Odisea Covers Juan Gabriel's "Siempre En Mi Mente"

The amount of downloads Juventud Bruta is getting is simply overwhelming. We were a bit skeptical to continue to make compilations after the success of Nosotros Los Rockers (seemed like a good place to stop), but we’re happy about the growing positive reaction. With a total of 26 tracks (most of them very short cuts), spotting the crowd-favorite track is quite difficult, but ironically, our stats (+ social networks) show Odisea’s cover of Juan Gabriel’s “Siempre en Mi Mente” as the zeitgeist of this ‘Uncouth Youth.’

After an all-covers compilation, we weren’t looking to include any covers on the compilation, but when Alex Anwandter told us he wanted to include a ‘JuanGa’ cover he had been working on, we were immediately on board. Juan Gabriel, who this year is returning to ‘Boleros’ (after 30 years outside the genre), is one of pop music’s greatest visionaries. “Siempre En Mi Mente” is a classic, a hard to-the-bone love song, a landmark of seduction in the Latin American songwriting field. Odisea’s version is respectful and well possessed.

Throughout the song, we get to experience little flirts of Odisea’s magic, revealing the pain of eternal love through both, sound and silence. The emotional strings in which Anwandter is able to frame the song is a reflection on his abilities to embrace the concept of authorship, and the power of lyrics themselves. Our uncouth, unwashed, and unsettled youth finds the plug-in (and the heart) to the collective social memory; when that whisper ("no encuentro nada") comes up, it's hard not to feel mobilized in some way or another.