Ahead of this November’s Le Guess Who? festival in Utrecht, we are presenting a series of previews centred around the coinciding Mega Record & CD Fair, and artists playing at the festival.
Last week, Felix Kubin stepped up to discuss albums by Nihiloxica and A.E. Bizottság, as well as the record he wished he’d released on his label Gagarin. This week, it’s the turn of Lucrecia Dalt, who joins us fresh from the release of her recent collaborative album with Aaron Dilloway, and ahead of her turn as a guest curator at this year’s Le Guess Who? Below, she tells us about the records she wishes she had been present for during the production process, plus more.
Le Guess Who? will this year welcome the likes of William Basinski, faUSt, Pa Salieu, Ana Roxanne, Vladislav Delay, Jesu and Vanishing Twin, as well as guest curation from Midori Takada, John Dwyer, Phil Elverum, Matana Roberts and Dalt. The Mega Record & CD Fair will run alongside it in Utrecht. You can find more information about the fair here.
Le Guess Who? will take place from November 11 to 14, 2021. Find more information here.
Which three records would you be on the hunt for at the Mega Record & CD Fair?
Lucrecia Dalt: Ernesto Hill Olvera’s Los éxitos, Junior Kimbrgough’s First Recordings and La Niña de los peines’ Éxitos.
When / how did you get to know these records, and why are they special to you?
LD: I discovered Ernesto Hill Olvera some years ago. I know that it’s still possible to find this record on vinyl, but I haven’t got it yet. I have this fixed memory from a restaurant in Colombia in my twenties where an old guy was playing an organ in a similar fashion to this record. I love how he is extremely technical with his instrument, yet evoking the best of feelings.
As for Junior Kimbrough and La Niña de los peines, these are just a couple of examples of music that would help me clean my ears after working long, long hours scoring a horror film. Listening to something with insane contrast was the only way for me not to be repeating my score obsessively all night long.
What album have you listened to the most over the last year?
LD: There have been a number of records in heavy rotation, like The Upsetters’ Return Of Django, Harry Belafonte’s classic Calypso and Belkis Concepción’ y las chicas del Can. I’ve been in an intense Merengue phase lately, and I was just needing rather tropical, reggae tunes, to navigate the weirdness of the pandemic with uplifting music and dancing.
Is there any album you wish you had collaborated on?
LD: Not to collaborate, but there are records I just wish I could have been present for during the production/conception process, just as an invisible guest, like Harry Belafonte’s Calypso, Parmegiani’s Violostries and Japan’s Tin Drum.
