This disquieting half riot, half lousy girl keeps doing some of the most divisive music in Mexico, guess which side are we on? Of course on the positive shoulder, her sketchy and ultra flamboyant music satisfies our needs for effervescent pop. María Daniela y Su Sonido Lasser are taking longer than usual to release new material, but their recently announced EP seems to be closer to see the commercial light this summer. The album is comprised of four new songs and two covers.
Promotional single “Baila Duro” has been rotating around the web since last year to very little attention, which is surprising considering how catchy this tune turns out to be, “que se rompa el suelo, que tiemble en todo el mundo y que explote todo.” Well, it seems like we won’t be getting a more mature María Daniela, but we can’t complain, there’s plenty of more sweat-potential carved in the Juventud En Extasis premise. It’s not as fun and glamorous as “Miedo” or “Pobre Estupida” but this aspiring reggaeton holds and shakes its ground impeccably.
Recently, María Daniela did a very decent job recreating “Mi Muñeca Me Hablo” in the 31 Minutos album tribute. We’re not sure what has happened to Nuevos Ricos, they used to be the hippest Mexican indie label and they seem to have vanished completely. While we wait to see who ends up publishing their album, “Baila Duro” should do a good job gathering buzz for this intrepid duo.
In the intro of “Estampa Polinesia” Jessy Bulbo questions “should I do a Patti Smith shot?” Let me get it straight, Taras Bulba is the best Latin rock album I’ve heard this year so far. Jessy Bulbo is the wildest girl in Mexico’s music, a rare tour de force with full control over her savage musical vision. Some may remember this hot wonder as the leader of Las Ultrasonicas; she decided to go solo and released the notable Saga Mama in 2006, but that record was no more than a fancy collage of noise and attitude, unlike this new album that really gets it right. Under the guidance of producers Martin Thulin from Los Fancy Free and Dandy de Tacubaya from Titan this is one of the most grateful knockouts of the year.
The first single “Muñequita Sintetica” is a cover from underground 80s rockero El Haragan, an irrational love song about a man’s testimonial on his crack head girlfriend. He calls her his ‘synthetic doll’ but not in a sexual sense as many would think; see Latin America is so poor that addicts (especially street kids) inhale strong kinds of glue that are affordable and easily available, so he is embracing her metamorphosis physically and mentally while maintaining an eye on a violent reality. The album’s jewel is “No escuches mas a tus ídolos”, a self-fulfilling, self-promoting song where she asks us to stop listening to our idols and start playing her music. “those rhymes touting your way, are nothing but a word play with no virtue, they have an issue and expire date, you’ll forget them by fall, you’ll see.”
First track “Comal” is a round travelling of a subject replacing another subject and their role as a dependant or consequence: “comal for the tortillas, tortillas for the tacos, tacos to eat, eat to live, live to die, die for the sand, sand for pot, pot for the flowers, flowers for the girls, girls for the boys…” Bulbo understands roundness in a cynical contemplation where she is able to tackle and make existence seem so ridiculous. “Leche Agria” is a mystical chorus-based track that sounds a lot like Los Fancy Free and bravely talks about a woman’s smell to ‘sour milk’; about the realization and eventual redemption of the female gender towards age. Taras Bulba is all about confrontation but carries a revolutionist sensitivity, just like Patti Smith’s three-chord punk rock albums during the 70s and 80s (from Horses [1975] to Dream of Life [1988]) that confronted conservatism.
I included “Sexo sin amor” from Saga Mama as one of the best songs from this year and there is an equally volatile track here, “La Experiencia Critica” also works on disfiguring the strings and drums to destroy any sort of musical patterns. Jessy Bulbo is willing to transmit whatever she wants the way she wants, so don’t be alarmed if at the middle of a song she starts to scream uncontrollably. Her delicate voice suddenly undresses its innocence and puts a raspy mind-blowing explosion of vocal manifestation. The album consists of nine splendid tracks in an album titled after the historical short story by Nikolai Gigol. In her words: “este álbum contiene ocho piezas de rechupete que se perfilan para redefinir los parámetros del buen gusto alternativo.. the biggest surprise about this album is finding out I can sing.”
THE BLACKOUT PARTY BY NUEVOS RICOS María Daniela y Su Sonido Lasser / Silverio / Devon Disaster August 30, 2008 (Phoenix, AZ)
Nuevos Ricos is a growing independent label based in Mexico City on support of the electronic scene and its derivatives (clash, glam, garage etc). They may not be delivering the level of quality releases from MUN or Tercer Piso but that doesn’t stop it from been the most exciting label of modern music made in the Aztec country. Understanding their project means setting the music industry into different disciplines: the visual goodies of their colorful and abstract websites, the exhilarating press releases, the music itself and their code for partying hard and loud. The Blackout Party is a 30-city tour from two of the label’s most popular acts: the unpredictable DJ who wants to be called “your majesty” Silverio, and the very girly but magnetic Maria Daniela y Su Sonido Lasser.
The event was scheduled at 8:00 P.M. at Tio Leo’s Cantina; nature sometimes is bitch and decided to give us a strong monsoon just a day before the party. Electricity was off and so it was decided a few hours before the show to change its location to an open place on downtown Phoenix. Because there was no official announcement (at least not on time) we ended up translating from the old place to the new one, almost looked like a caravan of fluorescent colors. Aside from the uncomfortable but inevitable voyage through the not very exciting phoenix night life, things looked promising as many lights waited for us. Also awaiting audience was Cidade dos Homens, the follow-up series to the Oscar nominated film Cidade de Deus directed by Fernando Mierelles projected on a two-story building next to the hosting party house. Presumably shown in there for visual pleasure, but meaningless until the music kicked off.
The improvised stage welcomed the opening act Devon Disaster, an exciting electro/club act from Germany. It is led by an attractive girl with strong attitude. The performance suffered from all the technical problems one can think of. At one point she even joked about them making honor to their name through this disaster. Nonetheless it proved to be in the right place with potential followers in blowing attendance. Next up was Silverio, a one of a kind character hard to resist. In my review of a couple of months I mentioned that his albums are incomplete offerings, he is a showman by all means and brings one of the most unprecedented “styles” of reaching the audience. I’ll just say that like his music, he lets it all hang out.
Silverio is releasing his latest EP titled Superacion Personal, which I initially found annoying but after getting that other half at his performance grew on me. Still, an inferior sophomore production that is just too safe for its own good. Those of us following Silverio knew what we were getting into; those people that were brought to the event by friends or just stopped by showed shocking reactions from their first encounter with Silverio. Anthem track “Yepa Yepa Yepa” was a stunner opener, followed by songs he dedicated to himself such as “El Idolo” and “Superacion Personal.”
Headliner Maria Daniela y Su Sonido Lasser reached the stage at very ‘late’ hours; people were waiting for that peculiar voice of hers and the talents of electric guru Emilio Ecevedo. Maria Daniela is simply charming, a petite body doing its thing at very high energy. The track “Pecadora normal” opened the act’s performance, while first single “Pobre Estupida” exploded the wild audience, which was followed by some of her best songs from her latest album Juventud en Extasis. Electro pop acts in Latin America seem to embrace Daniela Romo, a telenovela actress that made a quick career in music during the 80s but apparently left her influences in the most radical kitsch sound of Maria Daniela or the down tempo electrifying music of Javiera Mena. Maria Daniela does a fine job at making homage to the actress with a cover of “Mentiras.”
The finest moment of the night arrived with the performance of “Carita de Angel”, a cover included in the Rigo es Amor compilation, a collection of some of Rigo Tovar’s most popular songs on altered versions by Nortec, Plastilina Mosh, Cabas, Los Amigos Invisibles, Austin TV among other artists. As we were waiting for “Miedo”, the first and most popular hit by the duet the volume was shut down and the Phoenix Police interrupted the ‘healthy’ session of electropop in the dance halls. It appears that the event was taken as a loud party, but it’s understandable since the organizers probably didn’t have time to put everything in order, again nature sometimes is a bitch. The event was actually awesome considering the circumstances, and we had enough Maria Daniela y Su Sonido Lasser to reaffirm her status as the leading electropop act in the Mexican indie scene, which includes among others Sussie 4, Quiero Club, Faca and Electrica Miami.
Next concert in Phoenix THE MARS VOLTA, October 1, 2008
This disquieting half riot, half lousy girl keeps doing some of the most divisive music in Mexico, guess which side are we on? Of course on the positive shoulder, her sketchy and ultra flamboyant music satisfies our needs for effervescent pop. María Daniela y Su Sonido Lasser are taking longer than usual to release new material, but their recently announced EP seems to be closer to see the commercial light this summer. The album is comprised of four new songs and two covers.
