Finds: Juan Álvarez
After taking a good look at the shelf where he keeps his most cherished books, albums and movies, this is what Colombian writer Juan Álvarez decided to share with us.
Translated by Robin Myers
Pueblo alimaña [Vermin People]
(La coneja ciega, 2012) [The Blind Rabbit, 2012]
1280 Almas [1280 Souls]
This album-object is vermin itself. The band has nothing to do with the people if by “people” we mean “homeland.” The band has everything to do with the people if by “people” we mean “couplet.” They sing punk. They blast Latin percussion. They shove dirty guitar in your face. But couplets – they always rhyme their couplets.
Antipatriota [“Anti-Patriot”] is the simple protesting star. Tu sonrisa [“Your Smile”], the compact synthesizing song. Ten more downloads complete the twelve tracks on an album that celebrates twenty years of assertiveness. It’s the band’s eighth one.
What is it that Pueblo alimaña sings? Everything that 1280 Almas has been singing since 1992.
Death and the consolation of death. The designation of surfeit and its remedy. A life that rots; the beauty of the putrefaction, too. Sorrow. Battles. Hallucination. Humanity in the hot zone. 1280 sings a school of cynicism. 1280 sings the antidote to that school of cynicism.
Towards the end of 2012, the Colombian rock scene suffered two thefts. The first was the guitarrifle owned by César López, black-and-white symbol of a compliant musical proselytism. The social media reacted with derision. The second was the Fender Stratocaster played by the Almas’ guitarist. There were people in Bogotá neighborhoods who offered to go out in search of it.
Over two decades of struggle, the Almas have always played within the confines of Bogotá, and in spite of the pyramidal logic that characterizes the global music industry, this hasn’t meant defeat. It has meant, in fact, its direct opposite, their rightful triumph: the vermin experience; the concrete possibility of bacteria itself.
Finds:
[Diego Erlan: Últimos días de Sexton y Blake]
[Rodrigo Blanco Calderón: Maten al león]
[Ricardo Silva Romero: Girls]
[Betina González: Sweet Days of Discipline]
Translated by Robin Myers
Pueblo alimaña [Vermin People]
(La coneja ciega, 2012) [The Blind Rabbit, 2012]
1280 Almas [1280 Souls]
This album-object is vermin itself. The band has nothing to do with the people if by “people” we mean “homeland.” The band has everything to do with the people if by “people” we mean “couplet.” They sing punk. They blast Latin percussion. They shove dirty guitar in your face. But couplets – they always rhyme their couplets.
Antipatriota [“Anti-Patriot”] is the simple protesting star. Tu sonrisa [“Your Smile”], the compact synthesizing song. Ten more downloads complete the twelve tracks on an album that celebrates twenty years of assertiveness. It’s the band’s eighth one.
What is it that Pueblo alimaña sings? Everything that 1280 Almas has been singing since 1992.
Death and the consolation of death. The designation of surfeit and its remedy. A life that rots; the beauty of the putrefaction, too. Sorrow. Battles. Hallucination. Humanity in the hot zone. 1280 sings a school of cynicism. 1280 sings the antidote to that school of cynicism.
Towards the end of 2012, the Colombian rock scene suffered two thefts. The first was the guitarrifle owned by César López, black-and-white symbol of a compliant musical proselytism. The social media reacted with derision. The second was the Fender Stratocaster played by the Almas’ guitarist. There were people in Bogotá neighborhoods who offered to go out in search of it.
Over two decades of struggle, the Almas have always played within the confines of Bogotá, and in spite of the pyramidal logic that characterizes the global music industry, this hasn’t meant defeat. It has meant, in fact, its direct opposite, their rightful triumph: the vermin experience; the concrete possibility of bacteria itself.
Finds:
[Diego Erlan: Últimos días de Sexton y Blake]
[Rodrigo Blanco Calderón: Maten al león]
[Ricardo Silva Romero: Girls]
[Betina González: Sweet Days of Discipline]
