Capt. Al's 21st Century: Part VIII -- The Shape of Things to Come? Possibly!!!

[As attentive readers will recall, our old friend (and more important, Friend of PowerPop©) Allan Rosenberg, aka Capt. Al, has been toiling on a series about his fave recent artists for a while now. The first installment of these musical musings, about Feist, appeared here back in July. Now, as promised, here's the grand finale! Take it away, you old sea doggie!!! -- S.S.]

Welcome to the “Best Rock&Roll Music of the 21st Century, Part VIII”, by Captain Al!!!

So let me tell you my favorite musical artist of this century! Maybe some of you may have heard of her! I’d hadn’t been aware of her until 18 months ago but well known or not she’s a force of musical nature.

So señoras y señores -- I give you Juana Molina!!!.

She’s Argentinian. Sings in Spanish. She walked away from her very successful career as a comedian whose TV shows were a huge hit all through South & Central America. Think a sort of Saturday Night Live en espanol vibe.

Juana and her family left Argentina in the 1980's because of the oppressive political situation. She fled to the USA, learned to speak English, and upon later returning to Argentina embarked on a musical career that somehow turned into the hugely successful comedic career! How the heck did she become my favorite musician (and hopefully soon yours) of this century? As Steve says: “Let’s discuss!”

As I said, her music is new and forward looking, but most of all fearless in its explorations and methods. Think Sam Phillips (the Sun Records visionary producer, not the singer/songwriter who used to boink T-Bone Burnett) or Jefferson Airplane. Doesn't sound like them, but her music has their same exploratory spirit.

Here's our first example, and let us stipulate that while Juana walked away from her career in comedy she sure learned a lot about how to create compelling videos. This one, in particular, is a real hoot -- funny, spacey and political; for me it’s up there with The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields." Enjoy!

Now let’s look at how she puts her music together while performing live. Using modern equipment, and a fresh viewpoint at each show, she never performs a song in quite the same way twice. Watch and listen when she constructs her song “Paraguaya“. I think you'll find it pretty amazing.

And let us now stipulate that Juana, as with all of my favorite musical artists, is still capable of surprising me.

So now I’m about to twist your R&R ears around one more time, because Juana is also a prankster. Stay with this video of Juana & her band playing “Paraguaya” quite differently from what we just heard above. Make sure you stay to the end, because she will twist your head around 180 degrees with this performance.

Since she sings all her music in Spanish I don’t have a clue what any of the songs are about, and I slso don’t care! She always looks to creating her music in slightly new ways I’ve never seen/heard before.

Is she the future of rock? I don’t have a clue, but I feel she's the future of quality modern 21st century popular music.

At least I hope so -- for our (and my granddaughter’s) musical sake! And if rock is dead (?) then at least I want to live in Juana Molina’s musical universe for the next several years.

-- Capt. Al

And with that, we bid a fond (hopefully temporary) farewell to our aquatic friend.

So thanks, pal...I enjoyed the above immensely, as I (and doubtless our readers) have enjoyed the entire series.

I gotta admit, Captain -- I'm not sure I particularly get Molina. I found your exegesis intriguing, nonetheless, and I'll be sure to keep an eye on her.

But in the meantime, thanks again Al -- see ya soon, and keep on rockin' in the free world!!!😎😎😎