Music Review

Is Kilby Court Cuco for cocoa puffs? Listen to singer Cuco from Kilby block party Friday lineup

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Go cuckoo for cocoa puffs: Hear the singer who goes by "cocopuffs" on Instagram!

I hope you get to see the Kilby Court Cuco show opening the Kilby Block Party Friday lineup. He’s so good, I could have included him in my 2022 Top 20 albums. Here’s what you need to know about the bedroom pop singer Cuco + a couple of songs from 2022’s entrancing Fantasy Gateway.

Kilby Court Cuco concert a nice start to Kilby Block Party Friday lineup

The singer Cuco — he uses the handle cucopuffs on the Insta — got his pet name from his mother while growing up in Hawthorne, California. Omar Banos has written lyrics both in English and Spanish since his early releases, Wannabewithu (2016) and Songs4u (2017) as a budding songwriter and Spotify phenom. His bedroom pop full length debut was 2019’s Para Mi.

By 2022, Banos was incorporating more elaborate orchestration on Fantasy Gateway as he felt his way into new territory. You can hear why the Kilby Court Cuco appearance came together. I’m not posturing — this was a favorite album of mine last year.

The intimate “Time Machine” has such a pure singer-songwriter inside that you can’t help but fall in love with the kid.

“Time Machine” – Cuco (Fantasy Gateway)

Sing along Kilby Court Cuco show in Spanish. Singer Cuco is bilingual pop star

One of the reasons I was taken aback by Fantasy Gateway was the sophisticated lyricism you’ll hear at the Kilby Court Cuco show. Sure there are the ridic catchy samples and chorus on last April’s “Caution” … then he steps into a mix of English and Spanish on the smooth R&B-via-soft 70’s “Aura.”

Here is the Spanish verse:

Ves que me causan celos cuando te habla alguien más
Nunca te quiero lejos, la distancia me hace mal
Eres siempre el tema del que quiero platicar
Hechamos fiesta solos, nos ponemos a bailar

…in which the singer Cuco is singing:

You see that they make me jealous when someone else talks to you
I never want you away, the distance hurts me
You are always the topic I want to talk about
We party alone, we start to dance

I expect most of the Kilby Court Cuco show at the Kilby Block Party Friday lineup will be in English. But Utah has plenty of Spanish speakers and returned missionaries to go cukoo for cocoa puffs. I’m looking forward to hearing fully Spanish numbers from the singer Cuco, like the gorgeous “Fin Del Mundo” (“End of the World”).

“Fin Del Mundo” – Cuco (Fantasy Gateway)

Be at the Kilby Court Cuco concert. You’ll go cukoo for cocoa puffs

Kilby Court Cuco appearance in Salt Lake City during the Kilby Court Block Party Friday lineup

Final note, whether you’re a 19-year-old kid reading this on the Insta or a jaded 50-something like me listening to bedroom pop singer Cuco for the first time…get to the Kilby Block Party on Friday. I recommend Fantasy Gateway without reservation and can’t wait to see him kickstart the Kilby Block Party Friday lineup!

Grab yourself a tshirt, an album or CD of Fantasy Gateway from Cuco’s website.

Completely freak out your neighbors with Hagop Tchaparian

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The October debut Bolts by Hagop Tchaparian is a triumph of world music

If you don’t know what a dhol drum is, you’ll definitely want to buy one after sitting through Bolts by Hagop Tchaparian. Tchaparian has married searing house music and ethnic Armenian field recordings throughout Bolts. But he doesn’t use the delirious dhol highs as a crutch. The whole is more subdued than the parts, and it is a marvel of music-making.

Tchaparian has lived two or three lives.

A musician, a tour manager for Hot Chip, a producer…all after growing up with his family in London as an exile from Turkey. The British-Armenian producer also spent years capturing field recordings from Armenian musicians and buskers playing Arabic instruments in return trips to his father’s Anjar on the border of Lebanon and Syria.

These lifetimes came together in the tapestry that is Bolts. Here is the September single from Hagop Tchaparian, “Right to Riot.” Warn your neighbors and play at very high decibals.

As mentioned, Bolts isn’t a front-to-back frenzy of Arabic techno beats. It is a love letter to the Armenian culture that his exiled father refused to let the family forget, and a remarkable debut.

Buy it today at Bandcamp.

Ride on tour: Dates announced! Plus listen here to new shoegaze acts who could open!

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Ride on tour with The Charlatans! Check tour dates here + new shoegaze bands that could open. This image from London, 2019

UPDATE Monday 9:15 AM: Dates for Ride on tour here!

Here is the announcement for dates for Ride on tour with The Charlatans tour dates. These are US and Canada big city performances starting in six weeks:

  • January 30 New York City
  • January 31 Brooklyn
  • February 2 Boston
  • February 3 Montreal
  • February 4 Toronto
  • February 5 Detroit
  • February 7 Chicago
  • February 8 Madison
  • February 9 Minneapolis
  • February 11 Denver
  • February 13 Vancouver
  • February 14 Seattle
  • February 15 Portland
  • February 17 San Francisco
  • February 18 Los Angeles

Here is the post to Ride’s Facebook page from an hour or so ago.

Dates for Ride on tour announced on Facebook! Charlatans tour dates are the same, they are co-headlining

With Ride on tour in 2023, it’s all fair game so let’s get right to it.

And KEEP READING — we’ll explore some new, gazey bands on the scene who could join the tour.

Bands opening Ride tour dates right now

Dates for Ride on tour with The Charlatans next year! Moaning Lisa is supporting Ride right now in Australia

Melbourne’s Moaning Lisa are scheduled to open for Ride’s Australia dates. Moaning Lisa is pretty straightforward indie rock. Here is the opener on last year’s debut album, Something Like This But Not Like This. I haven’t spent much time with ML.

Here is the first single from Something Like This, “Something.”

Buy from Moaning Lisa at Bandcamp.

Similarly, in Perth, Ride tour dates are getting support from local 5-piece The Deenys. The Deenys are living the dream, already opening for The Charlatans this year. They’re obscure enough that if you don’t narrow your search correctly it literally brings up a list of Denny’s restaurants in Perth.

If you want The Deenys, and not Denny’s, this is what they sound like.

Shoegazers WE WANT opening for Ride tour dates!

First, a quick reality check.

The shoegaze genre isn’t exactly producing dozens of breakout acts right now. We have some terrific, gothy bands this year like Just Mustard. But they’re not going to show up in Salt Lake City (please God please) or San Francisco supporting Ride and The Charlatans tour dates.

Here are a few up-and-comers and, by the way, WHO AM I MISSING? Would love to know.

Healees

Healees are a standout new shoegaze band from Paris, France that could support Ride with The Charlatans tour dates

Okay, can we get more serious for a moment? Hidden Bay Records’ Healees have been on my Best Of list all year.

I can still remember wandering around a grocery store this spring listening to their self-titled EP in June and wondering, how am the only person swooning over this gazey band?! Healees, based in Paris, are probably synched most closely with the Ride’s 1990 sound from Nowhere on the aching cut “The Garden.”

Also, have a listen to the blistering “Jaguarundi” from the same EP. What exactly is a Jaguarundi, anyway? You won’t care after listening to Healees‘ shimmering, 4 minute jam that would be an incredible introduction, just before Andy Bell and Mark Gardener take the stage.

Buy Healees super strong debut at Bandcamp.

Downward

Tulsa, Oklahoma's Downward could crush it as an opening act for Ride in 2023

Downward is admittedly a band I only discovered for the first time tonight. Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Downward is currently touring in support of their February Brass Tacks EP. Sometimes 90’s indie, at other times right in a gazey bullseye…”Ugly Bug” is about as perfect an opener for Ride as I can imagine — or maybe Catherine Wheel?!

Listen to the variety of sounds on Downward’s Brass Tacks EP.

LAUNDER

LAUNDER is a super dream pop act out of Los Angeles. Could be a great warm-up for Ride on tour in 2023?

In my experience, a lot of bands described as shoegaze are in actuality loud dream pop. Google “shoegaze” all you want, mostly you’re getting metal or dream pop.

LAUNDER falls in this gap. This year’s Happening is super but it’s not gazey at all, whatever you read. The working name of LA’s John Cudlip, LAUNDER is in the same shoegaze zipcode on “Intake,” but it’s pretty atypical of the rest of the dream pop album.

This is a really nice album, an agitated dream pop record. Check it out!

Mo Dotti

Mo Dotti from Los Angeles could be a great opener for Ride on tour with The Charlatans tour dates

Hat tip to The Noise Made by People, who flagged LA’s Mo Dotti for me. Their March EP Guided Imagery falls somewhere between dream and gaze, and I have no dispute with where they land! I love to imagine a really crunchy, aggressive version of “Come on Music” before Ride hits the stage.

And here is “Loser Smile,” the opening track on Guided Imagery, with some My Bloody Valentine energy.

Ride on tour to promote re-release of Nowhere and Going Blank Again

Ride's first two albums and four EP's reissued by Wichita Recordings

It’s already been a year for Ride.

On November 4, Wichita Recordings re-issued 1990’s legendary Nowhere and 1992’s Going Blank Again, along with a collection of their first four EP’s. I only have the Today Forever EP, so I’ll be buying 4 EP’s at the band’s website. Next week, Ride begins an Australia and New Zealand tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of Nowhere:

  • Nov 29 Adelaide, Australia
  • Nov 30      Melbourne, Australia
  • Dec 1        Sydney, Australia
  • Dec 2        Woolloongabba, Australia
  • Dec 4        Fremantle, Australia
  • Dec 6        Auckland, New Zealand
  • Dec 16      Athens, Greece
  • Dec 18      Paris, France (Les Inrocks festival)
Ride tour dates and Charlatans tour dates announced today!

One way or the other, let’s get Ride to Salt Lake for the #goingblankagain30 tour — and a ten-minute version of “OX4” please!

There are a lot of bands similar to REM – but only The Wends got in a fight with Radiohead

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The world has no shortage of bands similar to REM. But The Wends got in a fight with Radiohead

I like to envision The Wends, those cutie-patootie Italian grad school-looking kids, trading cease-and-desist nastygrams with Radiohead. It devolves into a tense battle for ownership of the name, The Smile. Until this unwelcome legal drama, the Italian band formerly known as Smile had been happy since 2020 to channel Michael Stipe and Peter Buck. After all, there are so many bands similar to REM, albeit not many from Turin, Italy. But now they’re in deep.

Thom Yorke’s high-falutin’ Manhattan lawyers are papering Smile until they break under the pressure of Harvard-educated trademark attorneys. They finally agree to change their name, paving the way for Yorke’s new side project. Plenipotentiaries for each band meet in a non-descript French café in Châlons-en-Champagne to sign the deal over muttered insults.

In truth, there’s not a ton of evidence for that drama in the public record, and The Wends are entirely too affable looking for confrontation. They may have just wanted to avoid being swallowed in an ocean of Google searches for Yorke’s The Smile and opted for a new moniker. Still, they continue to use the cheeky e-mail username thenameofthisbandissmile. It was also the title of their October 2020 debut and it remains the web address for their band website.

Who knows, maybe they had a dance fight.

Yes there are a lot of bands similar to REM – but listen to The Wends in this outrageous Husker Dü stomper

The Wends new EP is It's Here Where You Fall

Much of The Wends It’s Here Where You Fall EP released last month is a straight-up tribute to Athens, Georgia. That doesn’t detract at all from the punch of lead track “What A Heart is For.” It is a jangle werewolf, half-REM and half-Bob Mould.

On other cuts, vocalist Michele Sarda seems almost to impersonate Michael Stipe. This might be a bother if the tunes weren’t so dang good.

Whither do The Wends wander from here?

The Wends are one of many bands similar to REM. But the Turin, Italy disciples got in a fight with Radiohead. The Wends' original name was Smile

We’ll let posterity decide what happened behind the scenes of the titanic struggle for the Smile trademark. Whatever the outcome, you should buy The Wends latest EP. Support a fictional legal defense fund that may or may not exist. I was on the fence about paying for the full EP, but I’m purchasing the It’s Here Where You Fall EP tonight to support the underdogs of rock!

“The Neverland of Spoken Things” – The alternative Christmas song that’s not about Christmas

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The Black Watch write an alternative Christmas song that's not about Christmas
The Black Watch write an alternative Christmas song that’s not about Christmas

You know you’ve found a band with a great sense of humor when their Best Of retrospective is called “31 Years of Obscurity.” And a band leader with high touch, when you get a personal e-mail thanking you for your purchase. After three plus decades, John Andrew Fredrick and The Black Watch released The Neverland of Spoken Things EP in September. The gentle shoegaze and shimmering guitars perfectly complement Fredrick’s rich baritone. Darrin at Janglepophub likens title track “Neverland” to The Lightning Seeds. That’s actually an astute catch that escaped me. However I think it gets closer to the mark when you hear “Neverland” as the alternative Christmas song that isn’t about Baby Jesus at all.

Who is this Black Watch you speak of?

Fredrick hatched The Black Watch in one of my favorite American cities, Santa Barbara, CA. Since those humble beginnings in 1987-88, Fredrick has produced dozens of releases, including this year’s Neverland EP.

The EP’s three tracks kick off with the remarkable title track. “Neverland” launches as a perfectly gazey and gauzy pop gem before evoking a subtle disco underscore of strings like a Jeff Lynne composition. And from that bridge: A triumphant piccolo trumpet that cannot NOT have Mannheim Steamroller as some small inspiration.

I hope you find the same delight in “The Neverland of Spoken Things!”

I made these observations entirely to myself. Then last weekend, while picking up my 17-year-old daughter from her job, she jumps in the car while I’m listening to “Neverland.” With zero prompting or telekinetic ability that I am currently aware of she asked, “Are you listening to Christmas music?” Thus, the genesis of this post was born, like that babe in a manger on a starry night 2022 years ago.

“The Neverland of Spoken Things” – The alternative Christmas song that’s not about Christmas

So much more on The Black Watch’s Neverland

Enough silliness about my alternative Christmas song. The Black Watch fills out the Neverland EP with the driving “Precious Little” and, finally, “Living Backwards.”

Listen to an alternative Christmas song that's not about Christmas on The Neverland of Spoken Things EP

“Precious Little” rides a binary guitar line on the strength of Fredrick’s vocals; he is almost crooning here, at times sounding not unlike Morrissey. You can’t say enough about his presence and confidence. Like “Neverland,” “Precious Little” is also a marvel of arrangement. From the opening guitar line, it effortlessly introduces gentle, legato harmonies and a singing guitar solo.

I think you’ll hear that same progressive song structure in “Precious Little.”

Download your copy of The Neverland of Spoken Things EP + top moments of the 35 year catalogue of LA’s The Black Watch at Bandcamp.

The band Cheekface is oddly amazing

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Something is working when you listen to a song and can’t decide if it is cringey and insufferable or the best thing you’ve heard all year. LA’s Cheekface (latest nominee for worst band name) come fast and furious with mathy, new wave hooks, nonsensical oh-so-meta lyrics and power punk hooks you just. cannot. ignore.

This fall, the kids at my college radio station, U92 at West Virginia University, were heralding Cheekface as one of their favorites of the year. It was the first time I had heard of the band. I wanted to hate them, but I kind of love them.

Here’s why.

No amount of cheese can hide the hooks

Perhaps 2022’s surprise of the year, Too Much to Ask, the third album by the band Cheekface, barrels out of the gates with 1 minute and 25 seconds of total dork fury on “When Life Hands You Problems.” Your car is now a party palace.

If you missed it, Greg Katz lovably laconic stoner lyrics include the word “problemade.”

Life hands you problems, make problemade.
Life hands you wages, minimum wage;
The popcorn ceiling, the great divide.
If you think this sucks would you keep it to yourself?
You must be thinking of something else.

Where have you heard the Cheekface sound before? I have answers

The band Cheekface features Amanda Tannen's drawing of her dog Stubbs on Too Much to Ask

For a few moments, enjoy the cover art of Too Much to Ask. My personal nominee for 2022’s Best Cover Art, the album’s cute little terrier (Shih Tzu?) was drawn by band member Amanda Tannen. Not only is the picture endearing, I think it inadvertently points to some of the band’s musical lineage.

The drawing and free-hand lettering on Too Much to Ask and 2019’s Therapy Island remind me of the art common to Seattle’s BOAT. Going further back, you can start a through-line with Seattle indie forefathers The Young Fresh Fellows, who influenced BOAT and They Might Be Giants, essentially birthing Weezer. And that brings us to Cheekface.

“I Feel So Weird” is a more angular version of the YFF’s “Amy Grant.” Another difference? There is simply no way to bury Katz earworm harmony inside “Weird.” He’s an over-achiever, and out-Weezer’s even the most euphoric Weezer hooks on the resolve of “weeee-ird.”

The band Cheekface is odd and amazing

I could talk myself into getting excited about a Cheekface show. Unfortunately 2023 dates started in San Diego, Las Vegas and Reno in January…jump Salt Lake City…and conclude in Denver in April. So close–this could still happen!

Until then, buy the eccentric, insanely catchy album Too Much to Ask, full of deliberate non sequiturs and little linear sense. Or get a Cheekface T or mini basketball hoop!

I’m holding out hope for a Salt Lake Show. Cheekface brings all of the joy, which we value too little in 2022.

Blue Rev album: I vvill Alvvays love you

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Molly Rankin and Alvvays play tour on the Blue Rev album in SLC on October 18. Stream several of the best tracks from the Blue Rev album here

Alvvays has released the hottest album of the fall just days before their visit to Salt Lake City. As Zion welcomes Alvvays, a few things you should know about the Blue Rev album, their third. It is a gauzy, absolute pop delight. Not overthought, not overwrought. Recorded live to tape, with a bit of gussying up after-the-fact. It’s sensational, beyond what was previewed in their July single “The Pharmacist.”

Let’s have a look shall vvee?

Blue Rev album has a little of everything

Even album opener and first single “The Pharmacist” feels like a pop song cross-bred with distorted guitar. But the solo itself is simple, clean, perfectly lovely. My early favorite on the Blue Rev album is “Easy On Your Own,” which starts with some noisy dream pop — and then out comes the delightful and too-short pop chorus of the year:

“If you don’t like it, well
Say it’s over, well…
Weekends alone.
Does it get easier on your own?
Does it get easier on your own?“

Treat yourself to three minutes of “Easy On Your Own.”

Mocking, rocking, clever Blue Rev album

Most of the songs on Blue Rev are two to three minutes long. Some songs as short as a minute and change, like a Ramones ditty. Mad props for any band that casts its antagonist boyfriend as Tom Verlaine of Television on the aptly titled “Tom Verlaine.”

That when you walk away.
It’s gonna be for good.
You were my Tom Verlaine,
Just sitting on the hood.”

But also on “Very Online Guy,” Alvvays shows their sardonic humor on the Blue Rev album. It inverts the traditional influencer criticisms and targets the perfect Insta male. Another mashup in less than 2.5 minutes…80’s wave, power pop and a blithe disco walkaway!

How did I not alvvays love Alvvays?

Alvvays' gauzy pop Blue Rev Album is tremendous. Listen to multiple Blue Rev cuts here

I have specific memories of listening to Alvvays’ self-titled debut in 2014. It was good. I mean, GOOD. Not life-changing…I didn’t sit around wondering when I would get my hands on the next Alvvays album.

Boy did they make the leap! The Blue Rev album is a marvel of effortless songwriting across genres. Everything works, across all 14 tracks. Need some post-punk? (Alright, EVERYTHING is basically post-punk.) How about “Pomeranian Spinster?”

…or when gauzy pop turns to power pop on “Belinda Says.” It is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, despite the darker material. I repeatedly stop and listen when Molly Rankin sings about a girl “moving to the country,” having her baby and starting a new life.

It is beautiful and sad and everything music should be.

The Blue Rev album: So many reasons you vvil love Alvvays too!

The Blue Rev album is that rare collection that presents a little bubblegum but rewards with more and deeper listens. I can’t recommend highly enough buying Blue Rev, nor recommend enough that you capture the chance to see Rankin and company live next Tuesday at SLC’s The Depot.

You vvill alvvays remember this night!

You didn’t hear this Belle and Sebastian song!

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My favorite new Belle and Sebastian song is on A Bit of Previous

First, let me stress that Belle and Sebastian’s A Bit of Previous is mostly a joy, a largely consistent and progressive return to form from our favorite Scots. It is a look back, a step forward. Stuart Murdoch began his career in the 90’s releasing gentle Britpop that was something of a revelation. Murdoch was a songwriter of spare arrangements, sympathetic characters and tender, earnest observations. Over the years, the group added more rhythmic, slightly funky and shuffling dance notes. It was only this month that I got around to buying A Bit of Previous and on it, I may have found my new favorite Belle and Sebastian song.

A Belle and Sebastian song for every music lover

What is your favorite Belle and Sebastian song? Is it the title track from their signature 1996 album If You’re Feeling Sinister? Solid. I don’t DISLIKE “The Boy With the Arab Strap.” Now a mainstay at hipster weddings, it has its place. How about an original, like “Expectations” on debut Tigermilk? I’d also like to make an argument for “I didn’t See It Coming,” which I’ve written about before. Sarah Martin is positively divine here.

However, on A Bit of Previous, much has been made of opening track “Young and Stupid,” and its recognition of encroaching middle age: “Now we’re old with creaking bones. Some with partners, some alone.” The violin on “Young and Stupid” also reminds me of Balloon, an emo British pop group that released Gravity in 1992 and disappeared five seconds later.

Belle and Sebastian Ukraine song

Also a lot written about “If They’re Shooting at You” and its ode to suffering and the plight of people in Ukraine. I’m not a big video guy, but it’s hard not to be touched by the juxtaposition of a lovely song with images from Ukraine. Belle and Sebastian are doing something right on “If They’re Shooting at You.”

Don’t miss this forgotten song from A Bit of Previous

Finally, the Belle and Sebastian song you may have missed!

On their new album, little has been said about “Prophets on Hold,” which I think is an absolute shame. Its my favorite on an album of standouts. Has there been a better, more memorable chorus all year when Stuart sings, “…for Goooooood or angel?!”

“And I sometimes confuse you
For God or angel.
You’re just a person.
And I’m sometimes confused.
I got glory in my mind,
A soft summer unwinds.”

“Prophets on Hold” by Belle and Sebastian (A Bit of Previous)

Even if, like me, you’re not a founding member of the Belle and Sebastian fan club, I encourage you to buy A Bit of Previous. Take a look back at some of the 90’s best Britpop, and a look forward as the band reintroduces itself once again.

Cleveland alternative music: The band Proof I Exist

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New Cleveland alternative music from the band Proof I Exist is further evidence I should visit. Two things come to mind when I think of Cleveland. First, it’s the home town of Liz Lemon’s early boyfriend, Floyd DeBarber (Jason Sudeikis) on 30 Rock. Liz nearly Flees NYC with Floyd after an idyllic vacation in Cleveland. Second, more obviously, Cleveland held the cavernous backstage that so confused Spinal Tap.

Proof I Exist is alternative music Cleveland (and you!) should hear

Cleveland alternative music find: Proof I Exist and their new White Picket Fences EP

Paul Kulis — stand by a second, we’ll return to Hollywood with Kulis — is the band Proof I Exist. His White Picket Fences EP starts with an earworm guitar hook and chorus on the glossy title track, “Hard to Believe.”

Trying to place the influence there…what is it? Am I hearing The Smithereens?! From here, Kulis moves through three more cuts that carry a host of mid-90’s crossover acts like the Gin Blossoms on “Colin’s Song” and “The End.” Never thought I would name check Gin Blossoms in a blog post.

White Picket Fences wraps with the easy Sunday strum of “Finally” that could be a deep cut from a 90’s MTV Unplugged release.

Proof I Exist is the actor Paul Kulis

extras in The Irishman

Turns out Kulis is a Cleveland-based actor with multiple minor roles in movies like The Fate of the Furious, Joker and The Irishman. Acting and writing music are just a couple of his occupations. For a taste of some new Cleveland alternative music, buy his White Picket Fences EP from Bandcamp.

Oh, and The Smithereens had a Christmas album! Who knew? You probably always wanted to know how the Smithereens would sound playing “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and you can do it here.

South American jangle pop: A brief introduction

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Listen to the new South American jangle pop from Mañana El Espacio

What is it about me and South American jangle pop?! I honestly don’t understand it, specifically the words they’re singing. Stupid American. But I love the spirit from the continent and of course, the songs are brilliant. Even if you tend to be parochial or intimidated by foreign language lyrics, YOU NEED TO HEAR the debut album by Mañana El Espacio. I’ll even throw in a full translation of the album’s delightful lead track. And read on for a reminder of a gem from Argentina in 2021!

South American jangle pop savants, Mañana El Espacio

Album cover for Casi Nada Es Para Siempre by Mañana El Espacio. Listen to their Spanish jangle pop here!

Caracas band Mañana El Espacio has been dropping singles from this year’s Casi Nada Es Para Siempre since July 2020. Now wait. Before you check out because you’re seeing too many Spanish words that you don’t understand — let me translate to the world’s International Language: Jangle pop.

Jigsaw Records nails it with their description of Mañana El Espacio: “…a subtler Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (what, did he fly Peggy down to add those magical twinkling keyboards?) and its associated dreamier off-shoots (particularly The Depreciation Guild)…”

Specifically you hear the POBPAH in leadoff track, “Alguien M​á​s.”

No matter your language, that is jangle pop perfection!

But what is Mañana El Espacio singing about?

I probably listened to this album four times, completely ignorant of what Ricardo Vergara was saying. A friend of mine translated “Alguien M​á​s” (or “Someone Else”) and the lyrics are borderline endearing!*

“Today you’ll come across my door
But I’ll already be someone else.
I’ll already be someone else.

We’ll go visit the same old places
But I’ll already be someone else.
I’ll already be someone else”

Here is the complete lay translation of “Alguien M​á​s.”

translate Spanish pop song

It’s not just the leadoff track. So much about the record is memorable. Ever wondered what Sonic Youth would sound like if they played jangle pop and sang in Spanish? Wonder no more.

The jangle pop scene in Argentina

Listen here to new Spanish jangle pop from Argentina by Un Día Soleado

Let us not forget the lovely singles released last year by Argentina’s Un Día Soleado. The songs were bundled together this year, along with a few covers, as “y todo sigue igual​.​.​.​” Highlight “Skate 3,” is simply a marvel of indie jangle pop. No translation needed for so perfect a pop song.

Buy your first Spanish-language jangle pop record from Un Día Soleado.

Whether you speak English, Spanish or Portuguese…rock crosses all boundaries. Let your mind wander and buy these jangle pop releases from south of the Grenadines!

* I am 55-60% sure this photo is not copyright infringement