Xenia Rubinos - Magic Trix [2012][FLAC / WEB]seeders: 11
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Xenia Rubinos - Magic Trix [2012][FLAC / WEB] (Size: 250.23 MB)
Description Artist: Xenia Rubinos Release: Magic Trix Released: 2012 Label: Ba Da Bing! Catalog#: BING 082 Format: FLAC / Lossless / WEB [color=blue]Country: USA Style: rock 1. Help 2. Ultima 3. Whirlwind 4. Hair Receding 5. Cherry Tree 6. Cafe con Leche 7. Pan y Cafe 8. Los Mangopaunos 9. I Like Being Alone 10. When You Come 11. Let's Go Out 12. Aurora de Mayo Throughout “Whirlwind”, the third song on Xenia Rubinos’ debut album Magic Trix, there’s a joyous vocal choppiness that darts between speakers like a figure in a stop-motion film. There’s the seesawing groan of a squeaky door, low, crunching keyboards, and a hectic, roiling drumbeat that Zach Hill wouldn't be ashamed of. When you listen closely, you realize there are words to Rubinos’ scrambled ululations: “When you get the feelin’ that you’re startin’ to wake up,” she trills, like an alarm. “Something I really wanted on this record, and in general, is exuberance,” the young Brooklyn-dwelling singer told Rookie recently. She's triumphed unambiguously: Magic Trix is a startling lightning bolt of a record. There are four primary parts to Rubinos’ busy sound: her electric, smoky voice; overdriven keyboards, which often seem like electric guitar but aren't; the contributions of syncopation-happy drummer Marco Buccelli and funk-inclined bassist Adam Minkoff. Magic Trix recalls tUnE-yArDs, Battles, Camille, and the melodies of St. Vincent’s Marry Me remade with a Strange Mercy-era approach-- but true to the record’s title, Rubinos has a wizard's unique flair. Rubinos is of Puerto Rican and Cuban origin, and sings in English and Spanish. (The Spanish-language songs here are either fantastical, punky jump-rope chants, or sweetly sad lullabies.) She has as much of a cool, incisive way with intimate as political matters: “Ultima” opens with a collage of beatboxed vocals, and is exhausting and soothing, like watching an extravagant display while lazing on a beach. She coolly recounts how, in Cuba, simple things like going to the bank are different enough to throw you for a moment. After an indignant, yelped chorus of “Oye, yo soy la ultima!” (“Hey, I’m the last one!” your cue to join the back of a line) she flips the sentiment back onto herself: “You know it really, really takes a long, long time/ To understand what’s going on around you/ To grow and change.” Magic Trix deals with the fear that time will destroy the things you love, but it’s not so paralyzing that you’re unable to take advantage of the new wisdoms it brings, particularly concerning romance-- and Rubinos writes sexy, surrealist love songs. On “When You Come”, her keyboards take on a seductive, sleazy tone, and she describes her crush in deliciously weird terms: “He ties my heart in knots/ Just like Polish sausages.” Her odd, folkloric intentions (also: laying an egg into his mouth) stave off her impulses to look beyond the fantasy of the guy who "makes love to [her] like [he’s] seen something new" and folds her clothes afterwards, preferring “to keep pretending/ You are the sweet thing/ I made you out to be.” Navigating the balance between all-out fantasy and dulling realism is another of Magic Trix's strong suits. (Rubinos channels Poly Styrene on "Pan Y Cafe", where she recasts the mice behind her refrigerator as Martian invaders.) On “Hair Receding”’s vibrant mathy bent, Rubinos laments the passing of time, writ in the wrinkles of a face she's starting to forget. The temperature drops on the ensuing “Cherry Tree”, where frenzied drums melt into blossoming keys, and she yells with frustration, knowing that her memory of this guy is already fading. By “Let’s Go Out”, the drums slump with dejection: She's given up trying to remember. After the tropical wilds that precede it, the synthetic, silvery keyboards here sound effectively bleak. Although Rubinos’ heart is aching, she's not completely giving up on life in color; “I Like Being Alone” is a chirruping ode to solitude: “Because it means I don’t have to be something I’m not.../ Because it means I don’t have to consider you/ I can just be awful like I am/ I can be as lazy as I am.” It’s that comfort with her own ideas and company that makes Magic Trix so life-affirming, transcending its sound-a-likes to proudly show off a unique new pop personality. Rubinos' remarks on exuberance reminded me of something the similarly single-minded Natasha Khan said recently, about our culture emphasizing art that is "down, dark, and fucked up-- so when there's unabashed joy, that's embarrassing for people. It's too much, or it's not cool." If you're looking for a way out of those doldrums, then Magic Trix is the glitter in the dark. Sharing Widget |