Julieta Venegas
Otra Cosa (Sony Music Latin)
Reviewed by Raoul Hernandez, Fri., May 21, 2010
Julieta Venegas
Otra Cosa (Sony Music Latin)In any language, Julieta Venegas' new millennial showing qualifies the 39-year-old Long Beach-born, Tijuana-brazed singer as an Artist of the Decade. Otra Cosa seals the deal. Her fifth LP following 1997's accordion-pumped pop pulsation Aquí, Venegas continues her campaign of getting more with honey (Tanya Donelly) than with rice vinegar (Jenny Lewis), only en Español. Even then, after a four-star march through the new century – Sí (2003), Limón y Sal (2006), MTV Unplugged (2008) – the most important phrase in need of translation on Otra Cosa comes from the CD credits: letra y musica (words and music). She & Him's Zooey Deschanel isn't the only cool breeze reviving girl group wonderment; the synth figure blowing through "Ya Conocerán" might have come from Victoria LeGrand's Beach House. On a percussive heartbeat, the electro equivalent of what Holland-Dozier-Holland cooked up with hand claps and baseboards in the basement of Motown, Otra Cosa bounces, beginning with Venegas' keyboard bunny hop on opener "Amores Platónicos" ("Platonic Loves"), 2:33 of host-christened piano and glockenspiel. She kicks amor to the curb in 3:23 on the irresistible "Despedida," while "Revolución" tattoos its chant of "dime si" ahead of the synth, accordion, and banjo – all played by Venegas – of the knockout title track. Closer "Eterno," opening with the command "put your tongue under mine" and its wish for that perfect moment suspended forever, just became a Spanish-speaking wedding day staple. Dime si.