Alejandra Iglesias Rivera, more conveniently known as Dinky, has finally released her new album after years of hard work in the New York underground. She previously recorded as Miss Dinky, but has since dropped the “Miss” moniker for her new full-length album, Black Cabaret. With only several other releases under her belt and a new album released in the United States, you would think that everything is going her way. Unfortunately, that’s not exactly true in this situation. Dinky was forced to leave the United States due to an expired Visa and is now unable to fully support the release of her new album. It’s so unfortunate, too, because this is an album that deserves a lot more attention than it will probably receive. Although that may be the case, I don’t think Black Cabaret will have much trouble ranking fairly high on my favorites list at the end of this year.
My observation also tells me that the Visa predicament will only be a small setback in the grand scheme of things. Dinky is an extremely busy and talented woman who has pretty much devoted her life to the arts. Like Madonna (who you’ll hear more about later), she came to New York City to study dance and make music that would allow her to make others dance. As a student at the Martha Graham School of Dance, and an avid lover of electronic music since her younger years of visiting Berlin, it’s easy to see what her influences have resulted in. Not only does Dinky have an extended background in piano and formal dance, but she even produces all of her own material. Must be nice to be completely self-reliant and talented, too.
So what does Black Cabaret sound like then? It sounds like your model New York club music, but with a heavy dose of morphine. The beats are pastoral and the vocals are sporadic enough to blend in with the other layers of sound. It’s the type of music you would want to listen to late on a Friday night if you were alone in your room staring at the ceiling for fun. The thing that makes Black Cabaret so good is that it sounds like what Madonna might sound like if she picked Ulrich Schnauss to assist her rather than Mirwais; and we all know how utterly fantastic Ulrich Schnauss is. As I promised earlier, there is more to the Madonna reference than just my observation above. Dinky actually samples Madonna on one of the albums’ best tracks, “Berlin Nights.” It may also be noted that Prince makes an appearance here on the song “White Lie.” If it’s not actually Prince, or a sample of Prince, someone sure wants to be him. Let’s just feel blessed that she decided to leave Michael Jackson off of her album.
Regardless of her influences or samples, Black Cabaret is a very strong album for Dinky. Not because it breaks musical boundaries, but because it just does the basics so very well. It’s a giant step from her previous releases, and shows that she just may be on her way to bigger and better things while developing her own trademark in the electronic music world. Bernard Sumner once said of New Order’s music, “We make electronic music just like everyone else; we just happen to do it very well.” That’s exactly my point here. As Sumner insinuates, you don’t always have to be different to be great. Dinky has shown us that if you just simplify things a little, and make music with integrity, all things are attainable in the music industry.
1. No Love
2. Miles Away
3. Mami
4. American Guy
5. White Lie
6. Berlin Nites
7. That Thing Goin
8. Black Cabaret
9. Go
10. Transcendence
11. Frogz
12. No Love [dub]
More about: Dinky
