Via Ian (a different Ian), some Chilean disco…

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Edward Okulicz: “Foerte” is instantly gratifying disco, possibly puddle-deep but rich with catchy parts. And oh those parts: punk-dance opening guitars, a boppin’ bassline, synth lines like bells and Fanny Leona alternately flailing at the words and sighing. I love all these things, and the effect is somehow invigorating and spiky but still polite enough to dance to with limited investment.
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Alfred Soto: Poppin’ bass and sparsely strummed licks and sparkling keyboards — Playa Gótica are dance floor bound using an approach to A/C disco that the Cardigans might recognize. Then the groove turns ever more lissome, the changes come faster. The vocals may lack vim, but the track does its best. 
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Will Adams: I enjoy this more when it leans toward No Doubt, less so when it leans toward flimsy disco. Thankfully, the former happens on the chorus.
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Kylo Nocom: That “strumstrumstrumstrum oW!” is a great enough intro for me to be wanting a bit more from the hipster disco that follows. When the band kicks into a brilliant Remain in Light inspired breakdown and an impassioned, breathy bridge, the final section’s relative languor disappoints even more.
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Ryo Miyauchi: The synths’ descending melody leaves behind a hint of doubt, but a little hesitation only comes naturally when you’re about to dive into the unknown. The liquid funk assures a bright way ahead, and by the way Fanny Leona embraces her own words with repetition, she might be convinced it’s the right direction too.
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Ian Beverly: Released in late March to shamefully minimal notice, the winsome “Foerte” by Chilean quartet Playa Gótica opens with a near-quote from The Clash’s “The Magnificent Seven,” followed by the first of several chirpy and charming squeals from singer Fanny Leona. Swerving immediately into a buoyant dance-punk groove peppered with steel drum-like synth stabs and spindly, ricocheting guitar work that calls to mind Bauhaus and Gang of Four, “Foerte” grows impossibly bouncier in its slap bass-laden chorus, while Leona’s increasingly exuberant delivery and further ecstatic squeals add an icing sugar glaze over the whole pop confection. My knowledge of Spanish being minimal, the refined, bare-bones lyric seems to be about discovering a sense of self-assurance and satisfaction (exemplified by Leona’s relaxed and decidedly sexual coos of “ha, ah-ah”) that likely alludes to the singer’s queerness. “Foerte” and Playa Gótica’s delightful preceding single “Fuego” both suffuse me with an unabashed giddiness whenever I replay them, a sensation I have not felt from music since I first heard the similarly effervescent tropical post-punk/funk hybrid of Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s Mambo Nassau. It’s quite the comedown from such elation to learn that “Foerte” would prove to be the band’s penultimate single; after releasing “Donde No Volver” over the summer, Playa Gótica split after a final concert in their hometown Santiago in August.
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