El Desierto Y La Ciudad

World | Jul 2011

Reviews

Sadie O.
Reviewed 2012-04-24
Pistolera – El Desierto y La Ciudad
Reviewed by Sadie O., 7/20/11
“Latin-Alt Folklorico” from New York. Beautiful female vocals, real instruments. Quite a bit slower, darker and more depressed than previous releases (I guess the cover is a clue!), but there’s still a few nice cumbia rave-ups. All (but the last track) en Español. Apparently, there’s an A side (desert) and a B side (city) – it would appear that I’m a city girl…
1. 0:44 very gradual fade-in that sounds a bit backmasked. Not great for radio…
2. 4:12 *gradual fade-in to pretty acoustic guitar, wistful sounding, a bit indy-pop in the vocals. Builds to a downtempo ranchero with lots of minor key.
3. 3:30 **slow, dark, with a bluesy whammy-bar note, echo on the vocals.
4. 2:29 *starts with low storm noises, then organ chords, echo-laden vocals. very, very slow beat comes in halfway along. Depressing.
5. 3:10 ***acoustic guitar and accordion, slow, but with a nice syncopated back beat. Wistful, but in a relaxed, rootsy way. Fades to wind noises.
6. 3:10 ****finally, something midtempo and energetic! Solid norte-style rocker.
7. 3:54 *****fine midtempo swingy and strong cumbia with horn section. Nice.
8. 2:44 ****midtempo cumbia with horns, great dance syncopation.
9. 1:03 *soft, smooth jazzy, builds, but only for a bit. Leads into next track.
10. 2:47 ****fuzzy female hip hop en Español. Nice beat, and still some folklorico sounds. Lots of attitude and political fervor.
11. 3:04 ****very Lila Downs-y (that’s a good thing.) Lots of energy, midtempo.
12. 4:03 *very soft, slow, lyrics in English. Very pretty, alt-pop.

Recent airplay

Ponle Frenos (Put On The Brakes)
Nueva York (New York)
Todo Se Cae (Everything Falls Down)
New World DisorderJun 30, 2012
Escucha (Listen)
New World DisorderSep 24, 2011
Laberinto (Labyrinth)
New World DisorderSep 17, 2011
Nueva York (New York)
New World DisorderSep 10, 2011

Charting

2011-07-24 — 2011-09-25 Reggae/World
Week EndingAirplays
Sep 25 1
Sep 18 1
Sep 11 1
Sep 4 1
Aug 28 3
Aug 21 4
Aug 14 2
Aug 7 3

Track listing

1. Bienvenido
2. Polvo (Dust)
3. El Desierto Y La Ciudad (The Desert And The City)
4. Lluvia (Rain)
5. La Despedida (The Goodbye)
6. Laberinto (Labyrinth)
7. Nueva York (New York)
8. Ponle Frenos (Put On The Brakes)
9. Brooklyn Bridge (Instl.)
10. Escucha (Listen)
11. Todo Se Cae (Everything Falls Down)
12. Floating