Spain’s Vetusta Morla Makes Its L.A. Debut at the Troubadour

Vetusta Morla is a Rock group from Madrid, Spain who like their Andalusian peers before them made their debut in Los Angeles following SXSW. Pucho, David “El Indio,” Álvaro Baglietto, Jorge González, Guillermo Galván, and Juan Manuel Latorre played at The Troubadour last Tuesday to a loving crowd filled with many Spanish ex-patriots.

The sextet visited a few cities in the U.S. and played a show in Tijuana before ending their North American tour in L.A. Morla played mostly songs off their latest album, Mapas, a collection of songs that sound like a mix of Wilco and Coldplay. After the show, I interviewed guitarist Latorre about the group’s origins and independent work ethic. Below is an excerpt from the interview, which can be read in full at Remezcla:

What about your latest album, Mapas? Was that also released independently? Did you ever consider reaching out to a larger label?

Mapas as well. Everything! Being independent gives us a type of freedom that compensates us because running a label is a lot of work and it can take time away from being a musician. There are times at the end of a week when you ask yourself, ‘what happened? I’ve spent all my time in meetings and filling out paperwork and I’ve neglected my guitar.’ It’s worth the trouble because, at the end of the day, you have lots of freedom to do things the way you want to. No one can tell you to do things a certain way, to release this song as a single, to make a video, you’re the one who decides all that. More importantly, you can personally hire the staff. You can’t run the label by yourself. You need people to help you in specific areas and the beauty about running your own label is that you hire those people yourself. If you sign with a major label, they’ll assign whoever they have. You may get lucky and work with someone you really enjoy working with, or you could be unlucky and the whole thing ends up as a disaster.

Check out more photos of the concert on my Flickr account.

Bigott’s a Funny, Elusive Guy With a Huge Mustache

As I mentioned last week, Spanish folk/pop artist Bigott made his L.A. debut last week following his trip to SXSW. I was able to meet with him and his impressive facial hair (hence the name Bigott after “bigote” [mustache]) afterwards for a brief interview. He didn’t divulge much (something he’s famous for) but there were plenty of laughs to be had.

Did you swing by L.A. because you were in SXSW a few days ago?

That’s it. We were close by and thought we’d swing by Los Angeles or Charlie or St. Raphael or whatever.

When did you arrive? Saturday?

Yes, Saturday. Well, I’m a little confused as to exactly when but I think it was Saturday.

And what have you done so far here in L.A.? Did you go to the beach?

Yeah, we rented some bikes here in the Venice of L.A.! Venice is the name of the beach. We were all over the place. Continue reading “Bigott’s a Funny, Elusive Guy With a Huge Mustache” →

Bigott, Ritmo Machine Make Their L.A. Debut at Eastside Luv

It was a great week for new music in L.A. as Bigott and Ritmo Machine performed at Eastside Luv in Boyle Heights for some post-SXSW action.

Spanish Folk/Pop artist Bigott made his Los Angeles debut on the 20th with some help from the fine folks at Sol Art Radio and Ku De Ta.

Bigott is the project of singer/songwriter Burjo Laudo, a native of Zaragoza, Spain, who has five albums under his belt in almost as many years. He sings in English with a voice that, amazingly enough, fluctuates somewhere between that of Donovan, Colin Meloy, and Tom Waits.

Bigott was a live wire on stage who swung on bars and hooks reserved for the burlesque dancers who are there on the weekend. He and his band played a long set that covered possibly every track they’ve ever recorded and included an encore of his current hit single, “Cannibal Dinner.”

Check out the full set of photos on my flickr.

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The following night featured the L.A. debut of Ritmo Machine at Eastside’s most popular night, Subsuelo, the monthly global bass party presented by Gnawledge. The duo features Eric Bobo, of Cypress Hill and son of Afro-Cuban jazz percussionist Willie Bobo, alongside Chilean dj Latin Bitman who released their debut album, Welcome to the Ritmo Machine, last year on Nacional Records.

Machine played their hits, some stuff I didn’t recognize, and Bobo rocked out with a few percussion solos. A few songs in and Bobo introduced a very special, surprise guest: producer/musician Money Mark!

He played guitar on a number of tracks including “Follow Me,” which he also performs on the album. Later on in the night, Bobo introduced their second guest: Sick Jacken of Psycho Realm. He rapped on a few tracks including “La Calle” and “Sabe.”

Check out the full set of photos on my flickr.

Who To See At SXSW 2012

The South By Southwest (SXSW) festival is days away and downtown Austin, TX will become the center of music, art, and film hysteria for more than a week. There will be hundreds of bands to watch, movies to see, types of food to eat and more.

paper scroll — The list of bands at SXSW. Image via Fused Mag.

Navigating through the many bars and venues in downtown Austin can be mind-blowing.. Here then, in no particular order, is a list of my recommendations of showcases and venues to check out at SXSW.

Under The Radar magazine showcase:

This showcase will be hosted at the Flamingo Cantina on 6th St. There’ll be lots of other great shows here including NACO’s Official SXSW 2012 showcase and Flamingo’s Latin showcase.

Continue reading “Who To See At SXSW 2012” →

Can Johan Cruyff Save Las Chivas De Guadalajara?

So this announcement appeared yesterday:

And there are thousands of Chivas fans at the Omnilife Stadium right this minute welcoming Johan Cruyff to the organization as the team’s new advisor. The move comes after a 3 – 0 loss against Velez Sarsfield in a Copa Libertadores match this past Wednesday, leaving the team with a win-less streak of 13 games. The club hired a new coach, Ignacio Ambriz, last month and now adds Cruyff to the roster to pull the team out of its slump.

Cruyff, born Hendrik Johannes Cruijiff, is a famous footballer who was incredibly successful as a striker and, later, as a manager. His career began with Dutch team AFC Ajax where he was a star player thanks to his mastery of Total Football under the guidance of manager Rinus Michels. His influence in the Netherlands international team was such that the team never lost a match he scored in.

He then played for FC Barcelona where he scored his most famous goal, known as “The Phantom Goal” and “Cruyff’s Impossible Goal,” during a match against Atletico Madrid:

Cruyff retired from football as an athlete in 1984 and began his career as a coach with the same team he started his career as a player, Ajax, before coaching Barcelona in 1988. He led the team to many championship wins and also trained/mentored a young Josep Guardiola.

Only time will tell how his role will help Guadalajara but a little Dutch influence never hurt any other team.

Highlights of the Week: Big Sir, JotDog, Gustavo Galindo

Three of my stories went up this week:

Big Sir Had Serious Health Scares. So They Made an Album About Life and Death.

Right around the time they were finishing their last album Und Die Scheiße Ändert Sich Immer, they both fell ill and were diagnosed with serious diseases. Alderete discovered he had polycythemia vera, a rare bone marrow disease where the body produces too many blood cells, while Papineau was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. “The bottom fell out,” says Papineau. “In the midst of this juncture, Juan dreamed a song, woke up, recorded it and emailed it to me in Paris. He said, ‘I know it may be corny to say this, but from now on everything we do really has to make a difference … even if only to us … there’s no point any more to do less.'”

Q&A: Jotdog, From Rock en Español to Sci Fi Über Pop

With Jotdog, we’re doing this for the right reasons. The right reasons to be in a group, for us, aren’t money or fame. The right reasons to be in a group, mainly, are to have a good time. Every time you write a song, you need to enjoy yourself. Every time you go on tour, you need to enjoy yourself. When you write a song with the mentality of writing a hit to make millions, you’ve lost the purpose of songwriting.

Gustavo Galindo Says Fuck You to the Latin Grammys

“Once the Latin Grammys happened,” he continues, “I thought ‘well, that’s it for this record cycle. Let’s go focus on Mexico and launch the album down there.'” He cut those plans short in December when, while sitting in traffic, he received a ton of tweets congratulating him. He had no idea what for; when he found out he was nominated alongside huge acts like Mana and Calle 13, he thought there must have been a mistake.

The Trials of Baltasar Garzón

Spanish magistrate Baltasar Garzón continues to sit on the opposite side of the bench inside Spain’s supreme court. Garzón, lauded globally as a defender of human rights, is currently defending himself in his second trial where he is accused of breaking an amnesty law passed in 1977, two years after dictator Francisco Franco’s death, that prevents any probe into Franco-era crimes via a general pardon.

baltasar garzon — Baltasar Garzón. Photographer unknown.

Judge Garzón launched a probe in 2008 into the disappearances of over 100,000 persons while Franco was in power. Family members of the victims have spent years, some even decades, trying to discover where their loved ones were buried.

From The Telegraph UK:

The first witness, Maria Martin, recalled how in 1936 when she was just six, her mother was one of three women and 27 men shot dead and their corpses dumped into a mass grave on the side of a road.

Supported by a Zimmer-frame and speaking in a voice cracked with emotion, the 81-year-old said her family had fought to recover the remains of her mother for a proper burial ever since.

“Until the day he died in 1977 my father wrote to the local authorities to try to recover the body. They told him: ‘Go away, leave us in peace or we will do to you what we did to her’,” she told the Supreme Court.

Garzón first appeared in court last week to defend himself from allegations that he’d overstepped his jurisdiction when he authorized police to wiretap conversations between lawyers and their clients in what’s known as the Gürtel case. The case involves charges of corruption against members of the Partido Popular, which currently holds power in Spain.

A date for the third case, which centers around allegations that Garzón dropped an investigation against the president of Banco Santander in exchange for payments for a course sponsored by the bank at New York University, has not been set yet.

El Pais has a detailed analysis of each case.

Garzón became famous worldwide in 1998 when he ordered the arrest of Chile’s former dictator Augusto Pinochet for crimes against humanity. Pinochet was extradited from London to Santiago, Chile where he lived under house arrest during his trial. The arrest led to “the Garzón effect” throughout Latin America.

That was just the first in a number of high-profile cases he led including:

the conviction of former Interior Minister José Barrionuevo Peña for leading state-terrorist group Grupos Antiterroristas de Liberación (GAL)
many cases against members of Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA)
an investigation into whether the Bush Six ( Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Douglas Feith, William Haynes II, Jay Bybee, and David Addington) violated international law by justifying the use of torture at Guantanamo Bay

Garzón risks losing his role as Investigative Magistrate for up to 20 years if he is convicted in any of the trials.

Below is a lengthy interview Garzón gave to Democracy Now:

Mexican Dubwiser at Subsuelo

DJ/producer Mexican Dubwiser poked his head out of the production studio last week long enough to spin some latin, cumbiatronica jams. He was special guest at Subsuelo, a monthly party at L.A.’s Eastside Luv, “the Mecca of beautiful Hispanic women” as one of my friends described it.

Mexican Dubwiser – “Revolution Radio”

Mexican Dubwiser – “Cumbia Of The Great” (2008 version)

Dubwiser hails from Monterrey, Mexico, an area where lots of great music has been and continues to be created. He currently lives in LA so, hopefully, there’ll be more Dubwiser DJ sets in town (residency, anyone?).

Check out the full set of photos on my Flickr account.

Two Bands = Two Interviews: Enjambre and Rodrigo y Gabriela

It’s only the second week of the new year and already there have been a number of huge announcements/developments in the music world. Goldenvoice announced the Coachella 2012 lineup, a little-known rock group reunited, and Remezcla published two of my interviews:

Q&A: Enjambre, One more Album before the End of the World

Was the music scene going off there during that time?

Luis: Oh yeah, it still is. There’s a scene for anything. It’s the biggest city in the world and there’s all kinds of people so…we got there and people, when we got on stage, we were opening for this well-known band called San Pascualito Rey and everyone was yelling “Pascual! Pascual!” They wanted us to get off the stage and at the end of our set, they were yelling “Otra! Otra!” Going from “get off the stage” to asking for an encore was really interesting and everywhere we would play, it would be like that. People didn’t really know who we were but they started liking it. We’re like “well, if we keep doing this for a longer period of time then we can build it up and probably do this for a little longer.”

Julian: Also, we’re a band that sings in Spanish.

Rafa: The main music industry is still in Mexico City. Even Spanish or Argentine artists always want to go to Mexico and work their way out of there. It makes total sense for us to be there right now. It’s like for movies, it’d be Hollywood or for theater, it’s New York.

enjambre @ sala de espera, indie 103 — Enjambre at Indie 103.1's Sala De Espera program

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Q&A: Rodrigo Y Gabriela Reinvent Old Favorites With Area 52

It’s refreshing to hear these songs we already know, and suddenly there‘s a sitar solo in the middle. It’s like, “Whoa, what is this?!”

Exactly, I had to! I wasn’t going to play them the same. No way. It was a very different process for both of us to play the solos. I come from the rock side so I normally make the solos and then, once I nail them, I record them. For this album, it was very much on the spot. I was with my engineer and we had already gone to Cuba and had all the background music so it was literally playing around and saying, “Ok, I like this take here.” It was pretty much like that. That’s why I don’t even remember what I did but I listened to it and I really liked it.

Yeah, the introduction to “Anuman” is totally different.

I hope people understand that this is not our new direction but, I think it’s an interesting enough project to support, play a few shows with and we hope people enjoy it as much as we did. When I listen to the album now, for me, it’s like a different band. It’s not like listening to my own albums because I don’t even do that. I don’t go back and listen to the new albums because I’m very judgmental with what we did and I want to change things here and there. For this album, I can just go back, relax and listen to it. There are so many things going on and so many musicians on there that I’m not focused on what I’m doing so I really enjoy listening to it, which is a good thing.

Coachella 2012 Lineup Released

The Coachella Valley Music Festival lineup was just released minutes ago via the site’s official Twitter account: