The Singles Jukebox

We like Dënver; what do we think of their labelmates?

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Iain Mew: How do you take slinky but passionately sung indie disco to that extra level? It must be all that more pressing a conundrum in Chile with the competition as it is. Playa Gótica’s answer is to have someone setting off avalanches of guitar feedback behind their chorus, which could seem a weird one right up until the moment of hearing how fucking glorious it sounds.
[9]

Hannah Jocelyn: Started out as a regular nu-disco song, and then instead of Nile Rodgers for the chorus they apparently got Kevin Shields! That chorus is one of the coolest swerves I’ve heard recently, like if Neil Cicierega started listening to Beach House and made more serious-minded mashups. Unfortunately, every time those guitars leave, I wait for them to come back amidst the rapping, the detached delivery, and other indie tropes I’m not nearly as fond of as guitar explosions. But the chorus does come back, though, and it comes back often.
[7]

Thomas Inskeep: Hitting all of my ’80s college rock sweet spots simultaneously, new Chilean band Playa Gótica take a little Stone Roses, a little shoegaze, some Smiths-via-Ocean Blue, and fold it together into a melange that takes me into the(ir) deep. Their Soundcloud page describes them (via Google Translate) as a “light but violent pop band,” and I like that summation. There’s a darkness under the surface, some definite goth influence underneath strong pop melodies, and it’s not due to any one particular element, though lead singer Fanny surely pulls it all together with vocals that can be tough and coo at the same time.
[9]

Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: Shoegaze guitars are an amazing companion to such a tight groove, but what captured me is the sheer ingenuity in the vocals. The way Fanny Leona goes “quiero estrecharte y no alejarme, aunque me asusta” is just so charming; other dance-pop acts would give those lines twice the sexual charge, and that would be missing the point. “Fuego” is not about the advances, it’s about the hesitation.
[7]

Jonathan Bradley: Playa Gótica gestures towards disco with an uptempo beat and a funk bassline, but the lazy chorused key washes and the drifting, technicolor sweep of the hook is trademark chillwave hypnagogia. I’m not sure how many levels of recursion are suggested in a chillwave revival, but it might not be necessary to tally: has this stuff ever gone away? Fanny Leona’s vocal makes a point of distinction, particularly her second verse rap: it creates the unsteady suggestion of a dream that’s suddenly attained a little too much clarity.
[7]

Will Adams: The disco and haze are at odds; a more nuanced approach might have reconciled the two ends, but “Fuego” sounds as if the fuzz has been haphazardly draped over the funk.
[5]

Alfred Soto: This Chilean pop act shares Alex Anwantder and Javiera Mena’s predilection for synths and gothic trappings that itch for company on the dance floor. “Fuego” gets its heat from a well-deployed rhythm guitar lick here, a cymbal tap there, and the singer’s commitment to dramatizing the lyrics. I hope she wears a cape and does hand gestures.
[7]

Peter Ryan: Dënver liked them so much that they signed them as the second (and so far, only non-Dënver) act to their label, but rather than take inspiration from their labelmates Playa Gótica seem to be positioning themselves somewhere between Planeta No’s candied nu-disco sheen and Marineros’ reverb-heavy squallpop. Here they’ve hit upon something extra — a rare beaty-dreamy alchemy, a Cure-like sense of undisguised longing by way of relentlessly hooky melancholia. The outtro, wherein Fanny Leona intones against a wind tunnel of fuzz “Sueño-con-tus-movimien-tos-tus-movimien-tos…” is a near-perfect distillation of dancefloor crushing, the rush of nerves, knowing nothing about them except the way they move, hoping against all hope that you’ll run into each other again. But it could also just as easily be transposed onto any number of flavors of lust and everything would hold together and it would still sound great.
[9]

Juana Giaimo: Forget about the polished synths of Javiera Mena, Alex Anwandter or Dënver. Playa Gótica is here to bring back distortion to a scene that was never characterized for it. However, their pop sensibility is present in Fanny’s vocals, burning with the yearn for lust either through the sigh-like chorus or the edgy exclamations of the bridge. Playa Gótica is just beginning their career, but their music has the potential to revolutionize the Chilean music scene. 
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