Molina, Juana – “Un Dia ” – [Domino Recording Co Ltd]

At times this feels like an aerobic workout for hyperactive
robots. I kept seeing cute little locomotives appear in
the air and chug around puffing out steam that then would
turn into Juana’s vocal loops. Lots of dopplered diva
doos and das. The melodies (on toy keyboards and kewpie
clarinets and maybe even kazoos) often do MC Escher like
moves, leading up and up and up again. Like shepherd
notes that have lost their little bo peep in Ms. Molina.
To dizzy to be droney, too perky to be stoney. Kind of
reminds me of Petra Haden’s adventures in Cuckooland,
in the may Juana just has fun with her voice and the
sounds of the words. Ping pong production also adds to
the playfulness. Molina some times adds a little kid
kind of whine to her voice. You know in a weird way, this
makes me think of Can albeit a la Tropicalia. Does that
make for Tropicania? Her loops that just lock in, and
the insistent and twisted vocals…although there’s no
typical percussion kicking in, usually, the loops of
processed sound and little bo bleepings keep the herd
harried. The more I listened to this, the more I could
see this becoming a big KFJC hit, its weirdness is
gentle, its adventure never assaultive. Once upon a
Juana was an Argentine comedienne, she still knows the
cosmic joke it seems. Maybe it’s something to do with
the symmetric nature of good and evil?

-Thurston Hunger