This Calls for Celebration
Well, hello all!
Time flies, hey! So I decided to start writing my next update right away, before I forget all the cool stuff that’s happening here in Argentina.
As I mentioned before, I sing in a band called HYPERSTATIC, and our lead guitarist Ariel also fronts his own band ENHOLA. They turned 4-years-old on Sat 13th July. Besides, it was also Ariel’s 28th birthday, (check out our photo) so the band decided to celebrate it by, what better thing to do, than gigging…
Coronado Whisky Bar, the venue where their show took place, is located in the heart of Cordoba city, in a district known as the Abasto, formerly a bleak industrial area now heaving with nothing but rock clubs, discos, and pubs, in no more than a 6-block area. Punters visiting town from (capital city) Buenos Aires go absolutely wild when they experience the action the Abasto’s got in the weekends, it makes them want to move to our city! A few years ago it would’ve been unthinkable, because BA used to be the only Argentinean city where cool things HAPPENED. Go Cordoba….
ENHOLA’s got 3 indie CD releases, and had appeared in every major rock festival in the country for the past 4 years, also scored supporting slots for the biggest Arg. acts. It’s true you can easily guess which bands they’re into: The Charlatans, Stone Roses, Ride, The Bluetones, but yet somehow they manage to have their own identity. Maybe it’s the catchy lyrics, or the clever pop songwriting with the unexpected twist or key change, but slowly they’ve gained their own place in the local rock scene. Hey, people even sing-along to their newest songs! It was a fun gig to watch. Yours truly got invited up on stage to play guitar in a couple of songs too, one of them being an old Supergrass cover song I learned 2 days before the show…I didn’t stink too much…. I think. After the gig, the band and a few of us close friends, grabbed a bite of a huge birthday cake. I strongly recommend NOT having cake after a few beers, it doesn’t go down well…..ENHOLA will be recording a new EP in August, I’ve been told, all made up of brand new material. In the meantime you can hear their previous EPs at www.enhola.proyectounder.com Although they sing in Spanish, if that ol’ Brit rock sound is your thing, then give them a listen.
Winter’s in town, and for some reason rock promoters decided it’s as good a time as any to bring bands from all over the country, non-stop, every weekend, not a chance to stop to think where our money’s gone to. Apparently the strategy is working coz punters keep showing in spite of the recession and the obvious lack of cash. On Sat 20th July, we headed down to another of my fave local clubs at the Abasto: Casa Babylon. It’s big, comfy, and it’s got quite a high stage so wherever you’re at, you get to see the band playing in full, no one’s head gets in your way! It was a busy night, kicked off with local bands like Capuchas de Hop and ENHOLA.
Fantasmagoria (Buenos Aires) is Gori’s brand new project, he used to be the lead guitarist in surf/punk rock outfit Fun People, one of the only Argentinean bands in making it big by singing 95% of their songs in English, back in the 90s. When they split in ’98, FP spawned various different projects, among them, lead singer Nekro formed Boom Boom Kid, who’ll be gigging in town mid-Aug.
To everyone’s surprise, Fantasmagoria is decidedly a folk-ish kinda matter, Gori even played the whole set on acoustic guitar, and has also taken the lead singer duties, joined by a solid drummer, a bass player and a guy playing a citar (?). Uncomplicated songs with early 70s hippie folk influences, and a couple of Hindu-flavoured tunes made them a nice half-hour break from the usual fuzzy-driven, sloppy indie noise we’re all a bit tired of.
Then it was the headline band’s turn to bring a long night to an end. Francisco Bochaton is a bass player/singer/songwriter from the city of La Plata (1 hour drive from Buenos Aires). La Plata’s biggest attraction is hosting the Supreme Court House, and also featuring a perfect grid of diagonal avenues and streets named after numbers, founded less than a 100 years ago as an architect’s weird experiment of city planning. However, Francisco managed to escape the lame environment he grew up in, and became one of Argentina’s most inspired rock lyricist, so prolific he allegedly writes 5-10 songs a day. He used to front Peligrosos Gorriones (Dangerous Sparrows) in the early 90s, who split up in ’98, since then he’s been playing under the Bochaton moniker, released a couple of indie EPs, and just recently, their 1st full length album called Mundo de Acción (Action World). For an accurate description of his music, I should say this: imagine Frank Black back in the day, only playing bass and singing in proper Spanish, and relentlessly spawning short but complex indie pop songs, with the occasional pig-being-slaughtered screaming, topped by his deep, poetic lyrics mainly about love, isolation, joy, rockets, and his favourite brand of chocolate cookies…the usual rock topics. But seriously, if you’re intrigued, I recommend to try and listen to the guy, visit his record label’s website at www.indicevirgen.com.ar for mp3 songs off Mundo de Accion, by clicking on “discos”.
Currently you can also visit a website dedicated 100% to pay tribute to the defunct Peligrosos Gorriones, where you can hear mp3 tracks of BA bands covering their songs at www.peligrosohomenaje.com.ar I suggest trying bands like Titan Flor and Teen Terror Idols.
Speaking of band tributes, it seems to be a trend in Argentina lately. There’s been several compilations of local bands covering everything from Pixies and Sonic Youth, to the Ramones. Just recently, an independent label from Buenos Aires called Rana Viajera Records, put together a tribute to the
Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band that enjoys a massive following in this country since the release of BloodSugarSexMagik back in ‘91. The CD compilation, called “Aji Puta Pario” –Spanish for RHCP– features 14 new bands from Argentina and Chile, not necessarily in the same funk/rap/rock bracket, which makes it quite interesting, as they’ve re-worked the songs to fit their own sound. There’s some cool stuff like BA’s Timmy O’Tool (see photo) with “Around the World”, and Rey Momo’s “Road Trippin” featuring a bandoneon (tango music’s typical instrument). Word has it that Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith’s got a CD copy at home, and it obviously made the album producers extremely happy…
You can check the tribute’s own website, both in English and Spanish: http://www.tributorhcp.com.ar When there, also check the link to Label Record to listen to a few mp3 tracks off the album, they distribute this CD online in the US, among other Arg artists.
OK! That’ll be it for now. I’ll give you more news on the scene around mid-Aug, hopefully somehow managing to stay sane thru’ the annoying Windy City Season.
In the meantime if you want to say Hi, please email me at kari@coolgrrrls.com
I’ll catchya all later then….
xxxxxKari
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