javiera mena

feel like she pushes all my buttons

http://image.punkreas.org/javiera-mena.jpg

tell me about her

http://www.ciudademergente.gov.ar/home08/assets/fotos_bios/fotos_pop_rock_javiera_mena.jpg

that synth looks pretty heavy... you might get back problems later on in life!!

this is like all i've listened to for the past 48 hours, so great

how did this album appear, fully formed, out of nowhere

it is a mystery

how did this album appear, fully formed, out of nowhere

Maybe you missed her first one. The new one's not really a surprise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnEQTFkakvU

This is a track from the first one. I love the video almost as much as I love the song itself.

yes I did johnny fever. tell me more about her

also her last album came out in 2006

I don't really know too much biography-wise, but I do know she embraces the '80s in a slightly different way than a lot of other aesthetically similar acts (Glass Candy, La Roux, etc). She fearlessly tackles the side of the '80s that's not really cool now. There's some stuff on the first album which could pass for not-quite-top-40 schmaltz from 1987, but the detail in the production and arrangements make it clear that it's absolutely no mistake what she was going for. "Al Siguiente Nivel" is definitely the most earwormy song on the first album (released in 2006 in Chile, then re-released in other regions in 2007, which is when I caught wind of it).

The new album lacks a real whopper single like "ASN," but I think overall it's a better execution of her ideas. The production, structure and whatever else just sounds fuller. Both are worth hearing, though. Also, a song called "Ausencia" that came out in between the albums. It's a slow-burn, synth thumper ballad with an edge.

wow @ that video, it's gorgeous

I guess what strikes me right now about her songs is the admirable sense of restraint, every synth effect and patch seems specifically tailored to where it appears in the song, it's really quite remarkable how everything just...fits

http://javieramena.indicevirgen.com/tapajavieramena_2.jpg

awesome

Sorry for getting all James Murphy "I was there" earlier. I honestly thought she was more of a known commodity than she apparently is.

hah np. this is the first ilm thread on her I think

The cover for the new album does weird things to my eyes:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7ydh6O5R51qzkqqho1_400.png

I love the really prog synth sound in "Acá Entera". I think it's the same as "Touch and Go" by Emerson Lake & Powell.

:( i can only find one of her songs from some random compilation. (i mean to purchase digitally. i don't use itunes.) guess i will have to go buy her albums irl!

Sorry, I don't know where everyone on ILM lives, but if you're in the US or UK both albums are available for download on Amazon.

this stuff is fantastic.

crushin hard on the pic in the OP

The album will likely make my top ten.

TSJ loved it. My favorite song, which I did not expect, is the ballad "No Te Cuesta Nada," which has the same synth vibe as Will to Power's cover of "I'm Not in Love" (which should tell you something about her affinities).

"Sufrir" is perfect. Obsessing over this even more than I did "Al Siguiente Nivel."

hah np. this is the first ilm thread on her I think

― dayo, Wednesday, October 13, 2010 6:33 PM (5 days ago)

there was a thread on her maybe on the sandbox? she's definitely well-loved on ILM iirc.

well I think she is good enough to warrant two threads!

xp yes, the little chopped up bit at the end of sufrir gets me every time

man esquemas juveniles may be even better than mena!!

so beautiful I want to melt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqOR3dwqljs

love how batshit this gets in the final minute

loving this

Newer ilx thread:

latin american hipster shit

she just got announced for Primavera. this pleases me.

God, what I wouldn't give for a Javiera Mena U.S. tour.

yes! been on a Mena kick lately and found actual hard copies of her records and am loving them more the more i hear 'em

New Javiera

H/t to AiM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S94UJ449P-M

I hope the goodwill I have from my belated discovery of her last album isn't shaping my judgement of this, which is extremely favourable.

I thought she was going to take a lengthy break from making music, but now I can't remember how long ago I read that. Apparently a while ago.

This sounds great!

I'm loving this, perhaps not as much as "Luz de Piedra de Luna", but almost.

Javiera doth rule
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqNTdNCU2y8

Holy shit, I guess I've been overlooking this thread. This is great.

Also, I guess it goes without saying that this is another Canada directed video.

Awesome

Amazing! Feel that Espada was the moment I fully jumped aboard the Mena-bus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=241FKqkfOj0

OH YYYYYYYESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

just what i needed for the summer

Dunno if she's ready yet to release another album, so I'll just go ahead and predict this track lands at #45 in the year-end poll.

New album in September I think.

Oh good!

This is fantastic. Very happy to hear their is a new album coming out soon but would be even happier if it came out in time for the summer.

oh my fucking god, this song

those pinballing synths in the middle eight that envelope the song 'til the close are everything

"La Joya" video is on-brand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oSXpoWg5U

I love that synth solo.

I just now noticed she did a guest vocal on a Dapuntobeat single in 2012. It's deece.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtNOacGXe2w

That is not her in the video, obvs.

So. There's an album out on 28 October! Called "Otra Era". You can pre-order: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/otra-era/id927854929?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaB2WA7A9S0

1 Los Olores de Tu Alma 5:00
2 Otra Era 4:04
3 Esa Fuerza 4:33
4 Sincronía, Pegaso 4:45
5 Pide 3:27
6 La Joya 3:27
7 Que Me Tome la Noche 3:28
8 La Carretera 4:49
9 Quédate un Ratito Más 3:40
10 Espada 4:14

The album cover (NSFW): http://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10689907_10152494262547637_5811857414121889378_n.jpg?oh=313c99e4a0659394ce5b394ce44eb0ad&oe=54AD6737

yisssssssss

:D

So soon!

Title track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1rckkIw1_s

this is great!

nice! the outro with layered pitched vocals <3

that is really nice

yay!

been bopping to this all day; i love it

love la joya and love this, god so excited

espada's been out for a long time, too, if you haven't heard that. or maybe you just don't love it.

Trademark space launch present and correct. So stoked for the album.

new song is so amazing

serious love for all three of these new songs

!!!!!!!!!!

<3 this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V5vvGqZKdA

d-_-b

Whole album up on Spotify.

whole album is damn good but wow "sincronía, pegaso" especially

This album is so good. Think I already like it more than Mena.

The last minute of "Sicronia, Pegaso" is glorious bleep-bleep. If I were going out dancing as often as I did five years ago, I'd turn that last minute into a communal face off.

i'm so happy

i have recently realized "espada" is one of the best songs in years

listened to this like 5 times, v much in love

Excellent sounding album, I find it more consistent that Mena

i wish i could speak spanish; i feel like that would only compound my enjoyment of this. last minute of "la joya" is some of the most breathtaking music of this decade

production here is great and i think the songwriting took a big step forward too, love this record so far

To be honest, I felt a little disappointed by this on first listen. It *sounds* great, but the songs weren't as immediately memorable as those on Mena. And it's sort of ... one-note, maybe? But I'm looking forward to digging into it more, so that its hooks and nuances reveal themselves.

i completely disagree with you about the songs--i find them both more immediate and more interestingly constructed. "sincronia, pegaso," for example, has something of a disco slow burn that reads as confectionary, almost, but has these very finely wrought details like the "rapido, rapido" bit that's all slinky and just barely off the beat. and the title track works a very endearing st etienne vibe as it works itself up to that final synth meltdown/layered vocal bit that's discussed upthread, which is one of my favorite musical moments this year.

the last record got by, i thought, mostly on good synth sounds and a nice idea but lacked in catchy songs.

i have to admit that i played a few of her songs on youtube and most of them had that sort of elementary-school sing-songy, rudimentary melodies that remind me of indie pop bands of the 1990s like stereo total or something. the production was often enjoyably busy and textured but the songs were almost insultingly plain. i recognize this is not a consensus opinion and maybe i just heard the wrong songs. but my immediate thought was that in terms of melody/song structure this sounds like a lot of iberian indie pop of the turn of the century which i largely found completely disposable... even if the dance-music textures made it a little more engaging.

she's from argentina, right?

Chile.

i mean that kind of super-sugary indie pop stuff has some currency in latin america, right? i imagine it's kind of a rich-kid thing, though i wouldn't know for sure.

xpost

ah, i see. sorry! my point still holds--or doesn't.

I like her, and she's about the best there is at figuring out how nuevo retro synth pop should sound, but, yes, often her vocal melodies on these tracks are just OK. My favorite song from the last album was the ballad "No Te Cuesta Nada," not the dance pop.

Chileans and Mexicans don't listen to the same music.

of course, i'm forgetting the names of those spanish (and some portuguese) indie-pop bands i sort of dabbled in ca. 1998-2001. i believe some were on the elefant label. generally speaking they were very post-sarah-records type of thing, and generally speaking there was an almost total absence of songwriting talent.

xpost

who referred to mexicans?

iberian refers to spanish and portuguese -- i was just likening her songwriting to some bands from those places that i used to know. and IIRC there were also some chilean and argentinian bands of that time that had similar sounds.

but it also reminds me of plenty of anglo-american, french, even german bands of that period.... but the iberian stuff stands out in my mind as being particularly devoid of melodic interest, relying instead on musical citations of 1960s pop and general twee-ness to carry interest. but maybe this is kind of a thread derail in which case, sorry. :(

Mexico is in Latin America.

yes, what is your point?

I'm not picking on you, am, just pointing out that a Chilean musician is not Latin American and wouldn't make music that sounds like sugary sweet pop that has currency in Latin America. I get pricklier because it's close to home. It's like when critics refer ot "pop" as a monolith and use "African music" as a buzzword.

Latin America is the subregion of the Americas comprising those countries where Romance languages are spoken, primarily Spanish and Portuguese. It consists of twenty two nations which cover an area that stretches from the southern border of the United States to the southern tip of South America, including the Caribbean.

i recognize that there are distinctions among latin american countries, but it was my recollection that indie pop had some currency in both chile and argentina (which ,per every definition i know, are latin american countries), at least it once did. i said nothing about mexico.

Alfred has his own special definition of latin america iirc

Latin America is Cuba. Just Cuba.

saying 'this music has some currency in latin america' does not imply that it's equally popular in e.g. mexico, argentina, belize, the dominican republic, etc.

never underestimate ILX's ability to be tooth-gnashingly pedantic. but i love you, anyway, alfred.

i recognize that there are distinctions among latin american countries, but it was my recollection that indie pop had some currency in both chile and argentina (which ,per every definition i know, are latin american countries), at least it once did. i said nothing about mexico.

This makes more sense. I mentioned "Mexico" only as an example of a Spanish-speaking country nothing like Chile.

wins reminds me: Yeah, I was taught that "Latin America" stretched from Mexico to Panama. South of Panama was a continent called South America. And Cuba wasn't a part of Latin America at all – it was an island in the Caribbean. Same for the DR.

a side note: "Latin" is a meaningless adjective anyway. I have a native-born friend whose mother is a naturalized citizen born in Florence, Italy. He likes to call her Latin American.

it's not meaningless in the sense that it has some intersubjective meaning if i told most people, e.g., "i have been travelling a lot around latin america," they would know what i meant.

I love you, North American scum

I love Pide.

Have been assuming it's a song about

http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/03/c8/0e/9d/chicken-pide.jpg

I agree with you, amateurist, re Mena's melodies sounding influenced by that Iberian twee circa 2000… but to my recollection that sort of thing was never at all popular in Latin America (perhaps Entre Rios being an exception).

The thing that bothers me about Mena's singing though is not her melodies but her phrasing, which is sort of typical of South American indie and it kind of grates of me. I can only get past it because the music is incredible.

I have grown to really love this album, with "Otra Era" and "Sincronía, Pegaso" being the stand outs...but that can change based on the day. I'm finding it hard to compare it with MENA since they seem like such different beasts.

Also, it looks like there is some countdown clock on her website counting down to Monday. Hopefully, that's when we can order the physical version.

wtf @ Alfred using "Latin America" as a synonym for "central america"

― jaymc, Saturday, January 25, 2014 10:16 PM (9 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think this album is much better than mena

this is really great

do all her albums sound like peak era kylie

Not really sure but Esquemas Juveniles is also really good

Mena is about half very good half okay

nah, mena is 100% great, esquemas juveniles is about half very good half okay. they get less kylie-esque as you go back, afaict, but i'm no kylie expert.

Mena is definitely 100% great, just not in the same way as Otra Era.

her videos are usually great but the one for otra era is surprisingly dull

nah, mena is 100% great, esquemas juveniles is about half very good half okay. they get less kylie-esque as you go back, afaict, but i'm no kylie expert.

― karl...arlk...rlka...lkar..., Thursday, November 6, 2014 3:06 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

Yeah I realized I had it mixed up, this is the correct opinion

you guys the "espada" video

it's a masterpiece

javiera era era era era era era

la carretera reminds me of a perfume song

^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGfY0aIvIZg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRzDWozhMN4

When the ILM Lollarooella fest happens, we've got to make sure she's near the top of the bill.

^^^^^^^ Ain't that the truth.

Really cool show! The live clips I'd seen before were super ropey but I guess now she has the experience and the budget to make the most of her limitations.

New jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhQTABZGYew

low key...I assume I'll get into it after a few listens

All I want is a space launch outro so I can post "javieraaaaaaaaaaaa" :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzrwsUHc9fs

Here for this

yeah that is excellent

Apparently she has a new album out tomorrow! Looking forward to hearing it. The singles so far have been so good.

Just hit play on it a moment ago. Will report back.

I approve!

Excellent! Seems like a great day to be alive with this and Dirty Computer coming out on the same day.

This album is pretty streamlined, fits together well, easy listen. Janelle's is kind of a sprawling mess, so I'm not sure where I'm at on it yet.

this new record is so good! i think I've found my summer album.

V nice!

Excellent! Seems like a great day to be alive with this and Dirty Computer coming out on the same day.

― kitchen person, 27. april 2018 06:44 (sixteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And Grouper! Pretty crazy day, honestly.

wait this is out today??? brb

"Alma" and "Espejo" are incredible and this is so good, easily my second favourite of her albums already

The new album is lovely. It's not hitting me the same way Otra Era did, but there's some gorgeous stuff here.

This is...her least interesting album? Fault is probably mine, I just miss being launched into space...

^^same here

I think you guys are all crazy. The vocal melodies on this are much stronger on this, they don't stay in the same narrow range that they did Otra Era.

low-key but not-at-all-bad Mecano cover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4GDduAJoY0

New single!

https://youtu.be/_Zub5WKLEGM

love it, good video too

woo yes

what a hero

Great use of negative space

i missed "flashback" when it got posted. banger, imho. this came out yesterday:
https://youtu.be/j2BsHWcYEIQ

there’s 15 remixes of “Flashback” to choose from if you’re so inclined

new banger out today, "corazón astral" https://open.spotify.com/track/6POeNaMCaqfJZIgA11NR7T?si=v6pt_ihbQv2Ug-M9tcEhNg

oops, sorry, didn't have embeds on and missed outdoor miner's post!!!

good song, bad video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRDFl-S2_Lw

new EP out, "I. Entusiasmo", which features "Flashback", "Corazón Astral" and "Dos", plus 2 new tracks. Hopefully the "I" part of the title means there's a "II" soon.

last year she gave a special performance for the 10-year anniversary of this thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axyyffovfF4

lol I am very pro Javiera-at-Eurovision (she has entered the Spanish selection process)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnKVEPghN-4

pls

Still making bangers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhVZHYucKbA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW_vsNMYlJs

new record Nocturna is out today, featuring a number of already-released songs together with a few new ones. All-killer no-filler on first contact

love the flute jam on Me Gustas Tú

is it better than the last one? didn't get into that at all

It wouldn't have surprised as a follow-up to Otra Era

More highlights:
- When Javiera says "Hola" at the start of a song
- The Radiorama-level of Italo overdrive on "Sombra" (is that a lion-roar sound effect?)

new album is relatively chill (I didn't count a single "Javiera-era-era") but it's growing on me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VYiPHWqSug

kinda mid :/