We hadn't heard much from "Coahuila's bad boy" since he got hitched and had a kid, so we started thinking that maybe the age old "Can women have it all?" question also applies to one-hit rap wonders. Turns out Coahuila's coolest dad is still pretty bad and has been cooking up an album in between bottles and diaper changes.
"Ya no se usa el amor," first track from Llorens' upcoming album, sees him back in prime "Dame un besito" form with the quietly cutting verses and nonchalant delivery that make him such a compelling artist. The track introduces us to also Torreon-based Rabia Rivera, who brings more of a bite to the track with her assertive cadence and precision, but still softens in the end with the "eres un cabron" hook, which ends up more playful than spiteful. The cheesy horn might have totally killed the song if we we didn't know that you never ever take Pipe Llorens too seriously.
Produced by Mauricio Garza—who has worked with everyone from Timbiriche to Cartel de Santa, was recommended to Llorens by Zoe's Sergio Acosta, and by a strange twist of fate ended up Llorens' cousin-in-law—the new album will be out in the next few weeks if Llorens was right when he said, "Dios bendiga los horoscopos que estan a mi lado." Shout out Susan Miller and Walter Mercado.
Enlazando Mundos, Pipe Llorens Delhotel Records, Mexico Rating: 75 By Carlos Reyes
Early this year, Pipe Llorens unveiled the trailer to his forthcoming documentary Indies, a cinematic travelogue to his persona and an assessment of what it means to be an indie artist (by Mexican standards). In that clip, he defined indies as people who “use their parents money to make songs." In the meantime, he compared himself to Simba (The Lion King) and showed footage from his appearance on Telemundo’s 12 Corazones, as well him hanging out with RBD member Dulce Maria. While this exercise of personal inquisition only seems to be as profound and serious as the cinéma vérité qualities of Joaquin Phoenix’s I’m Still Here, we are eager to watch. Llorens’ acid humor, his unmeasured love for PXNDX, his garments and overall behavior might just get him a full spread in the infamous MIRREYBOOK, but it’s his musical bravura that ultimately flowers here.
His debut album, Como Sea, No Te Creas (Delhotel Records, 2008), portrayed Llorens as an outcast and a fatalist, while his 2010 hit “Dame Un Besito” was the chillwaved manifesto of a domesticated romantic. For half a decade, Llorens has crafted an image of an exotic rockstar with hints of narcissist. Now, Coahuila’s bad boy (as we like to call him) comes at full throttle with his sophomore LP Enlazando Mundos. He’s still in exile from the wispiness that surrounds him but, as proven by songs like the heroic “Superpipes” and the gospel-like “Que Bueno Que Me Quede En El Viaje,” his lo-fi anthem-striking songs have shifted into glossy sing-along jams quite remarkably. On the negative side, some of his word choice is still pushing him into the provocateur/enfant terrible province (you can't keep using the word "joto" and get away with it). And let’s say the United Nations would not necessarily approve of his ways of "linking the world."
Pipe Llorens is a maverick in the abridgment of hip hop and rock and roll, but his melodic search is unsettling, almost insensitive. Yet this punk spirit showcases him as a sort of self-aware Mexican Jay Reatard, with all the occasional trial and error risks involved. Album opener “Sperma” is fierce and a suitable entrée in the album’s sticky essence and its masculine fluids. Album highlight “Todas Las Que Debo Ya Las He Pagado” is a campy pop piece that underlines the sagacity of Llorens’ rhymes and their interaction with fast-breathing headband '90s music. The steps of the artist are challenged even further in “Sangri,” a visceral psychedelic bolero that dares to reference Casper the Friendly Ghost, Vicente Fernandez, Juan Gabriel, and Robert Pattinson all in the same breath. Enlazando Mundos has a few bumps but is as entertaining and unforeseen as its creator. The odds are against him, yet Llorens and his songs are so likeable, almost therapeutic. A well-endowed second step from Pipe Llorens.
Featured: Pipe Llorens feat. Elis Paprika - "Ven a mi casa a ver Donnie Darko"
Delhotel Records
Pipe Llorens, the man behind “Dame Un Besito” and “No Quiero Ejercicios de Respiracion”, and one of our Bands to Watch 2011 will be releasing an LP later this year (on Delhotel Records); this time, with many people watching. As a funny fact, he is a former contestant of Telemundo's 12 Corazones, not that it matters, it just shows style. He seems to have taken a few muscle relaxants in his new single “Ven a mi Casa a ver Donnie Darko.” Much of Pipe’s themes and qualities circle around existentialist notions, and this very smooth ride recalls some of his earlier work as a sort of psychedelic balladist.
He strips off his Hip Hop sensibilities (and techno-loving tricks), and just like he showed in his cover of Piyama Party’s “Nosotros Los Rockers”, he proves to be an artist able to deliver songs on his own terms. Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko is the excuse for a date, and the inspiration for a beautiful song. If the film is a generation’s surrealist dispatch, this song documents the dream and the movie’s metaphysics. While listening to this simple, yet deeply emotional song, it’s hard not feel inside a wacky Sundance movie, or the mentioned cult-favorite film. Pipe Llorens recruited a friend in the song; the much more recognized Elis Paprika, one of Mexico’s most recognized pop-rock stars. “Ojala fuera un gran hombre como Vincent Gallo.”
Mi Abuela es Jazzista is our favorite fanzine; from its irrational editorial choices, to its jaw-dropping design and edgy content, this is a total knockout. This publication is leaded by Luis Angel Martinez, the mind behind Piyama Party, so you can already perceive the kind of cool aesthetics and humorous imagery you’ll find here. We love it so much we have actually printed the previous volumes. For its third edition, the fanzine fully submerged into a zoo… “nos encantan los animales, tambien las bandas de rock.” Along with incredible art, this also includes a story, a poem, and five interviews with Bam Bam, Pipe Llorens, Jóvenes y Sexys, Raul Querido, and The Mocks.
SuperPipes, Pipe Llorens Delhotel, Mexico Rating: 75 By Carlos Reyes
“Soy el niño mas indie-rock, tambien me gusta Indiana Jones.” Coahuila’s bad boy Pipe Llorens is one of the most interesting characters in Mexican rock today; we were first introduced to his captivating (and weird) world through the intriguing song “Indys,” which pretty much criticized the Mexican indie-rock scene, dissing (if you will) everyone from Saul Hernandez, to Austin TV, Vive Latino, Reactor, etc. The song was a bit too substantial for many of us, but still quite mesmerizing in the way it personalized a cheesy, but well-sustained regional thought where the Mexican scene pretty much ignored the healthier and more stimulating music coming out of El Norte.
When approaching his songs, it’s important to accept them as very pretentious pieces, it’s the only way to fully appreciate their irony and defective complexity. His latest EP SuperPipes is barely five minutes long, but that’s enough to bring up a superhero element to his already eccentric image. The title track shows up in a very guitar-clouded entrance, it quickly finds its own renaissance to a very uplifting hero-anthem, “gritando bien arriba, soy superman!, la gente me grita, andas mal!” It’s this kind of indefinite and self-aware combo what makes this act so appealing. “Manejando en mi carro con Ludwika Paleto, la condeza es mia cuando piso el pavimento,” see, he makes it rhyme (if you don’t know the actress you won’t get it), he also rhymes (Ximena) Sariñana with “araña” and exits his costume with a lovely “adios superpipes bye bye bye.”
Some would take his inclusion of popular names to the mix as opportunistic; we are rather amused by his cynical use of pop culture, this includes the presence of the Diego Santoy and Erika Pena as his top friends on MySpace, responsible for the double homicide scandal in Monterrey in 2006. Pipe Llorens can get bleak and confronting, as he did on his amazing and gigantic anti-anthem “No quiero ejercicios de respiracion, quiero pastillas.” SuperPipes is less confronting, but equally fascinating in its sound. “Dame Un Besito” is breezy and fun, almost resembling a young Beck or the soft moments by Plastilina Mosh. But beware, Pipe Llorens isn’t just concerned with provocative lyrics or catchy hooks, he is a rapper of all sorts, a stupendous pop executer, and a well-formulated joke.
