Hugo Chavez Can’t Stop La Vida Boheme’s Dance Party!

I’ve been obsessed with La Vida Boheme’s debut album Nuestra for the past few weeks. I’m definitely not the only one enthralled by it as the lp was nominated for Best Latin Pop, Rock, Or Urban Album Grammy last night alongside the works of Calle 13, Gustavo Galindo, labelmates Los Amigos Invisibles, and Mana.

I learned about the Venezuelan dance-rock/post-punk quartet two months ago while listening to the FIFA 12 soundtrack, which includes LVB’s song “El Buen Salvaje.” I liked the song but wasn’t able to get my hands on the full album until a month later in early November when Remezcla put me in contact with Nacional Records. La Vida Boheme was in town and would I like to interview them? Heck yes!

La Vida Boheme by Afroxander! — In the Nacional Records office. Not pictured: the Flinstones rug on the floor.

From the interview:

D’Arthenay: The record [Nuestra], we made it while I was still in college. It was very troublesome because in 2008, we had some of the songs. We started recording it but we didn’t like the record, then went off to record it with another guy, but we still didn’t like it. In 2009, most of the songs had changed. When we recorded the master, it was in 2009. For some of the songs that we initially started recording in 2008, we didn’t feel that they were representative of the things we wanted to say so we made new songs on the spot. So 2009 was a reflection of what happened between 2006 to 2009.

With this new record we just recorded, there’s two songs in it that we were playing for a long time and the second half we made them in one month. We’re very unorthodox in that sense. We’re not willing to release something that we’re not proud of. A work of art speaks for itself. When it’s complete, you know it’s complete. Most of the times, songs are very difficult to get to that point where they’re finished and others, they just flow naturally. We struggled a lot with our second record because of that, and because we don’t want it to be sloppy — we want it to be better. It took us time but we’re very happy with what we have done.

Two days later, I made a trip to Las Vegas to watch LVB perform at Remezcla’s Latin Grammy pre-party:

The set was short but intense and the songs sounded even better live than their studio-recorded counterparts.

Keep your eyes and ears on La Vida Boheme in 2012.

Memories of Pico-Union and USC

Many of my friends went out to USC for the big game against cross-town rival UCLA last night (USC beat UCLA 50 – 0). I’m not a fan of college sports but I do have a soft spot in my heart for USC.

I grew up in L.A.’s Pico-Union district of Central L.A. just two miles north of the campus, north of the I-10 freeway and a block or two away from Hoover St. The I-10 also serves as the border between Pico-Union/Central L.A. and University Park/South L.A. where USC is located.

Pico-Union is known for being the home of one of L.A.’s most notorious street gangs and for its large, mostly Mexican, immigrant population. Despite living in a crime-ridden, low income area, most of my memories of life in Pico-Union are happy ones.

king taco — The food certainly helped. Image courtesy Grub Street LA.

Continue reading “Memories of Pico-Union and USC” →

Meet Ruido Rosa, Mexico’s Ladies of Rock

To continue where I left off a few months ago, I present another talented artist/group from Mexico: Ruido Rosa.

Ruido Rosa. Photo courtesy of Revista Plastica

Ruido Rosa is a rock n’ roll quartet from Mexico City featuring Alejandra Moreno (vocals), Daniela Sanchez (guitar), Carla Sarinana (bass) and Pablo Cantu (drums). Drummer Maryluz Alatriste left the band earlier this month for personal reasons and Cantu is serving as a temporary replacement.

The original members started the band in 2005 and had their first huge break in the U.S.A. in 2009 when they performed at SXSW. They recorded their self-titled debut album the following year with the help of Diego Solorzano, a.k.a. Rey Pila but not before opening for KISS during their three-city tour of Mexico. RR returned to SXSW in 2011 where they performed at La Banda Elastica’s showcase.

RR has a rock/classic rock sound which shouldn’t be a surprise as they claim Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Kinks and The Raconteurs as their primary influences. The two singles off their debut, “Dentro” and “Miedo A Caer,” have a bit of an early BRMC vibe. Listen below.

No word yet on a proper tour of the U.S.A. but hopefully there’ll be one next year.

The Real Guy Fawkes And The Significance Of The 5th Of November

His face is everywhere:

scientology protest — People protest the church of Scientology in the now famous mask.

The mask is modeled after Guy Fawkes whose face became famous the world over after the release of the Wachoski Bros. 2006 film V For Vendetta. The film is an adaptation of the graphic novel by the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd which centers on a mysterious figure named V who fights government oppression (as an anarchist in the book; as a freedom fighter in the film) while wearing the Fawkes mask.

Neither medium delves deeply into the story of real-life figure Guy Fawkes other than noting the rhyme associated with his exploits:

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot…

The following issue then arises: what are we supposed to remember and why should it never be forgot? The answer lies within the life and exploits of Guy Fawkes.

Continue reading “The Real Guy Fawkes And The Significance Of The 5th Of November” →

Los Abandoned: A Chronicle of a Reunion/Resurrection

Los Abandoned was a latin alternative rock group from L.A. that quit before it had a real chance to thrive. Their debut album Mixtape showed lots of promise from the talented quartet but, unfortunately, a number of issues led to their abrupt and sudden dissolution in October 2007.

Thankfully, Ricky Garay and Mucho Music convinced Los Abandoned to reunite for a special, one-time-only Day Of The Dead resurrection concert. I spent a good portion of the past two weeks covering the band for LA Weekly and Remezcla. Stories and photos are linked below:

Los Abandoned To Perform For The Last Time, Again:

The group had ruminated on a reunion since last year, when conflicting schedules forced them to turn down a benefit performance in Chile. They kept the dialogue open until earlier this year when Mucho Events promoter Ricky Garay brought everyone around to his idea for a Day of the Dead reunion.

Garay’d had the idea since promoting a few shows for Diaz’ solo project. “I would always casually mention it,” said Garay, “but I would never bug them about it because I knew it was a personal thing. It was something that I was trying to wrap up before we left La Cita.”

Q&A: Los Abandoned, One Night Resurrection Only:

We were very honored by [Gustavo Arellano] putting us such on a high pedestal. We worked for so many years and we went through so much just to get the little that we had in the economic sense, but it all paid off when we’d get great write-ups and people telling us that they were influenced by us, or that we helped them get through a breakup, or helped them feel better about themselves. We had a big queer following and there were a lot of kids that came out of the closet and thanked us because our music helped them do that. It was those things that made it all worthwhile when we were all living on sleeping bags on the floor.

Los Abandoned – The Echoplex – 10-28-11:

Los Abandoned took a 20 minute intermission after the second encore, and returned to the stage covered in zombie make-up and fake blood. Verde kicked off their final set — a bunch of covers — with the opening lick to Oingo Boingo’s “Dead Man’s Party.”

They finished with Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me.” All of it had me secretly hoping that more bands would break up, so that they could later reunite for a proper send-off.

Photos// Los Abandoned @ The Echoplex, LA: One Night Only Resurrection:

Music, Protests, and Video Games: Photos from BMI’s Otoño Alternativo, Caifanes, Occupy LA and the Tetris Championship

The past week was an exciting and busy one as I covered a handful of interesting events for Remezcla and LA Weekly (all links in the photos).

First up, I made my way to the King King in Hollywood for BMI‘s Otoño Alternativo Latino Showcase featuring a number of up-and-coming Latin artists:

I made my way out to the Nokia Theatre on Friday night to catch legendary Mexican Rock group Caifanes perform:

The next day, I met thousands of protesters outside of L.A.’s city hall:

And on Sunday, I had a brief discussion about neuroscience and video games with Henk Rogers of the Tetris company following the 2nd Annual Tetris Championship:

On Christopher Columbus (Cristobal Colon), 519 Years to the Day of his Arrival

Cristobal Colon monument — Monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus in Valladolid, Spain

From Eduardo Galeano‘s book, Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone:

Columbus

Defying the fury of the winds and the hunger of ship-eating monsters, Admiral Christopher Columbus set sail.

He did not discover America. The Polynesians had arrived a century previous, and the Vikings four centuries before that. And three hundred centuries before them all came the oldest inhabitants of these lands, people whom Columbus called Indians, believing he had entered the Orient by the back door.

Since he did not understand what they said, Columbus was convinced the natives did not know how to speak. Since they went about naked, were docile, and gave up everything in return for nothing, he believed they were not thinking beings.

Although he died insisting his travels had taken him to Asia, Columbus did begin to harbor doubts on his second voyage. When his ships anchored off the Cuban coast in the middle of June 1494, the admiral dictated a statement affirming that he was in China. He left written evidence that his crew agreed: anyone saying the contrary was to receive a hundred lashes, be fined then thousand maravedies, and have his tongue cut out.

At the bottom of the page, the few sailors who knew how to write signed their names.

From the desk of historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Columbus – Hero or Villain?:

Columbus deserves the credit or blame only for what he actually did: which was to discover a route that permanently linked the shores of the Atlantic and to contribute–more signally, perhaps, than any other individual–to the long process by which once sundered peoples of the world were brought together in a single network of communications, which exposed them to the perils and benefits of mutual contagion and exchange. Whether or not one regards this as meritorious achievement, there was a genuine touch of heroism in it–both in the scale of its effects and in the boldness which inspired it. There had been many attempts to cross the Atlantic in central latitudes, but all–as far as we know–failed because the explorers clung to the zone of westerly winds in an attempt to secure a passage home. Columbus was the first to succeed precisely because he had the courage to sail with the wind at his back.

…

So which was Columbus: hero or villain? The answer is that he was neither but has become both. The real Columbus was a mixture of virtues and vices like the rest of us, not conspicuously good or just, but generally well-intentioned, who grappled creditably with intractable problems. Heroism and villainy are not, however, objective qualities. They exist only in the eye of the beholder.

FFA — Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (no relation)

Big Sir talk new album: Before Gardens, After Gardens

“The reason why at least half the record is more electronic,” said Alderete, “is because Lisa and I can do it ourselves where, before, we always had to ask somebody, we always had to go into the studio. Now we can make these records that, to us, sound like hip-hop records even though they’re not hip-hop records. We just wanted beats! We’ve always wanted that and now that we build it all, we’re just going to get better at it.”

“In this [album], we both started learning engineering skills and a lot of trial and error,” said Paineau. “That’s why it took us so long because we decided we want to do it ourselves. We did have a lot of help though.”

Read the full interview over at Remezcla.

Selections From The FIFA Soccer 12 Soundtrack

Another year brings another FIFA game and, with it, another topnotch soundtrack! I picked a few of my favorite tracks from the game to share below. Check out the entire tracklist at FIFA soundtracks dot com. I meant to post this days ago but I got stuck sitting on the couch, posted in front of the tele playing the game demo. Whoops!

ALL MANKIND – Break The Spell:

I get the feeling I’m going to hate this one eventually because every movie producer on the face of the earth will attach it to their Oscar-baiting trailer. I’ll enjoy it for the time being.

CHASE & STATUS – No Problem

A nightmare acid trip!

CSS – Hits Me Like A Rock

I wrote a little something about this video for Remezcla.

GRAFFITI6 – Stare Into The Sun

The Caucasian Gnarls Barkley.

THE JAPANESE POPSTARS – Let Go

For the record, these guys aren’t Japanese. They’re British. Also, this song features an appearance by Green Velvet. So, erm, yeah.

LA VIDA BOHEME – El Buen Salvaje

Here’s a hard rock band from Caracas, Venezuela. I love all the fuzzy distortion throughout the song.

PORTUGAL, THE MAN – Got It All (This Can’t Be Living Now)

Psychedelic Indie/Rock via Wasilla, Alaska/Portland, Oregon. Watch and listen even if you hate male singers with high-pitched voices.

THE NAKED & FAMOUS – Punching In A Dream

This is a little band from New Zealand that’s gaining fame for its psychedelic, 80’s New Wave influenced dance tunes.

THE TING TINGS– Hands

When did Madonna, Blondie and Soft Cell get together?

THIEVERY CORPORATION – Stargazer

Grab a cigar, a glass full of brandy and turn the lights down.

Getting Paid: An Interview with Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez of Sci-Fi Funk Group Zechs Marquise

Imagine a soundtrack for a blaxploitation film starring Shaft in outer space and you’ll have an idea of what Zechs Marquise’s second album, Getting Paid, sounds like. The album is a harder, funkier successor to the group’s full-length debut Our Delicate Stranded Nightmare, which favored ambience and mellow dub.

I spoke with bassist Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez over the phone about the album as well as a number of other topics including why the band is playing at a strip club in Hollywood, bass lines in latin cumbias and west coast hip-hop, Japanese anime, the period of time the band was named Mastodon, and a certain famous sibling.

So you have a few shows coming up next week.

We actually start on Saturday. We have one here [in El Paso] and then the next one is in Mesa [AZ]. Then we play L.A., then San Diego, then L.A. again.

I was looking at those shows and I see you guys are playing at Cheetahs. How’d THAT happen?

We have a friend who books bands there and he saw that we were coming out and had a day off. And he’s like “It’s this bikini bar!” and the reason why we took it is because there’s no cover and we get to play all of our stuff. So we thought, cool, we’ll have one free show and one where people have to pay. We’re kind of interested in seeing how that works out.

Yeah, I read that and thought “When did Cheetahs start booking bands?”

[laughs] So is it like a bikini bar or like a strip club? I’ve been told it’s both, kind of.

I was there once for a friend’s birthday. It’s not a full-on strip club but you can get lap dances and all that.

Like a middle ground? [laughs]

Yeah, that’s why when I read about that show, I went “huh?”

That’s weird, yeah. [laughs] We thought the same thing too.

And then you guys are playing at Low End Theory later.

Yeah, we haven’t played Low End in like two years and we used to try to do it at least twice a year. Over the last few years, we never had a chance to schedule a Low End show, especially with how we’ve grown over the past couple of years, but we definitely like playing there. I think they’ve only had a couple of rock bands play there but all the residents there consider us residents so that’s cool considering that we don’t live in L.A.

The first time we did Low End we opened for Daedalus and Busdriver. We were totally stoked on that because we’ve been fans of Busdriver for so long.

And you’re actually playing two shows in El Paso.

Yeah, we have another one in October [at La Parada]. I guess it would be the equivalent of El Paso’s Low End Theory. It’s the first Friday of every month at the San Carlos building, which is a building a huge courtyard. They have lots of stores and stuff and they let these guys rent the whole space once a month with a few dj’s and live art. Sometimes they have a dance troupe play, they’ll have a band play, it’s really cool. We’re booking it as our vinyl release party since we’re playing two shows in El Paso so close together and because it’s mostly a vinyl culture as it is.

Are you going to add more tour dates?

We have a tour coming up in November. As soon as the routing and dates are locked down, we’ll be announcing those. The only reason we’re doing this one so short is because it’s right when the record comes out. We want to get out, play a few shows and give it some time to circulate for a minute before heading back out again.

Let it percolate for a bit?

Yeah, exactly. Let it settle with people. It’ll be nice to do these shows. The way it worked out was great with Low End capping it off and [brother/drummer] Marcel [Rodriguez-Lopez]’s birthday is the following day on the 29th so to come back home after releasing the record, especially after how long and how hard we’ve been working on it, it’ll be nice.

Continue reading “Getting Paid: An Interview with Marfred Rodriguez-Lopez of Sci-Fi Funk Group Zechs Marquise” →