Juana Molina

Juana Molina's Un Dia is an offering to those of us tired of the same angry guitars and Xeroxed whiners, self-absorbed coffeehouse girls and monomaniacal rappers who build themselves into genre-specific bunkers and then dig deeper with each successive album. Molina, an Argentinian singer and actress who first gained fame in the late '80s as a TV comedienne, started releasing records in 1996, but they weren't funny endeavors. Rather, her early work features her tango-esque, hypnotic acoustic-guitar lines interlaced with feather-pillow electronic rhythms and her singsong feminine whisper. Over the years, though, her music has expanded, even as it's gotten weirder. Not Bjork-weird, though; Molina still prefers structure to chaos, and on Un Dia, that structure is rhythm, which is sturdier and more textured than on her formative stuff. It's one of last year's best records, a subtle electronic record that's not silly or overly dramatic. Just pure, beautiful music. This show marks Molina's first performance in L.A. with a full band, and promises to be a memorable evening.

By: Randall Roberts