If I had known earlier in the game that Panama has such great musicians I would’ve started Porto Diao a little earlier. My fault for not giving the country a chance at an ealier time… anyway, My appreciation for great music knows no bounds and I’ll tell you why: Whenever I hear a song or al album or whatever I automatically apply it to stories I have in my mind. Key-K knows this better than anyone; my stories tend to have a very cinematic pace. He’s absolutely right too, in the sense that what I do is set everything up and just play the reel, you know? From then on I just write what I’m seeing down the way I think best describes what’s happening. Sometiems it’s hard for me to turn off the switch that thinks about how viable it is to write a story with the intent to shoot it on film. Anyway, where I’m going with this is that in my stories music plays a very important part in the creative process since I’m affected by it on a much more personal way. I know that if I want to write an angry narrative I’ll listen to the Deftones. Very few people, few are the one who have looked into my creative process because this writing thing, it’s a very solitary venture. I’m very private about my stories so you must imagine how much of a leap this site is for me. Anyway, the few people who I let in on some of my tricks know that I make soundtracks for my stories. They’re mostly playlists I make up and play when I’m doing a particular story because that’s the only way I get in the zone and keep the tone of the characters and what they’re going through at that point in their histories. Out of all my stories though, there’s one that I know will make it big. It’s ridiculously personal, my epic… I love talking about it because the story itself builds up just as much emotion in me as, say, doing things right, a great concert, my torment, rollercoasters… I don’t know. It’s just a great story, I’m immensely proud of it and the only reason why I haven’t pushed to publish it is because I want to give it the best deal I can get on the planet so that as many people as possible can get their hands on it. It’s that good.

Anyway, the playlist for this particular story is still being edited (it began in 1999, mind you) and since I’ve divided the tale in 4 parts it’ll probably be a few years until I finally complete it. In this playlist I have the greats songs I like, bands which produce music that’s complex, powerful and layered; full of emotion and force. They pick up the many themes the story addresses with unrelenting power and I believe they reflect who I am better than anything else, in my opinion. Every musician and band I’ve talked about here is in that soundtrack and I hope that in the entries I’ve written about them I’ve explained why they’re there… and I’v noticed that recently I’ve been thinking about 3 artists and their songs: Señor Loop, the Super Mario 64 soundtrack and these guys… El Papo Vecino. They’re a Panamanian band that I don’t know, for the life of me, when they began to play but from marauding their official site it looks like their members have been a part of the music scene for a long time, and you can tell judging by their sound. I can’t really put my finger on what I like about them (what stands out for me is the glorious guitar, which ironically sounds a lot like Señor Loop’s guitar arrangements and vice versa) but they sound fantastic live. I first heard of them one random night I went to La Casona (I love that place even if I’ve neglected it as of late. That will soon change) and they were playing… it was the sort of pseudo-ambience, experimental and sweet melodic rock that’s right up my alley so I took notice right away. Every member was on point with their performance and I loved every song on their set… sadly, the lead singer said something about the band either changing members or calling it quits (my memory’s fuzzy for a change, but upon reading their site they just changed band members apparently) so I was rather bummed out. I saw them again another time a few weeks later and they were selling their EPs with a few of their songs so I bought it because I liked them that much. One of my old flames took it for God knows what reason and I was screwed because in an unprescedented move, this sir here didn’t back up his music purchase in his computer. I was bummed… limited to listening to them on the frickin’ radio whenever the DJ felt like playing their songs.

It is with great joy that I ask you to visit El Papo Vecino’s site and get acquainted with this exceptional band. Most importantly, they’ve been kind enough to provide a Music section where you can download MP3 tracks from them, free of charge. Below, my recommendations. I suggest you start off with “El Beso,” though. What a fantastic song.

El Beso :: Speed Racer :: Cansancio

Are there more bands like these in Panama? They seem to be so under the radar that not even the Internet catches their blip. I think I’d like to change that, if possible. I should swing by Hoja de Bijao to see what the hell they have to say about that.

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