Clandestino

I really enjoyed this! Satisfyingly lo-fi, catchy, distinctive. Even though I don’t speak the language, I found myself enjoying the lyricism, if that makes sense.

Not really for me. I can almost see what he was going for, but it never really takes off.

Honestly way better than I thought it was going to be. I have no idea what he's saying, but I could feel it

This held my attention from note one all the way to the end. Great mix of styles, cool samples from TV and everyday life, and a great composition overall. I'll add this to my personal collection

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jag är en regelbunden Manu Chau-lyssnare men jag hade inte lyssnat på detta från början till slut. Ett album som passar för de flesta tillfällen!

I’m at a 4.5, and I’d love to leave it there, but I think I’m gonna bump it down to a 4.

I mean, you can’t say it’s not entertaining. I love the flow of this album, as it demands your attention for the full 46 minutes. It’s nearly seamless from track to track, and it keeps up a pretty good pace. It’s a surprisingly cohesive album for as many topics as it touches on, as many languages as it’s sung in, and for as wildly differing the production is from track to track. It’s hard to believe this is from 1998, since it usually feels like a ‘70s album. By all accounts, it shouldn’t really work, and yet it just kinda does.

However, I’m bumping this down to a 4 because I think it loses some of that glue near the tail end of the album. I loosely understand the idea of this being the tale of a roaming, wandering traveling musician who’s going around & just soaking up everything the world has to offer. It’s sort of a biographical album, and I admire the ability to capture that so well. I just think it starts to peel apart around “Día Luna...Día pena”; either that, or I simply lost track of where we were with this guy. There’s definitely a narrative of searching for love & community throughout the album, but I think it shrinks a little too much to just his perspective. It feels like the album strips too much agency from the larger world he’s crafted & built, focusing on his people, his loves, his wants & his desires, along with an inability to grab them. Granted, I’m going off of Google Translated lyrics here, so maybe I’m just entirely wrong about that.

For the record, I think it’s a great album. I just think the experience & the immersion of it takes a hit when it seemingly shrinks to his world view taking center stage. It also might just be the repetition in some of the shorter tracks finally piling up to a point of mild frustration by “Minha galera”, which is probably the most ‘eh’ track here. When he’s looking at things more broadly, with a greater showcase of the world he’s traveling throughout this album, there really is something kinda special here, and embracing that through multiple languages & musical styles is something I haven’t heard before. I just wish it stuck the landing all the way through. Hence, a 4.5 that I’ll begrudgingly bump down to a 4, no matter how much I admire this. It is absolutely something people should hear before they die though, and it’s very deserving to be on the list. Maybe with a bit more time, this could go back up to a 5.

nothing to say. Perfect

I really enjoy the genre of Latin Alternative. Admittedly, my first run-in with it was the Ween song “Voodoo Lady,” but this album here matches up nicely. Combines a lot of great Latin aesthetics with a lot of great elements from other genres that makes it a very easy to listen to album. Also, like many others, my main exposure to Chao’s work is his song “Me Gustas Tu,” which I obviously love.

Title track “Clandestino” is great, somber and slick, and songs like “Mama Call” are super pretty. Generally the biggest problem is just that all the songs sound the same after a while, and there’s too many songs without enough variation. It’s not bad at all, but I kinda wish it was 10 minutes shorter.
7.6/10
DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: SURE
REASON: IMPACT AND QUALITY-ish

Good fun and Bongo Bong is a big highlight, but not enough to enter favourite territory 3.5

A really fun listen with a couple of great tracks on it. Enjoyed every track on it but it needed a couple more standouts to be anywhere near a 5.

Top Track - Malegría

This is crazy annoying - especially his voice. Music for shoeless bobos. Couldn't finish.

This was great, really cool flow, fun, super enjoyable. Defo will give another listen at some point.

King of the Bongo Bong. Mal was anderes als Britpo, allein dafür +1 Stern

The King of the Bongo Bong is French.

A tender cow saved the life of The King of the Bongo Bong.

What a glorious fever dream this album is.

The reviewer who said that this transports you to a backpacker hostel in the early 2000s has it spot on. But there are worse places to be.

Honestly, a pretty solid listen. Usually in the category of albums where I don't have the cultural history with the genre to properly rate it, but this one was a vibe.

Still gonna rate it in the middle, but solid album.

Annoying.
Hey, just pick a language, mate, and stop playing video games.
I'm sure he's talented but I didn't appreciate what he's done with that talent here.
Nope. Won't be listening to this ever again.

A bit of a switch up from 90% of this list so far. Still didn’t find anything that special but I’m glad to finally see an entry for Latin music and not another rock or electronic album… 5/10

Mmmm no sé. Siento que es de esos álbumes que hacen los blancos para gente blanca y le ponen género “latino”, lo que sea que esos signifique. No voy a negar que hubo algunas canciones que sí me gustaron, pero hay otras que sí están para escuchar en otro estado y no en tus cinco sentidos.

I liked this even though I couldn't understand most of it. Mostly a fun Latin album. 4/5