Imagine that you discover a simple and fun pop group, whose lyrics especially amuse you. Did you know they existed? for an article in elDiario.es where they interview them. They are three young girls. You like their statements, they talk about your present. You search for information and find their Bandcamp page. Turns out they have a vinyl for sale. You buy it. 14 euros.
Weeks go by and you find out from the same newspaper, that breaks the newsthat the group does not exist, that the music and voices are made with AI. That they’re not even girls. The lyrics that you liked so much, yes, were written by a human but you don’t know who it is. What face do you have?
There are different ways to take this: tremendously or lightly. There are those who return the album because they feel scammed: nowhere does it say that the group is not ‘real’. There are those who believe that today’s AI is like the samples of 20 years ago: a resource to make music without knowing music and based on the music of others. Remix, in short.
But what about deception? Why hide it? Here we also find two opinions: trolling journalists and the general public (the “let’s see if it works”) and the desire to be punk.
If you want to try making songs like those of this group, it would be a good plan for the weekend, you can try it with the Udio or Suno websites.
All this (and much more) is contained in the story of Las Nenas, what Susana Monteagudo has told you hereand on the podcast A topic a day. (And Irene Lozano has dedicated his last column: “AI is creating ghosts and making them live among us. Let’s see what happens,” he writes). Art and Artificial Intelligence, a topic about which we are going to continue talking a lot. Meanwhile, let’s go with the cultural recommendations of the week.
a concert
The Elite (Barcelona). He New Punk Tour of La Elite comes to an end this Saturday, December 21 in the Razzmatazz room in Barcelona. Almost two years ago we already spoke in our newspaper about what was that “new punk” which is also the title that this duo from Barcelona gave to their album, more “for laughter” and “for provoking” than for being “flagbearers of anything.” When we saw how this synth-punk group (punk with synthesizers) continued to grow and fall in love, we interview them.
“Those of us in our generation have been pressured, since we were little, to have a decent job, to have studies and everything is so precarious that in the end you lose hope and the only thing you want is to get out of this reality that forces you,” we they said.
As a second recommended concert option, something more extreme: Photocopy + Cult of Auspex + Plastikkafen They give a triple program at La Fábrica de Chocolate (Vigo) this Friday, December 20 at 9:30 p.m., only if you like loud, noisy, industrial music.
Three recommended books
- ‘Ladies. An anthology of dandy women’ (Mardulce). What a delight this compendium of texts chosen to help define the dandy woman not as a feminization of that decadent male figure, but with her own idiosyncrasy. To begin with, the prologue by Laura Ramos (“Slaves of art”, where Sappho is pointed out as the first dandy) is fascinating. From there, texts by Anna de Noailles, George Sand, Aleksandra Kollontai, Lou Andreas-Salomé and Colette fall. In them we discover how bohemianism and aestheticism affected the imagination of some unique women. Already in bookstores.
- I can say whatever I want! I can do whatever I want! by Andrea Galaxina (Walden Books). Andrea Galaxina is a great expert on fanzines who focuses in this essay on a genealogy of the marginal press produced by women in Spain, with special attention to recent years. It is a reissue and this gem has a certain fanzine intention within itself, with many color reproductions. Already in bookstores.
- ‘Poetry reunited’ by Pilar Bonnett (Lumen). The Lumen publishing house has brought together the poetry of the Colombian in one of its classic brown-covered volumes. Pity Bonnett (winner of the Reina Sofía Prize for Ibero-American Poetry this year) among her first collection of poems, the sensual Of circle and ash (1989) and the year 2011. Poetry that in its beginnings is intimate, under the influence of César Vallejo and that later finds itself. Already in bookstores. Since November 7, you can also find his new novel in bookstores, The uncertain woman, memory and feminism written in poetic prose. Already in bookstores.
Three recommended films, by Javier Zurro
- ‘The flamenco guitar of Yerai Cortés’. C. Tangana (or Antón Álvarez, as you prefer) has decided to break our prejudices. Those who arrived when he said he wanted to dedicate himself to cinema. Well, his debut is wonderful, a documentary about Yerai Cortés and his family that invokes the spirit of Saura in some flamenco musical numbers that leave your mouth open. One of the surprises of the year of Spanish cinema and a race to keep an eye on.
- ‘Conclave’. How well a person enters thriller well done nineties like this one. The adaptation of Robert Harris’s novel by Edward Berger is a Vatican intrigue around the election of a new pontiff that is full of twists (watch out for the last one that will make many scream) but that also has as its background a reflection on lobbies, politics and the power of religion. One of the Oscar favorites with a perfect Ralph Fiennes.
- ‘No Other Land’. One of the documentaries of the year. It is the story of Bassel Adra and Yuval Abraham, friends and activists, the first Palestinian and the second Israeli, who document the siege and destruction of West Bank villages by the Israeli army. It makes your hair stand on end, angers and scares you. It is an essential work that comes to Filmin.
Three plans for the weekend, by Laura García Higueras
- Great Snowball (Barcelona). A full-fledged Christmas affair. The Apolo hall in Barcelona is organizing this free music session this Saturday. Tradition, modern, melodic and danceable are combined in the show of the first artist who will perform, Dianka, who has just released the album Tombolera!, with which she brings back the 60s and 70s, with a futuristic air. The party will continue with the ‘punkitronic’ Tetas Frías and the techno of the French JeanneTo+DJ TBC.
- Cariño (Málaga and Seville). We continue with the music. Cariño plays this Friday at the La Trinchera venue in Malaga and on Saturday at the CUSTOM venue in Seville. The band is presenting their third album, So Much to Do, in which they have done an exercise in self-reflection on their path as artists, but also as people, with pop as well. Party and good vibes guaranteed.
- Motor Market (Madrid). Now yes, Christmas is just around the corner and, with it, last minute gifts. So here comes a recommendation for those of you who live in Madrid (I confess that it probably happens to me), you can go both on Saturday and Sunday to this market that they set up in the Railway Museum. There are lots of stalls with crafts, clothes, books and lots of original ideas. There is also space to have a drink, chairs and tables. And a small train running for the little ones. Fantastic to spend the morning and eat there.
Three exhibitions, by Jordi Sabaté
- ‘Sorolla in Andalusia’ (Málaga). Between the years 1902 and 1918 Sorolla made continuous and numerous trips through Andalusian lands that took him through the provinces of Málaga, Granada, Seville, Huelva, Córdoba, Cádiz. The fascination with its landscapes and interest in its people was reflected in a very important number of works, some of them present in the exhibition, which is located on the second floor of the Permanent Collection of the Carmen Thyssen Museum in Malaga. Until February 9, 2025.
- ‘Simone Fattal. Suspension of disbelief’ (Valencia). The work of Simone Fattal (Damascus, 1942), predominantly in bronze, clay or stoneware sculptures, evokes literature, Sumerian tales, Arabic epics and Sufi poetry. His work is nourished by mythology, ranging from ancient Egypt to Sunni mysticism or the Greco-Roman tradition, creating archetypal figures that integrate historical narratives in the present. The exhibition will be at the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM) until July. Fattal has been awarded the 2024 Julio González International Prize for her contribution to contemporary art.
- ‘In the moved air…’ (Barcelona). The exhibition that the philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman curated at the Reina Sofia Museum, and which in May will travel to the Barcelona CCCB, vindicates the utopian and emancipatory power of emotionsunderstood as a force capable of leading to a transformative collective upheaval. To do this, Didi-Humberman chooses a series of works with which she reflects on the ability of images to move. There are more than 300 works by artists such as Goya, Miró, Pasolini, Brecht, Goethe, Picasso, Man Ray, Nietzsche, Víctor Erice, Juli González, Giacometti, Harun Farocki, Henric Michaux or Baruch Spinoza.
Three readings
- The real Alaska. The series that Movistar+ has just released is titled ‘Alaska revealed’ and it has been the excuse to interview the singer with an honest and direct conversation where it is defined as “conservative”.
- Muguruza in Madrid. About to announce the sold out at the capital’s Sports Palace and at the beginning of his tour, we explain why Politically this event is important in Muguruza’s career.
- Nudist cinema. Watch a movie naked? And why not? The naturist movement takes its demand for the enjoyment of nature life without clothes to movie theaters. They explain to us why. Madrid withdrew from the call.
Librotea’s recommendations
It would be nice to be able to ask all those writers who appear on the lists of the best of the year if you can learn to write, if specific schools work. These readings will help you draw a conclusion.
See you next week!
#Songs #pop #humans #plans #avoid #falling #asleep #weekend
