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With seldom a blurb of mention in music encyclopedias and historical documentaries (unless it’s lumped in the insanely broad “World Music” category), non-English speaking rock and pop music has played an unrecognized and significant role in the art form we hold so near and dear to our hearts. Whether it be the silky French lust ballads of Serge Gainsbourg, the robotic rhythms of German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk (whose first few albums were sung entirely in their native language), the psychedelic sitar work of Ravi Shankar, the militant funk jams of Nigerian Fela Kuti (his lyrics were usually a combination of English and native African languages), or the full-throttle Japanese punk of Guitar Wolf, some of the best music in pop history has come from countries and places where England is not the primary language. Madrid, Spain’s JR attempts to carry on the tradition of classic international pop recordings with its full-length debut La JR.
Sung entirely in Spanish, JR delivers a breezily memorable recording filled with lush 60s pop tones and traces of ambient keyboards and jazzy experimental touches (a la Sea and Cake) mixed in to great effect. JR weaves its way through 10 tracks loaded with Serge Gainsbourg seduction pop (“Cualquier Cosa de Este Dia,” “Me Debes Fusilar,” and “Hilos Tendidos De Alta Tension”), dark atmospheric lounge singing (“Eh Mono” and the spellbinding “Las Nubes Lentas”), and songs that could easily be mistaken for 70s European soft-core soundtracks (“Contra Senor Contra”).
The lack of English will almost certainly alienate some listeners, but Rafael Martinez Del Pozo's cool yet immediate vocal delivery (along with the occasional weird vocal effects) helps to break down much of the language barrier. Even if an unsophisticated listener still has trouble getting beyond the Spanish, a couple of the best songs ar.......
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LA JR uznano za najbardziej "niespodziewany" w historii zespół hiszpański (a może nawet europejski?). Frank, Rafa i Borja klasyfikują swoją twórczość jako dadaistyczny pop, mimo, że do końca nie wiemy co sam termin "dada" oznaczać ma dla zespołu, tak jak trudno określić ich muzyczną, godną uwagi różnorodność. "17 animales" zawiera w sobie określenia: dark lounge, trance, kraut-rock groove, free jazz albo nawet anti-jazz-folk! Na ten szufladkowy zestaw brzmień składa się nagromadzenie rozmaitych materiałów, których dźwięk (oprócz podstawowych instrumentów jak pianino, trąbka, smooth-jazzowa perkusja) przywołuje na myśl porcelanę, drewno i szkło. Do tego dochodzi ochrypły bas, nachodzące fale szumów i brzęczących dźwięków. "17 animales" to album o współczesności na wielu płaszczyznach, śmierci, seksie, transformacji życia w sztukę i odwrotnie.


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adequacy.net

With seldom a blurb of mention in music encyclopedias and historical documentaries (unless it’s lumped in the insanely broad “World Music” category), non-English speaking rock and pop music has played an unrecognized and significant role in the art form we hold so near and dear to our hearts. Whether it be the silky French lust ballads of Serge Gainsbourg, the robotic rhythms of German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk (whose first few albums were sung entirely in their native language), the psychedelic sitar work of Ravi Shankar, the militant funk jams of Nigerian Fela Kuti (his lyrics were usually a combination of English and native African languages), or the full-throttle Japanese punk of Guitar Wolf, some of the best music in pop history has come from countries and places where England is not the primary language. Madrid, Spain’s JR attempts to carry on the tradition of classic international pop recordings with its full-length debut La JR.
Sung entirely in Spanish, JR delivers a breezily memorable record.......
more