El Pardo has a one-way ticket to our end-of-the-year Best of lists thanks to the aggressively political “Las Clases Ociosas.” The Raúl-Querido-fronted super group (backed by members of Despotismo Ilustrado, Tigres Leones, and Alborotador Gomasio) released this track back in May, alongside “La Hoguera de San Jerónimo.”
The track is an explosive outcry that employs Marxian rhetoric to express deep disillusionment with the bourgeoisie. El Pardo expresses its position through ironic gratitude, challenging the one percenters’ privileged role in society and questioning the broader themes of class and religion. By exploring the problematic intersection of capital and faith, the song is able to reach dramatic heights without any conclusions, all while the music heavily drones and crashes on. This is some real talk sung as conversation.
The video for the track takes a purposely minimalistic route via blackouts, flashing icons, and commands to the audience, furthering the fear of persecution and alarm. It makes sense for such a politically charged song to resist the glossy or even grainy music video tradition. Images would only decorate the truth. The truth we need is naked.
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