From where I sit, it’s a wonderful spring day, just around 78 degrees. The sun is shining, flowers are glowing shades of lilac and crimson, and at least a few bees are around. I’ve been exercising an affinity for being outside as of late, getting fresh air, all that good stuff. ‘Tis the season, after all. I’m outside a coffee shop right now, barely within reach of the Wifi signal, so I have to wait a little bit for web pages to load, which gives me time to look up and admire the sky, the people walking by, the construction going on across the street…Everything and everyone seem to be moving, buzzing with activity and excitement for the warm months ahead.
In Buenos Aires, the city that Pablo Betas a.k.a. Bungalovv (member of TRRUENO, one of TMT’s favorite labels of 2016) calls home, the scene must be a little different, because DID YOU KNOW it’s FALL down there?!? You know, the whole opposite seasons thing — fascinates me half-to-death. Like…his upcoming EP, Luz Mala, will totally be a FALL thing for him…but a SPRING thing for me! The mood of this thing might be totally different there!
So…now I’m thinking about what stays constant and what doesn’t when music is consumed in different contexts, different times. What’s inherent in the music itself, what isn’t? How does space determine the affective force of sound? Pretty significantly, I’d imagine, especially when it comes to dance music, a genre that tends to live and breathe for and with the present moment. Then again, there is undoubtedly something illustrative about Luz Mala, which is to say it brings me to a certain place that feels “intentional.” A place that is dark yet illuminating, ominous but uplifting. It’s definitely borne of the club, but each track has a narrative arch driven by hard-hitting drums and foreboding soundscapes replete with screams and howls. Though I’m a world away from Argentina, I’d imagine at least some of what I feel listening to these tracks is universal.
Of course, at the end of the day, the act of listening is an individual enterprise. Music listens to us as much as we listen to it — as our memories, feelings, and surroundings bury themselves within the rhythms of a song, music becomes a unique language articulating a feeling that can’t quite be captured with words: a medium bound not by space, time, nor season, but ourselves.
But, I digress…sample the wonderful “Tregua” below; Luz Mala is out in its entirety on April 28 via Infinite Machine. Happy spring/fall, everyone.