Via the Seattle Globalist.
MEDELLIN, Colombia–Henry Arteaga could have been a drug dealer.
Growing up during the 1990s in Aranjuez, long one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Medellin, Arteaga could have been a soldier, a gang member, an insurgent, or followed any number of violent paths which have attracted Medellin’s youth over the last 30 years.
But Arteaga was lucky: he found hip hop.
Read more here.
Hello amigos. I’m back with some music recommendations:
“The beat is a style of hip-hop originally from Oakland, California. Songs like Drake‘s ‘The Motto’ and Tyga‘s Rack City,’ which have been popular over the last year at a mainstream level, are drawn from a Bay Area-sound. One example is E-40’s ‘Tell Me Where to Go’ from 2005. This style has never been done in Spanish, so we wanted to do it really well and visually have it rep all our styles being born in Panama and raised in The Bay.”
Lead singer Miles Solay tells American Songwriter:
“In the beginning of our working relationship Tom was fond of giving ‘assignments’. In essence, these were creative devices intended to jumpstart the process of writing a song or a way of focusing on a musical element to lay the foundation for the jam to come. With this song we were instructed to take the bass-line from Metallica’s ‘Seek & Destroy’ and make it the bass-line of our song with the exception being that it would be played backwards. That’s right, the same bass-line note-for-note but with the notes in opposite order. The song was also to be fast tempo and needed a gang vocal saying ‘BO!’ in the chorus.”
By the way, Outernational’s “FUTURE ROCK” EP release party in New York City is this Friday. I’ll be there. It’s an all ages show and features a hot opening band: The Skins. You don’t want to miss it!!!
This Weekly Underrated! by musicalmusingsbysima is great because it’s from the Revival Tour, one of my favorite annual concerts! It features Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan, Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon and Alkaline Trio’s Dan Andriano.
via Weekly Underrated!.
Excited to see this photo on Riverhead Books‘ Facebook account. Junot Diaz‘ new book, This is How You Lose Her, will go on sale on Sept. 11. I’m excited for this one. Read my piece about Diaz’ visit to Fordham, in which he called himself a “super book nerd,” here.
… and the DJ for the late MC Guru, DJ Premier, will be in my neighborhood at APT78 this Wednesday! Meet me there.
Details via Zaida Grunes, one of the masters of Uptown NYC hyperlocal happenings, here.
And, of course, here is my jam!
My first time at the Latin Alternative Music Conference was enlightening.
I’ve always liked music that falls into this category, and it’s interesting to see it evolve. Where years ago this conference would have filled with Rock en español, this year’s artists encompass a variety of genres: electronic, indie pop and so on. NYC-based writer Marlon Bishop explains more about that here.
And, as the Associated Press’ Laura Wides Munoz explains in this piece, “alternative Latin musicians, some of whom have fan bases back home, are finding new audiences in the United States thanks in part to that online scene and the growth of second generation Latino audiences.” This only points to more growth in this area.
The panel discussions were enlightening. Calle 13’s Residente and Visitante discussed politics, religion and how Latin America on a whole inspires their music. They weren’t shy about throwing digs at tropical, urban radio stations, who play “music with botox” and the same artists, over and over again.
The LAMC press room was a flurry of activity on day one, with artists from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Panama via Oakland and more chatted with journalists from all over. It was nice to see so many Latin American focused outlets in one place, especially since many of them no longer limit their interviews to Spanish-language only, something I find to be challenging when pitching Outernational.
The radio panel, featuring my Fordham colleague Rita Houston from WFUV, was informative and I loved that during the audience Q & A, artists from the States, Costa Rica, and Colombia asked how to overcome the radio hurdle. Most of the experts agreed: find your niche, send your music to college radio and just get your music out there to the people any which way you can.
(Above: Residente & Visitante of Calle 13, Tego Calderon, Raka Dun and Raka Rich of Los Rakas and Miles Solay & Leo Mintek of Outernational. All pics by me.)
The four-day conference continued today with panel discussions on how to make that number one hit and a free concert by Calle 13 and Ana Tijoux for Celebrate Brooklyn! this evening at the Prospect Park bandshell.
I’ll have a couple of posts about LAMC coming out soon in Sounds and Colours so stay tuned.
My parents came to the United States in 1970 and one thing my father NEVER left behind was his love of music from Colombia’s coastal city, Barranquilla. Growing up, the music of the great Joe Arroyo y La Verdad blared in the house on weekends. I can’t listen to “El Joe” and not move. It’s in my soul.
I’ve interviewed some amazing people throughout my journalism career but chatting with members of Arroyo’s former band, La Verdad, while in Colombia this past year has to be near the top of the list. I met them during the Carnival of Barranquilla in February 2012, the first since Arroyo’s passing and one that was dedicated to him.
These guys have no plans of stopping playing Arroyo’s famously Caribbean hits. Read on…
Via Sounds and Colours (UK):
The important business of keeping the legacy of Colombian music great Joe Arroyo alive was never the subject of debate for his backing band, now on their own as Los Musicos de La Verdad.
When asked why they chose to form a “new” band, they shot me puzzling looks.
For these musicians, sitting around waiting for family members involved with Arroyo’s estate to settle a dispute over matters including band name rights was not an option, said vocalist Niber Velasquez.
“Playing music — his music, which many of us participated in co-authoring – is what we do,” said Velasquez, one of three vocalists in the group. “We can’t picture not playing this music.”
Read more here.
One New York City based band could have not picked a better time to release their politically charged music video.
Today, days after the SB1070 court ruling, Outernational released their bilingual “Todos Somos Ilegales/We Are All Illegals” music video featuring guitarist Tom Morello, Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Residente from Calle 13.
Read more here.
Learn more about this band on their site.
periMENTAL 