Stream: María y José - "Violentao"


María y José (Antonio Jimenez) has two releases out this year already (the magnificent Espiritu Invisible and the stellar Kibose EP), maybe he’ll surprise us with a third one. By now we’ve used every word in the book to express our immense admiration towards this kid, but he keeps astounding us. This time with a song titled “Violentao”, it’s only a demo, but we won’t hesitate to call it one of his best so far. As the title suggests, this is a song about Mexico’s current state of violence. The song presents itself right away as a dystopian piece shouting “sigue la violencia, sigue la violencia”, this entry becomes essential in both, its thematic and form ventures. It directly tells you about the nation’s rolling violence, it also foreshadows the song’s never-ending fury.

As described by Jimenez, this is some kind of violent mambo, one that chases some kind of escape, and consequently finds it towards the end, or at least it negotiates through very aggressive speed. It's not only an explicit song, it also holds very dark humor behind all its rhythm(s). The beats, synths and gaps are as well located as any song by Rita Indiana y Los Misterios. While the song has the warmth for individual interpretation, it also speaks to Mexico as a whole, “que violentao tu, que violentao tu!”