the background.
Check it out, dude, it’s a sweet sweet deal. Like angels’ pay. I can only think of a couple of things that are sweeter.
One is Rocket:
The other is, obviously, Gregorian! They should have been huge! What a shame Enigma took the cake instead!
And then, there’s this version of The Police’s “Fallout”, which is memorable if only because you can’t listen to Sting’s vocals!!
Ha! Ha! Take it, your ego douche!! See what happens for having confiscated half of Stu’s kit away for the recording of “Every Breath You Take”?? Karma has no deadline, my high-pitched friend…
Seriously, what a version from the deepest abyss of hell. Stu has been miked like crap, Andy sounds like he’s making the song up as he goes along (which is highly likely, if you ask me and my monkey), and that solo is the pits! And then, Sting ends up this “stellar performance” by doing a “splenetic jump”. Dude, Pete Townshend is pushing 72, and he bounces around with more flamboyance! Do us a favor, and keep dreaming of blue turtles, will you?
A really great acquaintance I made as 2012 was ending, Colmena Gr is a young Uruguayan composer that has steadily been releasing a series of EPs over the course of the last two years. And he has just compiled the best of his work on a LP (which also includes a couple of new cuts), so what better time to feature him on MusicKO?
The way he describes his music is so accurate and full of sentiment, that I’ve transcribed the full text he sent me when I asked for some background information below.
I began writing music in 2009, but I only started recording my melodies in mid-2011. My first EP was named “Colapso”, and it comprised short-length compositions with just piano. It was a very personal piece of work.
Afterwards, I came up with “Rec”, an EP with 11 instrumental melodies which were edited and produced much more elaborately than ever before.
My music is aimed at experienced ears, the kind that can discover each and every sound (even if there are not that many of them, each sound I use is there for a very good reason).
One year later (and once I had perfected my new sound), in November 2011 I published “Pusil”. The tracks “Analepsis”, “Luminor”, “Prímula” and “Mutílido” had been issued in advance, and they were greeted with enthusiasm by most of my listeners. By mid-November three more melodies were ready – these were done in just a couple of days, the result of an intense and enlightened inspiration (I love when such magic surrounds my head). And it was right there and then that my fourth EP was born. It went by the name of “Tilda”, it included 4 tracks, and it had a mysterious cover with a black widow as its star.
I have always been attracted by little worlds, particularly these of insects. Their diminutive lives fascinate me, even more so when I’ve got a camera at hand. The worlds inhabited by ants and bees are what I like the most.
I’m specially fond of bees. I’m deeply attracted to the world of hives, and that’s where the name of my musical project is derived from. I’ve combined two words that are little conventional [“colmena” is Spanish for “hive”], and I’ve come up with a brand of its very own.
Just two weeks ago I released my first LP, and that makes me feel extremely glad. I brought together the 3 EPs I issued in 2012, and I added 3 new melodies. These 3 new tracks sound far more seasoned – or a lot less “amateur”, if you will.
I named the album “Anthophila” (after the word used to categorize these insects that love flowers, IE bees), and you can both listen and download it for free on Bandcamp. This is the link:
