Rubio

One Liner:  Spanish language dark electronica

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia, this is electronica, ambient, dance pop

Home: Mexico City (but Chilean)

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 23
Weekend One Only
Sunday at 12:45 (ouch)

BMI Stage.

Thoughts:  I was really hoping this was going to be Marco Rubio trying to be a sick DJ or something so that we could all go throw batteries at him.  Wikipedia let me know that rubio is Spanish for blond, which is kind of odd, because it sounds more like it should be Spanish for ruby red.  Several Spanish football players went by the one name Rubio moniker, and I would guess they are happy this week.

But this is actually the project of Chilean producer, drummer, and singer Francisca Straube.  Some of her photos look like a young Winona Ryder.  Her voice sometimes sounds like Siouxsie Sioux.  The tunes are kind of a darker ambient electronic (although everything is in Spanish so I have no clue if the lyrical part of it is any good).  Interestingly, she cited Radiohead's In Rainbows as the most important album to her.  Feels like my 9th favorite Radiohead album or something, so fascinating that it was so important to her.  She also said that when she was little, she loved Nirvana and learned all of the drum parts to every Nirvana song.  That is dope.  I literally just told the wife a week or two ago that I wanted to learn the drums just to be able to play Smells Like Teen Spirit on them.  Oh wait - TINY DESK!!!

Damn girl, bring a posse!  Again, no clue what she is talking about, but that sounds fantastic to me.  If that is what the stage show would be, versus the electronica style of the studio albums, sign me up.  That third song sort of sounds like a Radiohead groove.

Her top track is "Hacia el Fondo," from the 2018 album Pez.  Apparently translates to "toward the bottom."  12.9 million streams.

That one comes on more like a Phantogram or Sylvan Esso thing - dance music with a dark tinge.  I personally liked the Tiny Desk vibe better.  I went and found a regular live performance, and it sounds like she does both - heavy electronica beats while also playing real percussion and guitars.  Definitely more electronic than acoustic though...

Second biggest streamer is "IR" from the 2020 album Mango Negro.  6.4 million streams.

More of a reggaeton sound on that one.  Chilly.  Watching her float in the ocean is mesmerizing me right now.  Of the Spanish language stuff, this is better than many.  I doubt I'd go, but if the rest of the hour is lame, maybe I'd try this one out and be worldly.