Chorus.fm Record of the Week Club • Page 62

Hollerado record is pretty fun. Some very catchy tunes on here

 

Yeah looks like youre next

 

(there are duplicates on Spotify - use this one, it sounds better)

My choice is Argentine art-rock legend Litto Nebbia's 1976 album, Bazar de los Milagros. I've been opening myself up to more music around the world and Latin America (and specifically Argentina) is an absolute goldmine--for art-rock, jazz fusion, psych, prog-folk, and more.

Litto Nebbia's run through the 70's and some of the 80's is pure soul-food, and it was tough choosing one. This feels right as it was my intro to him, and recently reissued from Vampisoul. Litto features his wife-at-the-time Mirtha on this record and their love shines through this and all their collabs (including her own albums). I love Nebbia's heartfelt voice soaring over the jazzy, spacious instrumentation. I don't understand the Spanish lyrics but I've since sat down with them since getting the actual LP itself and plugging them into Google Translate; very poetic and beautiful.

A little about myself, my mom grew up in Argentina, and her side of the fam is either from there or Paraguay. But unfortunately I didn't learn Spanish as a kid. I've not visited Argentina yet, though I'd like to, so digging into its music has felt a bit like homecoming. My mom didn't listen to Nebbia growing up, but I still feel a connection to her childhood when listening to him.

I hope folks enjoy. I realize it's a weird week for listening to music and/or being online in general, and this selection is pretty niche lol. But it does mean a lot to me on a personal level. If anyone enjoys, happy to share similar recs--from Nebbia's discography or otherwise.

 

fun fact while I relisten to this album myself. The Alchemist samples La Caída in a Jay Elec song (fukk that dude tho - all credit goes to The Alchemist there)

 

this sounds super fun

 

absolutely think you, @Long Century, and @cshadows2887 in particular would enjoy this one based on what I know of y’all’s tastes. curious about others here.

 

All my Christmas prep is done so I'll get onto this (and @Doomsday's pick) soon.

 

Oooooh I will find some time in the next few days.

 

this is fun

 

Just finished my first listen, yeah awesome pick.

 

First listen of Bazar de los Milagros, this is pretty good. La Caida gave me kind of a Latin Funkadelic vibe.

 

Glad peeps are digging it! A compilation across his discography came out earlier this year. I like their song choices but I tend to avoid compilations if I can listen to the original albums. But if that's your thing, you may want to check it!

As for Litto's other albums, dude has had an extremely prolific career. In terms of where to listen next, it might depend on what you like. He played with a ton of sounds and experimented often with structure.

tracks 1-14 of this make up Toda Canción Será Plegaria which is another album he made with his wife-at-the-time. very atmospheric and ambient. Mirtha sings a lot more on this one and at times feels otherworldly. a couple songs reach these operatic, almost-divine heights that remind me of Sigur Rós.

Creer is also worth checking, a more-structured and refined art-rock album that makes good use of acoustic guitar and synths. Jazzy, but not spacey like Bazar.

tracks 11-19 of this make up Despertemos en América (don't listen to the other version on spotify - it's a bad rip). this one is folky, featuring some transcendent harmonica and some of Litto's most impassioned vocals

 

as you can tell, his Spotify page is a bit of a disaster with bundled albums and some bad rips. while it's been well worth it, it's made for a tough entry into his work. but I've sort of figured it out based on all my listening - he was my number one artist this year for Wrapped lol, so I'd be happy to give more recs from his huge discography as there's a lot more I love and I could talk forever about, or similar artists from Argentina / other Latin countries.

 

earth to album thread lol, I promise you will like this album if you give it an honest chance!

 

I promise I’ll get to it - just might be when I’m back at work next week.

 

I've listened a few more times and ready for more recs

 

I enjoyed the Litto Nebbia record quite a bit. The vocals were a big standout for me. This man's discography is massive lol

 

hell yeah. overall the albums I’ve loved most from Litto are everything I posted above and:

Muerte en la Catedral
Fuera del Cielo
1981
En Brasil, Aqui y Ahora
Musiqueros

once you hit the late 80’s he starts to lose me though there are some goodies. still working through his albums lol, have barely touched his 90’s work yet.

check this other classic album from Argentina. jazzy prog-metal? I’d just call it art-rock. the frontman Spinetta, a legend in his own right, has called out Nebbia as an influence. once you get into Spinetta’s stuff, that’s another rabbit hole of incredible material.

this is the other Mirtha album with Nebbia featured, but only subtly. it’s def her album. I also posted it in the Latin Music thread today actually but yeah it reminds me of an Argentine Circa Survive precursor, lovely guitar throughout.

this is also dope but from Uruguay and from the late 80’s. still gives me a Litto Nebbia vibe. Also reminds me a little of Gal Costa (who was my runner-up choice for this week).

 

also feel free to explore my sprawling latin american music playlist on spotify (even bigger than my reggae playlist) that continues to grow. apologies as it’s all over the place—literally, as it spans many countries. there’s tropicalia/mpb, folk, psych, art-rock, prog, cumbia, chicha, funk, fusion, and a lot more from the 60’s-90’s

 

Thanks Ooty this is awesome. Argentina has a special place in my heart. I met the last person I fell in love with there in 2019 and went back to spent Christmas in Patagonia with them. It's been long enough now I can start to look back fondly so these playlists are perfect.

 

I would expect it was likely a pretty busy week for people, I know I haven't gotten to it yet but I will.

 

in the meantime, I think we can keep it moving. @Wharf Rat it's all you!

then, we have @Swaddle who requested to be added a few weeks back

 

Alright I was conflicted...is it time to make you all listen to jam bands yet? There's lots of great records I have almost as much personal connection to that I would feel slightly less silly talking about but you know what, it's Christmastime, New Years is soon, Phish starts their MSG run tomorrow night, the Dead just got honored at the Kennedy Center...yeah it's as good as time as any. But it's not the Dead or Phish it's my best friends in Max Creek.

I wrote a little about them here:

There's a little history here too that goes into this album specifically.

This album comes from essentially Creek's first creative peak in my opinion. They've had ups and downs in 50 years but in 1982 they were 3 years into a 12 year stint with the same members and played 241(!) shows in 365 nights.

One of the things that pushed them to this height other than the new songs they're recording on this is the addition of percussionist Rob Fried (RIP) who had a truly wild percussion setup (and hat) that included literal bells and whistles that you can hear on this, and even more on this - one of my favorite cuts from the band's whole existence. He's a big part of their musical DNA and sound and they've struggled to adequately recapture what he did since he left the band in 04 imo. And yes he's the percussionist and there is also a drummer, that's the world you're in right now, get used to it.

So they get this '82 peak on tape via this live double record. This is not just a full show by a jam band that I'm making you listen to don't worry, it's curated. Only 75 minutes not 210. But you're still getting 12 minutes of Gypsy Blue and if you want to hear them really jam just ask. But I think it shows off their songwriting and gives you a really representative sample. They play all of these tracks live to this day, except tracks 4 and 5, and the singer of 5 isn't in the band anymore.

I know I've already written a ton so it might be funny that I say this but I'm going to wait to give my thoughts on individual tracks until we've had some listeners because I'm really really curious how this sounds to people who haven't had it pumped into their ears since before they were born. Like I was at these shows way too young you guys. The first time I smelled weed knowing it was weed (at like 11 maybe?) I had a super intense sense memory of outdoor childhood Max Creek shows, often like 2 miles from my house. Since I was a literal baby. Hope u guys get 1/10000th of the enjoyment I've got from this band in my life from this record

 

I listened to Litto Nebbia a couple more times. It really felt like I was listening to a Bowie album at times. The guitars and synths just have that well executed layering and spacey vibe to it. On the opening track and I was half expecting to hear Bowie’s voice for a minute after the long intro.

 

Almost forgot to listen to Max Creek this week. I checked out the first few songs while at the gym but it didn’t seem like the right vibe. Gonna listen while driving and check back in.

It does give me the vibe of chilling at a local outdoor bar while these older dudes jam.