The GB Album Club 047 - Amanecer by Bomba Estéreo

Duders! Welcome to the 47th edition of the Unofficial Giant Bomb Album Club. We're back from the emotional slog of the holidays, where we looked upon the faces of our families and said, "Fuck, I wish I was listening to music and talking about it on a video game website's forum section." And we're back with an almost violent change of pace! Last time, we did some a classical horror ballet, and this week, we're back with some Colombian dance pop grooves with Amanecer by BombaEstéreo! This album was selected by our good friend @thatpinguino! Fuck with it:

Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/album/7GQzUp6R1CtA9CmsVZg090?si=CsyjTQFCTYuPp68TY0UkLQ

Apple:https://music.apple.com/us/album/amanecer/993274533

Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kvPst7k-Q_pouy2gc3Y2f9SzXgR8Afpp0

Here at the Unofficial Giant Bomb Album Club, we gathered on a Discord, made a pool of albums, and we chose one at random every week (long holiday breaks notwithstanding) to listen to and discuss. Come on down if you want in!

This one's just a very uncomplicated good time.

There's a part of me that wants to make a point about how some of it feels a little watered down. Or at least it feels that way because "Soy Yo" sounded a little familiar, and it turns out I remembered the Grubhub ad it's featured in. But even if one or two of the songs haven't been used in some ads, they still sound like they're designed to be used that way. Or to put it another way, it's very easy for me to imagine a scenario where someone who knows more about pop and electronic music from the Spanish speaking portions of South America will call this sellout shit.

But then I remind myself of the plight of many an indie/alternative rock fan back in the 2010s. A bunch of ad executives want to pass off their products as hip, and (supposedly) hip people were listening to Portugal. The Man or whatever, and that's what ad music became. I remember seeing a lot of moaning from that crowd online, but it's not the music's fault, and it certainly isn't Bomba Estéreo's fault that Spanish language pop is in and Grubhub's willing to fork over the money to put their song in a shitty ad. (Also the whole notion that people get mad about "selling out" is stupid for a variety of reasons, but that's for another post.)

All of this makes it sound like this album only has smoothed-out pop. It doesn't. There are stretches of this album that go truly wild, and there are others when it's going for something a little slower and more emotional. All of it works.

Will this blow your mind or make you rethink your life? Probably not, no. But for what it is, it's a hell of a lot of fun and it's easy for me to imagine myself going back to it. It's energetic, it's colorful, and it's everything you could want it to be.

Favorite Songs: "Amanecer," "Fiesta," "Raiz"