No Te Va Gustar – Por Lo Menos Hoy (2010, Uruguay)
As randomly chosen via Fedi survey,[1] our next spotlight is on number 960 on The List, submitted by lauhazn.
Formed in 1994 so a trio of high school friends could perform at a local festival, No Te Va Gustar (aka NTVG) has since become one of Uruguay’s most popular rock bands, both locally and internationally. NTVG mixes in a variety of sounds with their pop rock including ska/reggae, candombe, and murga, and have lyrics touching on a range of topics including criticism of the government, social issues, and love.
The album we look at here (“At Least Today”) was NTVG’s sixth studio LP, which was immediately well-received and garnered the band their first Latin Grammy nominations. The line-up on this album includes one member from the original trio – Argentine-Uruguayan singer, songwriter, and guitarist Emiliano Brancciari – plus eight other members: Gonzalo Castex (percussion), Martín Gil (trumpet, vocals), Denis Ramos (trombone), Mauricio Ortiz (saxophone), Marcel Curuchet (keyboard), Diego Bartaburu (drums), Guzmán Silveira (bass), and Pablo Coniberti (guitar). As can probably be expected just from looking at the list of instruments and genre tags, this is a great one to put on for a road (or boat?) trip.
Since Por Lo Menos Hoy, NTVG has released 11 more albums – five studio, five live, and one remix – and have experimented with adding some other sounds to their mix including Argentine folk and synth-pop. The remix album, Otras Canciones (“Other Songs”; 2019), was released on the band’s own record label (Elefante Blancofor) for their 25th anniversary and features collabs with other Latin American artists, including a lovely take on one of the Por Lo Menos Hoy singles, “Chau”, with Mexican singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Julieta Venegas.
NTVG will soon be touring their recent album, Florece En El Caos (2026), with dates scheduled in Latin America and Europe until the end of the year.
- The survey choices that led to this spotlight were: “If you set you mind free, baby”, “Maybe you’d understand”, “Starfish and coffee”, and “Maple syrup and jam, oh oh” (following a survey that had “Starfish and coffee”/”Maple syrup and jam”/”Butterscotch clouds, a tangerine”/”And a side order of ham”). The last three were tied as the winning selections, so the survey results will be translated for three spotlights, each picking an album in The List that contains a (part of a) word from one of those phrases – in this case, “Star(fish)”. ↩︎
