#charly garcia

Serum giran and la maquina se hacer pájaros are also great!

Argentina Charly Garcia - Clics Modernos

Week #1 2026/06/17

🇦🇷 Argentina 🇦🇷 Charly Garcia - Clics Modernos

About this project

Argentina was one of the main reasons I wanted to do this challenge. This country has a huge rock scene that is well known in the entire Latin America.

I first thought about choosing something by Luis Alberto Spinetta to represent this country. He's probably the most influential figure in Argentinian rock (also known as Rock Nacional). His lyrics are poetic and his music is colourful and innovative. Another interesting choice would be Gustavo Cerati - a more modern face of Argentinian music, who combines rock with electronic elements. However, I decided to choose Charly Garcia. One, because he stole my heart 🥰, and two, because his music deals with the topic of dictatorship.

When we think of Latin American culture, we often think of fun, dance, "southern rhythms" and stuff like that. We tend to forget about the darker side - about constant military coups and far-right regimes. In the 1970s there was a whole network of dictatorships in Latin America - in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, and so on. Leftist activists were killed, tortured, raped and sent to death camps. In the case of Argentina, people were disappearing from the streets and the government was denying that they ever even existed. It is worth noting that the US was directly involved in all these actions. Read about Operation Condor - it was funded by the US and it was responsible for around 50,000 deaths and 400,000 imprisonments.

“Clics Modernos” was released during the last weeks of the dictatorship - the regime was technically not over yet, but the democratic elections had already taken place. As you can imagine, these times were pretty rough. The society was traumatised by what the junta had done. People lost their friends and family, mothers lost their children (read about Madres de Plaza de Mayo). Many people just disappeared without a trace or were exiled. And “Clics Modernos” is all about that. With this album, Charly basically became the voice of people. He expressed feelings that everyone had during the dictatorship - fear, longing for freedom, and just overall gloom. However, there’s a twist. Charly didn’t make an album that’s simply sad. All these worst feelings are mixed with fun and danceable music. Argentines really needed to have some fun after all these years of oppression, and Charly was the perfect man for this job. “Clics Modernos” is an album that’s heartfelt, fun and accessible, but also acknowledges all the atrocities the junta has done.

Stylistically, this album mixes the happiness of new wave with colder and darker elements of post-punk. The bass on this album is very prominent. It can sound heavy and dark, as well as groovy and jumpy.

“Nuevos Trapos” is an interesting case of this duality. It sounds both happy and dark, smoothly blending an upbeat and carefree chorus with more restrained and heavy verses. The message of its lyrics is basically that the times are shitty, but we can still have fun, and I find it beautiful. “No me dejan salir” is probably the happiest song here, but it expresses a desire to break free from that sad reality. It sounds colourful and punchy, and it’s just fun beyond words. By the way, it’s considered the first Argentinian song that used sampling. It’s also got a notably camp music video, where Charly and his mustache are having fun with some drag queens. HELL YEAH.

This record is not that fun all the time though. Let’s have a look at the darker side of this album. “Los Dinosaurios” is a tribute to desaparecidos, people who disappeared during the regime. It tells very explicitly that anyone could have been abducted at any moment - friends, loved ones, or radio singers. It compares junta members to the dinosaurs that will also disappear sooner or later. Musically, this track is a very poignant piano composition. It’s the song I find the most harrowing. There are other songs that just strike with sadness. “No Soy un Extraño“, “Ojos de Videotape” and “Plateado Sobre Plateado“ have a rather gloomy tone, both musically and lyrically. The last of them, “Plateado…”, is probably my favourite song on the album. It’s about the fear of death flights. It has a bleak melody and its chorus just sounds like a cry for help. At the same time it’s danceable and seemingly upbeat.

So basically Charly busted a military regime and then danced on its grave in “No me dejan salir” music video. My socialist heart is happy.

By the way, go check out this review. It’s great and it gave me some context to this album. https://www.albumoftheyear.org/user/german20075/album/102226-clics-modernos/

So, that was “Clics Modernos” by Charly Garcia! Here are some other cool artists and albums from Argentina: - Luis Alberto Spinetta - Almendra, Artaud, El Jardín de los Presentes (truly a prepucio moment) - Seru Giran - Grasa De Las Capitales (an another project by Charly, it’s incredible!) - Gustavo Cerati - Bocanada (holy shit this one’s great)

Hii! In short words, this "World challenge" is a project where I'm gonna listen to various albums from around the world, which are often overlooked in the west. I originally started it on albumoftheyear, but decided to move it here! Maybe more people will read it. I'm a guy from Poznań, Poland and a huge music nerd. I'm currently going through a Latin American music phase, so I'm gonna start this challenge in Latin America!

Here's a longer introduction, copied from albumoftheyear. You can find it here:

So… What even exactly is this World Challenge? Well, I have a plan to expand my music taste and listen to some music from around the world. I'm gonna pick about 10 albums from each continent, each one from a different country. I want to know the most influential artists from across the globe, who are often overlooked in the west. I also want to hear different musical traditions. It's quite an ambitious project (probably too ambitious) but we'll see.

Some time ago I didn't really think about any music outside of the Anglosphere. Like many people, I lived under the impression that the best music is what the internet tells you. I came across many projects that are considered classics on sites like rateyourmusic or this one, and they had one thing in common - they were mostly in English. I listened to non-English music too, but I didn't really dive into what their lyrics mean, or what their cultural importance is.

I think everything changed when I became absolutely obsessed with Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs, and then with the whole Japanese rock scene. Then came Omnipotent Youth Society, a Chinese rock band which has quickly become one of my favourites. Right now, I am very much into Latin American rock. I've also started to crave music that's just different from what I know. Music that mixes local traditions with genres I love, or even music that is devoid of any western influences.

I'm gonna be honest, I won't know how to talk about every single album here. I think I’m often gonna have the perspective of a white tourist discovering "exotic cultures". But hey, that's better than not listening to this "different" music at all!

Before I start, here are some notes:

I don't have any strict plan about which artist will be here and which will not. This challenge is gonna be fluid. I might add something along the way, I might even remove it.

I'm gonna stay in each country for about a week. I need this time mostly because I don't want to feel any pressure. I also want to "dive" into the albums as much as I can - read about their cultural importance, or maybe check some other stuff from that country.