Release Date: 25 April 2025
Song Count: 11
Rating: 7.9/10
Description:
From the other side of the world (at least, from my very European perspective) arises a newly established music producing sorcerer by the name of Camila Domínguez from Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Since close to a decade now, the artist has been brewing and experimenting with tracks in her own corner, blending together all sorts of dance rhythms with Latin American sonical influences, ambient sounds, psychedelic backings and other tools seemingly pulled out of nowhere and weaving together music one would be very hard-pressed to find any equivalences to anywhere else. The eighth and most recent album under her stage of name, Lila Tirando a Violeta, is a prime example of this self-crafted style, and the record we have the pleasure of jumping into today.
To call the wide-spanning sound of Dream of Snakes "unconventional" like I frequently like to do is the understatement of the millennium; mentally grasping the full extent of which and how each individual sound is being used like a brick to construct together something abstract yet strangely appealing is one enormous challenge, and so the question lies in how much deep reflection records like these truly need to be fully appreciated in their art. The beats used and mixed into the tracks vary from low-hitting techno to more energetic rave rhythms and hints of breakbeat elements, and though very much not fitting into most widely spread categories of electronic music, the best way to describe its effect on the listener is through a comparison with why Breakcore music has the appeal that it does on certain individuals: the speed, extremity and "controlled chaos" effect, as shown in this record, is extremely stimulating for the brain and scratches a certain itch for completely off-the-walls bunches of sounds whirling around together and subsequent abstraction beyond regular comprehension.
If many experimental projects and songs are often described as lying "outside of the box", then what Lila Tirando a Violeta offers is what would essentially happen if there were no box to start with. It's esoteric, wacky and downright mesmerising in how a set of club tracks can draw one in so thoroughly not simply through the appeal of being a danceable beat, but also through its ability to invoke unique and at first almost alien feelings on top and simply containing so much more within it. It's an incredible feat clearly stemming from a truly creative visionary that has managed to channel their ideas fully into the music. The most standout showcase of this is with the track "Rest & Relaxation" in the middle of the record - a comparatively shorter yet captivating song that fully encapsulates this hypnotic effect.
Though unlikely to be heard blasting through the speakers of any mainstream clubs anytime soon, Domínguez' work feels no need to appease the common taste for dance music or even to fit any sorts of preconceived notions or definitions of what dance music even is; it exists on its own realm, patiently awaiting to be found and heard by just the right-minded audience and bask in its eccentric artistry. Dream of Snakes is certainly not for everyone, but for those it is for, it certainly will be a shining gem of a discovery - that much stands for sure.