SONGS BY BLACK AXE SERIES

(Pitchfork earns a commission from purchases made through affiliate links on our site.)Д¬atch up every Saturday with 10 of our best-reviewed albums of the week. Like the rest of Una Rosa, the phrases donвЂ™t beg to be whole, only felt. On вЂњWhat Is This Voice?,вЂќ she ends the album by repeating the fragment вЂњI am so/I am so,вЂќ unhurried. вЂњI never thought IвЂ™d have to write this song,вЂќ she sings. вЂњDid My BestвЂќ is a trick candle of grief whose vocals expand slower and with more uncertainty than the steady synth loop behind them. Often, itвЂ™s just the shape of an emotion stuck in the throat.

SONGS BY BLACK AXE SERIES

вЂњDonвЂ™t Put Me in RedвЂќ opens with a series of increasingly urgent wordless vocalizations-given subtitles like вЂњmispronounced misspelled misunderstoodвЂќ in the music video-and expands into a ballad about the red вЂњLatina lightingвЂќ Rubinos is often placed in while performing: вЂњthe color you think IвЂ™ve spent my life in,вЂќ she sings.ДЄcross the album, Rubinos doesnвЂ™t need to name her feelings for them to be realized. These musical pieces fit seamlessly into RubinosвЂ™ inventory of memories, her urge toward complexity directed as far inward as outward. The liberationist implications of each are here compiled into a call to action: вЂњAlguien preguntarГЎ mГЎs tarde/Que hiciste?/Hacha y machete/O dormiste?вЂќ (вЂњSomeone will ask later/What did you do?/Axe and machete/Or did you sleep?вЂќ). The song interpolates Bob MarleyвЂ™s вЂњI Shot the SheriffвЂќ alongside verses from poet JosГ© MartГвЂ™s вЂњYo soy un hombre sinceroвЂќ and a fanged allusion to HГ©ctor LavoeвЂ™s 1976 salsa вЂњHacha y Machete,вЂќ a song about strength in community. Released last October, вЂњWho Shot Ya?вЂќ is a silvery condemnation of police and the cops who killed Breonna Taylor, the detention of children at the U.S.-Mexico border, and the wealthy who reap profit on stolen land. Her layering of the personal and political runs counter to the labels sheвЂ™s resisted as a Latinx artist throughout her career. Then thereвЂ™s the spiritual bath of synthesizers, modulation, and even Psycho strings-the dark, electronic-acoustic interplay that has kept RubinosвЂ™ music so undefinable.

Elsewhere, thereвЂ™s the corta venas bolero вЂњAy HombreвЂќ the ad for spiritualist Santiago AraneguiвЂ™s radio program about вЂњthe mysteries of the universeвЂќ at the end of вЂњCГіgelo SuaveвЂќ the echo of an old Cuban yambГє floating over the workerвЂ™s lament of вЂњWorking All the Time.вЂќ The clave often grounds the album, as on вЂњSacude,вЂќ which builds into a limpieza around the mantra of вЂњSacude sacude y Dios que me ayude,вЂќ with Rubinos as the sonero of her invented rumba. Rubinos hums the tune as if trying to recall its origin. A melancholy flute plays a music-box version of Puerto Rican composer JosГ© Enrique PedreiraвЂ™s danza вЂњUna Rosa,вЂќ the same melody a young Rubinos heard from her great-grandmotherвЂ™s flower lamp-the albumвЂ™s main visual inspiration. While Rubinos has always been a futurist, Una Rosa comprises very particular Caribbean reference points of the past. And itвЂ™s her first project to cite its Latin sources so consistently and directly, adding another texture to the spirit of struggle that runs through her best-known work. ItвЂ™s also a record steeped in Caribbean texts that have influenced RubinosвЂ™ musicianship, alongside the jazz, hip-hop, and R&B that shaped her first two albums. In its shades of love and grief, Una Rosa sounds like life as it arrives. ItвЂ™s better, truer to the joy and pain of the past that flicker into the present like unwelcome thoughts. ItвЂ™s now been five years since her last album, Black Terry Cat, and her third project, Una Rosa, isnвЂ™t a neat bookend to the period in between, nor is it a balm or salve. After a period of extensive touring and personal hardship, she visited a curandero, who saw in her a вЂњpГ©rdida de espГrituвЂќ-loss of spirit. Xenia Rubinos didnвЂ™t think sheвЂ™d be able to make music again.

Songs by black axe