Hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot talk with Dr. Ricky Rodriguez about the cultural exchange between Latino fans and British bands in the 1980s. Plus, Jim and Greg review new albums by Kelela and Yo La Tengo.
Kelela has kept fans of her electronic dance and R&B music waiting for six years for her second official album, Raven. In the meantime, her music has become a staple of queer dance parties everywhere. Jim and Greg are both big fans of Raven.
Yo La Tengo is nearing 40 years as a band. They have grown to be synonymous with indie rock. On their 17th album, This Stupid World, the core trio did everything themselves. Jim and Greg attempt to calibrate their review to take their personal preference for the band into account, but still can’t give the album anything but a rave review.
Dr. Ricky Rodríguez grew up in a Mexican-American household, but found his musical community when he heard British music from the post-punk era, like Siousixie and the Banshees and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. His book, “A Kiss Across The Ocean” examines the cultural exchange that blossomed in that era between British bands and Latino and Latina fans.
For more than 15 years, Sound Opinions was a production of WBEZ, Chicago's public radio station. Now that the show is independent, we're inviting you to join the band and lend a hand! We need your support more than ever because now we have to do all the behind-the-scenes work that WBEZ handled before (like buying insurance and paying for podcast hosting, ugh). Plus, we have some exciting ideas we'd like to try now that there's no one to tell us no!