rosendo is an Argentinian producer and songwriter based in London whose press release says he was “raised on the myriad myths of Latin American folklore and drawn to tape machines, distortion and field recordings, he builds intimate and elastic sonic worlds.“
His new release, ‘antimeditación’ (anti-meditation) is a queasy and compelling collision of glitches that sound like a mash-up of flamenco dance steps and a Geiger counter. These could also be synapses firing behind the gentle rhythm of his spoken word delivery as lyrical ideas about his upbringing in Argentina flow from rosendo’s mind. Those snapshots talk about popcorn vendors, juggling strawberries, destiny, dogs and a dusty throat. These lyrics capture multiple snapshots of his life but remain as surreal as a Dadaist poem or a film by Luis Buñuel.
We were intrigued to find out what someone who describes his track as a “panorama of discomfort” would come up with if we asked them to give us their life in ten tracks. Given that ‘antimeditación’ contains snapshots of growing up in Argentina rosendo jumped at the chance. What he has given us is one of the most eclectic set of tracks we have ever had for a My Life In 10 Songs feature.
Charly García – Nos Siguen Pegando Abajo
My earliest memory of anything [EVER] was playing this tune on a cd player when I was around 5. I was quite jealous of my older sister, who had just contracted a very serious case of pneumonia (she’s ok now). In a rebellious act I blasted this track from the kitchen to the bedroom we shared, where all of our family members had gathered to cheer her up. I was of course heavily told off. I also remember trying to imitate the weird samples from this track, very early memories of repetition and sound design. This incident became the main concept and title for my debut ep: Neumonia 2008 .
El Gavilan – Violetta Parra
Violeta Parra is the absolute shit, so influential, smart and good. Besides being the first latin american person to have her work shown at the Louvre, she was a pioneer of nu latin american folk. I really admire how she managed to keep avant garde and popular. I saw the movie Project Hail Mary recently, they have a song of hers in the movie :). She started as a Chilean folk og who wrote and researched the entire history of her genre. Then she tasked herself with doing newer more political art.This particular tune is sooooo weird and good, my fav.
Screen – Visible Cloaks
What a joy of a track. Alongside Discipline of Enthusiasm by Lorenzo Senni, songs like these were responsible for making me aware of music as an art form that can be really concerned with its own language. Even though I had extensively listened to similar music in the past, I think these artists opened my brain to something new. They utilise foundational elements of electronic music, and merge with very clear concepts that I usually relate to magical realism. Strong concrete repeating structures meeting the volatility of inner thought. Compared to more extreme cases of sound design heavy tracks, I feel like these artists don’t have the need to impress. In the case of the track attached, “Screen”, it mainly features one repeating decaying synth, the sounds and textures following that decay start to change independently in a very tender way. Synthesis and musicality executed with lots of care. For a good chunk of last year I researched these kinds of structures. I finished my thesis on field recording and then moved to working with noise. These studies of the conceptual and of daydreaming crystallised as a track I released recently: antimeditacion. Even though this tune started as an experiment of MIDI feedback loops and stolen nerdy ideas, it later developed more intimate images that are specific and personal. It narrates a counterproductive meditation, in which everything and everyone’s fate is in your hands. Your family, the symbols of your memory, the sounds of the street, they all get attacked by the set of things that bring you very intense physical discomfort. Like the feeling of rave’s aftermath in a country where everything is constantly new and reminds me I’m not home. How can I appropriate this feeling of discomfort and have fun with it? I think that’s what this release is trying to achieve.
I’m Not in Love – Fun Lovin’ Criminals
Cover that my mom blasts. Big fan of the OG track too, but this one has a very homely vibe, or car trip vibe, or flânering (I’m not a twat I swear) on a Sunday vibe. Good for so many different vibes.
Luie Luie – Touch of Light
ABSOLUTE FUCKING TUNE. I found this whilst researching outsider music, which is such an umbrella term and I wanted to develop a definition and understanding of my own. Luie Luie is probably my favourite of the bunch. He’s a multi-instrumentalist and producer who claims to have invented a new dance: “El Touchy”. In between the chaotic party-like tracks there’s “Touch of light”. I won’t explain further since Luie provides one at the beginning of each track of this album. Just go listen to this track please.
Iggy Pop – Les Feuilles Mortes [01]
Was kissing the girl I’m falling deeply in love with on this track before doing this interview. Also a great homely/car trip/flânering cover.
Jockstrap – I Touch
Jockstrap is the main project that made me feel very glad to have moved to London. Their remix album is criminally underappreciated and recently a good friend of mine gifted me a vinyl version (which features a scratch-n-sniff vinyl sleeve!!!!!). Much like Lorenzo and Visible Cloaks, Taylor Skye (main producer of the duo and personal hero) has a really unique take on music as a language. I hope I’m making sense here and not being reductive, I look up to these people quite a lot.
Molly Drake – I Remember
My friends tell me I have a tendency to call any song the best (or worst) song in history, but I think this is it. The best one I mean.
Total Interferencia – Charly García
My favorite song, and probably one of the most important in Argentinian pop. The 2 greatest artists from Argentina Charly García and Luis Alberto Spinetta paired and made a track about Fito Paez, another prodigy of Latin American songwriting. This performance drives me nuts, the improv, Charly’s outfit WOOOOW. I like this era of Charly as a person too, very down to earth.
ML Buch – High speed calm air tonight (Live on KEXP)
I adore all this new music: ml buch, astrid sonne, smerz, @, ear, chanel beads, water baby. Again, mega clear concepts, repeating tools and structures buuut loads of magical realism. I am absolutely infatuated with all of this. They all really remind me of Juana Molina, an Argentinian who’s been making this kind of thing for the last 20 or so years. I think all these artists are in line with Lucrecia Martel’s (Argentinian film director) desire to write a better world. We’ve been so obsessed with making fiction related to the inevitable horrors of a self-destructing human kind, that we turned all those images into reality (she conjures). I feel these bands do a good job at signalling a different path forward.
Huge thanks to Rosendo for his life in 10 songs. If you look up eclectic in the dictionary it now has a link to this playlist.
rosendo: Instagram | YouTube | Bandcamp
Introduction by Paul F Cook
Keep up to date with all new content on Joyzine via our
Facebook | Bluesky | Instagram | Threads | Mailing List