A little over a month ago, Billboard announced a large bit of news: a partnership between Camilo Lara (a.k.a. Mexican Institute of Sound) and Toy Selectah (formerly of Control Machete) as Compass. The duo visited and recorded in seven different cities with a grand total of 90 collaborators for an album that will be released some time next year.
I actually spent a day at Red Bull Music Studios in Los Angeles this past summer while the duo worked on a few tracks. Below is footage I shot of Lara and Toy working with singer/musician Ceci Bastida on some vocals.
The duo will also tour the world together next year and will be part of Mexico’s Vive Latino festival.
I guess it’s no surprise that a festival that catered to a Latino audience would result in a crowd dressed in a variety of football jerseys from local clubs and national teams, as was the case at last weekend’s Supersonico Festival. I photographed as many as I could as a personal project.
No sé las razones por las que los fans de la música alternativa de Latinoamérica en Los Ángeles tuvieron que esperar tanto tiempo para poder gozar de un festival como el Supersónico. Han sufrido por muchos años viendo a campos, estadios y salas promoviendo festivales con grupos de Rock en Español cuyos días alcanzaron sus puntos máximos al fin del siglo. Por favor, ¡ya no inviten a Maná!
Por algún tipo de milagro que desconozco, todas esas quejas por fin fueron calladas el sábado, 10 de Octubre cuando las puertas del Shrine Auditorium se abrieron al Supersónico Festival. El evento organizado por Cookman International y Goldenvoice unió a artistas famosos, como Café Tacvba y Calle 13, con artistas independientes, locales, y no muy conocidos, como María Y José y AJ Dávila, de la música hispanoamericana. Por primera vez, Los Ángeles tuvo su primer festival al estilo Vive Latino o un Fuck Yeah Fest (FYF) Latino.
El día comenzó con grupos Angelinos en cada escenario. El DJ/músico Gomez Comes Alive tuvo el honor de abrir el festival como el primer artista del programa en el Illuminati Lounge (nombrado así porque el fundador del Shrine era un Masónico, jojojo). No era tanto un salón sino un pasillo largo y ancho donde también uno podía salir a un vestíbulo a comprar camisetas y discos de los mismos artistas del día por precios de festival.
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala performing with Antemasque
Note: This review was originally written for another publication three weeks ago. That website never published it nor did they ever inform me as to why they didn’t publish it despite previously accepting the pitch. In the industry, we call this situation “bullshit.” So I’m publishing it here.
The concert at The Roxy in Hollywood this past Wednesday, August 13th was a homecoming and a public display of reconciliation for singer Cedric Bixler Zavala and guitarist/producer Omar Rodriguez Lopez, the founding members of Antemasque, who wrapped their debut US tour that night. The duo had been here before 14 years ago with At The Drive-In as the opening act for Rage Against The Machine.
A lot happened during that time. Zavala and Lopez left hardcore outfit At The Drive-In and formed the much more experimental The Mars Volta a year after that show. That much-loved, Grammy winning band came to a sudden end in 2013 when Zavala lashed out against Lopez on Twitter and officially ended TMV. Two lifelong friends were suddenly enemies much like Morrissey and Johnny Marr.
But then, earlier this year, the two reconciled and announced Antemasque, their new project together. They quickly released their debut self-titled album online and announced their first tour featuring Le Butcherettes as the opening act.
If anyone ever had any doubt as to the duo’s reconciliation, those doubts were put to rest the instance Antemasque stepped foot on the stage. Zavala and Lopez, flanked by drummer Dave Elitch and Lopez’s brother Marfred on bass, performed together as they have for years.
If there’s one word to describe Antemasque, that word is “freedom.” The duo have long been tied down to one genre or another for much of their careers: Hardcore Rock/Punk with ATDI, Dub with short-lived project De Facto, and Progressive Rock with TMV. As Antemasque, they’re free to do as they wish jumping from Classic Rock to Pop-Punk/Pop-Rock to Punk to Acoustic ballads.
Age has yet to slow Zavala down as he jumped, shimmied, leapt off Elitch’s drum kit, and smashed his cymbals on the floor as he’s done since his days with ATDI. Lopez joined on backup vocals a few times throughout the hour-long set where the band played all but one song from their debut album. They performed an untitled new song in its place.
Lopez, who in the past had a reputation for noodly guitar antics, kept the guitar solos to a minimum until the second-to-last song of the night, “Providence.” Halfway through the song, the band gave its Volta fans a nod with a drawn-out jam session during which Zavala ad-libbed new lyrics on the fly.
Openers Le Butcherettes set the tone for the night as singer/guitarist/keyboardist Teri Gender Bender (Teresa Suarez), drummer Lia Braswell, and tour bassist Chris Commons fired up the crowd for an hour playing a mix of tracks from their latest album, Cry Is For The Flies, and their debut, Sin Sin Sin.
Dedication is the best word to describe Luis Nariño, the founder and frontman of Latin Alternative Rock/Pop group Noble Creatures. Today, September 2nd, marks the end of a five-year quest to complete and publish his band’s debut album, Strange Behavior.
The journey began about a decade ago when Nariño arrived in L.A. from Kansas for the sole purpose of launching his career as an artist. A rotating cast of musicians and a debut EP for the Luis Nariño Band eventually gave way to the solidified lineup of Nariño (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Marcos Mora (drums), Ruben Salinas (Tenor Sax), Evan Mackey (trombone), Brina Simon (trumpet), David Bowman (bass), and Cliff Beach (backup vocals) in Noble Creatures.
I spoke with Nariño at a restaurant in the Farmer’s Market about the album and how his Colombian-American upbringing shaped his life and music. The edited interview is below as a playlist.
Strange Behavior is now available on iTunes and other major online distributors. Noble Creatures will play a album release party at The Virgil on Saturday, September 6th.
Viva Pomona is a small, two-day music festival in the city of Pomona packed with lots of local and international artists with a focus on independent and upcoming artists.
It took a few years but L.A. artist Rafi El finally felt comfortable enough in his own skin to create and release his first solo work. He and his band debuted at La Cita on January 30th where they performed tracks off his debut album Ay De Mi.
You can read more about him and the album at Voxxi and check out photos of the concert below.
Thursday December 19th marked the last Afro Funké night at Zanzibar or any other location. The night marked an end to a decade of music, dancing, and fun in Santa Monica courtesy of Cary Sullivan, Rocky Dawuni, Jeremy Sole, and Glenn Red.
The guests for the night were many (as you can see above). L.A.’s best DJs were brought in for two songs each before tagging in the next.
The occasion may have been a sad one but the atmosphere inside was anything but. The venue was packed almost immediately and dancers were still able to find space to get their boogie on. Some guy spilled a bit of my beer on the dance floor and he gave me $5…but I lost it. 😦
LA-based global bass collective Subsuelo has hosted a number of great parties at the Bootleg Theatre (formerly the Bootleg Bar) this past year on a sporadic basis. They returned there last week for “Subsuelo Presents Los Tres Marks.”
The event brought together three equally-talented guys named Mark to the same stage: Mark de Clive-Lowe (Tru Thoughts), Nu-Mark (Jurassic Five), and Money Mark (The Beastie Boys).
de Clive-Lowe opened the night of Marks with some keyboard and drum sampling work followed by Nu-Mark who spun a great set and performed his infamous toy set where he uses a number of children’s toys to perform music, samples, etc. There’s footage of it about halfway through the video above.
Finally, Money Mark joined the two onstage for a once-in-a-lifetime-you-had-to-be-there-to-feel-it-all live jam/collaboration to end the night.
These parties are a welcome change from their regular monthly parties, which, don’t get me wrong, are still lots of fun. However, the capacity at their regular venue is probably 1/20th in comparison which doesn’t leave much elbow room on the dance floor.
Afroxander (aka Iván Fernández) 