Armoniacida - Amor, Palmeras y Glitch

Amor, Palmeras y Glitch,
ARMONIACIDA
Tropic-All, México
Rating: 75
BY ADRIAN MATA ANAYA

Genre-consuming breakcore albums often appear rife with disorganization. The increasing accessibility of musical production software often recruits new amateur artists that lack proper compositional skills. It is also possible that digital artists are more susceptible to the electronically-induced disorder Continuous Partial Attention (the degenerating capacity to multi-task on the computer over time). Rest assured, Armoniacida’s debut EP on Tropic-All, Amor, Palmeras, y Glitch (APyG), steers clear of digital life’s pitfalls to create an ehanced DJ set. Overall, APyG is a poignant statement on the re-consignment of vintage elements in the blogosphere’s saturated global music market.

Working with a modest-sized pool of strictly Latin American experimental electronic music to serve as reference points, APyG projects itself as Pepepe’s tropical sherbet nightmare. In actuality, the EP is a scientific experiment on how the digital reincarnation of Mexican tenor Pedro Vargas might endure tropical music patterns over time. While the first two tracks give the context on the artist’s sensibilities and present tropical influences surrounding the artist, "Amor Caribe" illustrates an artist voicing a sincere appreciation for Pedro Vargas, an icon from the first wave of tropical music in Mexico and an actor during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.

Once Vargas is introduced as a traditional aesthetic rather than as an artist, he is left vulnerable to an onslaught of recognizable genre elements (hip hop, African house, grime, tropical bass). As these cultural objects diversify and multiply, Vargas’s voice fades from a structural foundation in “Amor Carribe” to an undecipherable sample flossed between beats. APyG figuratively folds over its first half to stamp its own corrupted mirror image. The second and penultimate tracks feature the reverberating steel drums. While the former illuminates itself as an El Guincho remix, the latter is haunted by phantasmic witch house forces. Armoniacida hands Vargas to superfluous Internet cultures, resulting in threatening conclusions.

Armoniacida has produced a persuasive argument against the current process of modernizing music through tropicalism. While the artist openly welcomes a new period of global music, he does not make reference to alternative solutions; think minimalist compliment (Lucky Dragons' Norteñas EP) or transgressive companions (Los Macuanos' El Fin). As abrasive as this album might sound, Armoniacida constantly rewards listeners with timely build-ups, true mixing sensibilities, a deep knowledge of current ethno-musics, and mesmerizing, kaleidoscopic looping.

♫♫♫ "Amor Caribe" | Download Album | Facebook

Pedro Infame - The Tropical Incineration

The Tropical Incineration, Pedro Infame
Tropic-All, Mexico/Venezuela
Rating: 48
By Carlos Reyes

My friend Derek Evers (founder of Impose Magazine) would always say that prior to approaching an album we all should take music reviews slightly, and instead focus on the real signal of quality: its album cover. As a visual buff myself, I’ve seen this correlation move forward with plenty of success. But as any High-School hypothesis research paper would show, there are always exceptions. The second release by Venezuelan-born by-way of Mexico adept party-starter Pedro Infame features what’s arguably my favorite album cover of the year thus far (designed by Oscar Reyes), the music inside is unfortunately, not as accomplished. The shrewdly titled The Tropical Incineration suggests two things: the literal definition of an ON-FIRE social gathering, and the burning down of the DJ tropical commodity. It's neither.

With bold descriptive titles such as “I really fucking like big butts” or “Hands up for Mary” (his funky adaptation to Baby J’s underground anthem “Alza la mano si te gusta la marihuana”), one would assume to encounter a fearless record of Molotov-aptitudes, instead we get a middling collection of songs that don’t go very far from the desktop. Leaving expectations aside, we do get to see Pedro Infame’s qualities going a bit evil axing some brutal hard-rock into the party mix. In “Suck my hard” he embeds guitar riffs so aggressively, you can almost confuse them with dubstep. But even under this type of genre trialing, Infame only goes as far as where Lil Wayne took his Rebirth, and where Mel Gibson took his Apocalypto. This is an album preoccupied with a purpose that triumphs on its aesthetics and overall premise, but falls short on its artistry. The Aguascalientes-based producer is a first-class captain of the dancefloor, he's just needs to translate those skills into a functional, listenable album.

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Video: Armoniacida - "Amor Caribe"

Armoniacida is the moniker of Mexican beatmaker Leon Bonilla. His music pool techniques can easily be confused with those of Los Amparito or Mexican Institute of Sound, and also to the scratchy and obtrusive methods of Girl Talk and Panda Bear. Tropic-All (Mexico’s nu-folkloric netlabel) will be releasing his EP tentatively titled Amor, Palmeras y Glitch. The EP’s leading track “Amor Caribe” has a nice self-made video that utilizes the ‘mirror’ effect exceptionally. The Guadalajara-based act is looking for harmony, and he finds it through audiovisual texture. If you’re eyeballs aren’t too delicate and you enjoy the great visual goodies of Dan Deacon or De Janeiros, this cinematic pastiche is definitely for you.