Sunday May 8, 2011 9:00 PM
Double Door, 1572 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, Illinois 60622

Sour Soul was formed in 2007. It’s a rock band with funk, soul, pop and psychedelic influences. The live show is an absolute must-see.
As proud representatives of the independent and alternative scene, the band members actively participate in their music and shows production.

They’ve played in numerous cities in Mexico, including many of the most important venues and music festivals in Mexico City, such as Lunario of the National Auditorium. In 2009 they were nominated for “Best New Band” in the Indie-O Music Awards.

In 2010 the band toured four times in the US, with a total of 108 gigs in more than 20 states. They’ve performed in Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Anaheim, Denver, Minneapolis, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Chicago, Houston, among many more. The band has shared the stage with important Latin-American artists such as Los Amigos Invisibles, and Ely Guerra.

When I got my ticket to the Glassjaw show, I was a bit disappointed. I realized I was going to miss another show scheduled for that same night: two up-and-coming electronic artists that have piqued my interest as of late. Although I was slightly bummed, I had a feeling Glassjaw was going to be epic.

It has been years since Glassjaw has gone on a national tour, so I knew they’d have some wicked tricks up their sleeve and I was right. Although the band has been on hiatus and has gone through a few member changes, the sound was precise.

Singer Daryl Palumbo is quite possibly one of the most exhilarating front men I have ever witnessed perform on stage. There’s no way two guys on their laptops playing techno beats could have compared to this.

I’m not hating; I’m just stating a fact. There’s something so validating about a group of musicians playing actual instruments. The more I see live music, the more I want to smack every DJ across the face for using only their laptop. Funny thing is, I used to want to be a DJ!

Now, this wasn’t just a group of guys on stage playing music. It was an experience. From now on, every time I listen to Glassjaw at home on my computer or in my car, I will forever have that experience ingrained in my mind. Demented Daryl getting the crowd riled up. That was a sight to see. Not to mention the light scuffles, the crowd surfers, and the ringing in my ears the remainder of the night and into the following morning.

From the crowd surfers to the drunkards on the balcony, Daryl had every person in that venue hypnotized with his on-stage antics. If I was a dude, I would so go gay for Daryl.

But I can’t give Daryl all the credit. The band as a whole played tight. Once I had the chance to see guitarist Justin Beck play live, I noticed how his unique style colors the ultra-tight rhythm section of the band. He modestly added a touch of funk to the punk, and it vibed so well.

I do have to mention one negative, though. What was up with the encore?! Glassjaw is known for their noisy, hardcore sound. And their last few songs sounded like they were mimicking Coldplay! I’m guessing those are tracks off their new EP. C’mon guys, don’t sell out. Don’t lose what makes you unique. Let’s hope it’s just a phase!

Daryl could never lose his sassy edge. Not with those incessant crotch grabs, skinny jeans and pointed boots. Rock on Glassjaw. You have a new fan.

Wednesday April 27, 2011 9:00 PM
Double Door, 1572 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, Illinois 60622

Chico Mann, a time-travelling multi-instrumentalist-producer who with drum machines, synthesizers, and guitars has singlehandedly filled the 30+ year gap between afrobeat, afrocuban, freestyle and electronic music while throwing a wrench into the cogs of musical history.

Chico Mann grew up in a musical family in New York and New Jersey. His father was the owner of a Latin record label based in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City and a young Chico observed the ins & outs of the biz while practicing his guitar and piano. It was then that he began to propagate his deep musical roots with such influences as Afrika Bambaata, Lisa Lisa, Willie Colon, Celia Cruz and Fela Kuti. Ignoring his father’s advice to stay out of the business, he found his voice at age 12 and began his journey into sound.

It was in the winter of ’04 that Chico began putting together a series of tracks during his offtime from touring with Antibalas. What started as a lo-fi beat making excursion quickly became “Manifest Tone Volume 1″, a musical lesson that spoke volumes on the music of New York City, Miami, Cuba, Africa and the previously unknown love affair in sound that ‘could have been’ had Afrobeat, Electro, and Freestyle cross-pollinated. Hailed as an instant classic, it proved as the first step in a groundbreaking career that is destined to re-write the history books.

Chico Mann has created a musical time machine that simultaneously fuses the sounds of 1970s Afrobeat, 1980s Freestyle and Afro Cuban in a hybrid beast of culture and tone. Its the big ‘what if’ Freestyle, Afrobeat & Afro Cuban converged and hit the mainstream for an army of Chicos to pick up where Stevie B, TKA, George Lamond, Sa-Fire, Information Society, Noel, and Cult Jam, and Exposé left off. Chico’s choruses of multi-layered vocals with funky guitar lines helps to cool off the heat created between the bass and rhythm… creating a unique conversation of color and value that pays homage to the past but raises the bar for the future.

Saturday May 14, 2011 11:00 PM
Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Chicago, IL

Bomba Estéreo formed in 2005 as a project by visual artist/musician, Simón Mejía.

Originally called A.M. 770, the loosely formed collective of DJs and visual artists included DJ Fresh, Diego Cadavid, Javier Fonseca of Alerta, and was led by Mejia, who renamed the group Bomba Estéreo in 2006 and released debut album, Vol. 1.

Entrecasa, Colombeat, a label project by Héctor Buitrago and Andrea Echeverri of Aterciopelados, gave Mejía an opportunity to participate in their first compilation project focused on exposing new Colombian talent in the world of electronic music; releasing the track ¨Ritmika,¨ a cover song from a classic Venezueluelan orchestra, Los Blanco.

On Vol. 1, Mejía met Liliana “Li” Saumet, former singer of Mister Gomes in Bombay. She sang over the track, ¨Huepaje,¨ marking the official collaboration between Liliana and Simon as Bomba Estéreo.

After Vol. 1, Mejía traveled to New York City for the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC), where he was able to secure digital distribution through US-label, Nacional Records.  Upon returning to Bogotá, Felipe Alvarez from Polen Records met the group and began releasing Bomba Estéreo in Colombia.

The stage was set for the release of the band’s second album, “Estalla” (“Blow Up” in the USA), released in Colombia in September 2008 and presented live with Kike Egurrola on drums, Julián Salazar on guitar, Li as singer and Simón as bass/programming/band director.

Friday Apr 8, 2011 8:00 PM
Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 N. Kedzie Chicago, IL

RATIOnation.com and the 27th Chicago Latino Film Festival

presents:

…Direct from NYC…

QUE BAJO?! (DJ’s)

also…
SOULPHONETICS
STARFOXXX

A Mundial de Musica (MdM) sponsored event:
18+

$15
$10 w/ Valid Student ID
$10 w/Film Festival Ticket Stub

***Partial proceeds awarded to the Chicago Latin Film Festival***

Friday July 1, 2011 9:00 PM
Darkroom, 2210 W.  Chicago

Carla Morrison is more than just a girl with a guitar. Her yearning vocals tug at the heartstrings with lyrics about love and longing and a sound that straddles the line between country and ranchera without conforming to either style. The Mexican singer came on the scene as the front-woman of the Phoenix-based band Babaluca a few years ago before going solo in 2009.

Her debut EP, Aprendiendo a Aprender, quickly earned her high-profile fans like Julieta Venegas and Natalia Lafourcade, who is producing her upcoming LP Mientras tu Dormias. Her newest single, “Pajarito del Amor” is simply beautiful. It’s about the one that got away—the one love that you can’t get over no matter how hard you try. “I simply write about what I feel . . . and I try to be as honest as possible,” Morrison has said about her emotion-filled songs.

The 23-year-old admits that a lot of her music is for her boyfriend, singer-songwriter Noe Barrios, who just happens to be a boy with a guitar. The pair make a sweet couple and sweet music.

Friday March 25, 2011 9:00 PM
Instituto Cervantes, 31 W. Ohio Chicago, IL

Russian Red (Lourdes Hernández) known by many as the Spanish Feist, in reference to the Canadian singer-songwriter who inspires her in many of her attitudes on the microphone, Hernández who writes and sings all of her compositions in English states that she sings in that language instinctively because she has always listened to music in English. Her voice and performing style are also reminiscent of the childlike and simple, poetic approach utilized by California singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom.

Russian Red’s project began when Hernández met Brian Hunt, a musician with an English father and Spanish mother, with whom she recorded a demo (which included tracks that remain unpublished like “Reason”, “The Night of the Paper”, and “Sadie”) that reached more than 70,000 visits on her MySpace page by 2008.

The name Russian Red comes from the color of a lipstick that Hernández herself usually wears. When asked how she chose the name, Hernández stated: “I had a band without a name some time ago. Since then, I was haunted by an obsession: to find the ideal artistic name. One day, I fell in love with this color that a girl was wearing. I pronounced its name, and now it is my pseudonym.”

Little by little, Hernández has become well-known in the Spanish indie arena, performing more than 100 shows during 2009 and selling more than 50.000 albums.

Born in Long Island, NY, Draco Cornelius Rosa was raised sur rounded by an eclectic mélange of musical tastes: from his mother’s affinity to the rock of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Who and the funk-ridden R&B of the seventies, to his father’s propensity toward salsa—not just any salsa, but, as Rosa puts it, “the dark, aggressive kind.” At a young age, his family moved him to Puerto Ri…co, where he became a member of the in creasingly popular band Menudo.

the opportunity to write songs for them, so he decided to leave the group in 1987. Residing in Baha Beach, Rio de Janeiro, he spent time with local artists, adding to his musical education. Two Portuguese-language solo albums later, he moved to New York, where he formed a group by the name of “Maggie’s Dream.” The group’s energy and stridency earned it a spot on tours with Fishbone, the Black Crowes, and Faith No More.

Wanting to extend the reach of his talents into other media, Rosa moved to Los Angeles. There, he swiftly landed the lead in the feature film Salsa: the Motion Picture, on the set of which he met his future wife, actress Angela Alvarado.

He also appeared alongside Christopher Mitchum in a German film entitled Gummibarchen kussit man nicht. Rosa wrote, produced and performed two songs—“Angela” and “Little Woman”—for the soundtrack of this film, which was released by RCA Records under his publishing company , Seiba Tree Music.

A solo contract with Sony Latin in 1993, enabled him to record in Spain the first of his highly celebrated Spanish-language solo albums, Frío.
In between solo projects, Draco worked on Ricky Martin’s A Medio Vivir. He co wrote and co-produced the majority of the songs on the album, including the hit single, “María,” conquering a space on the Top 10 Billboard album charts. At the same time, he formed a band with ex-Circle Jerk member Zander Schloss called “Sweet and Low,” playing gigs around town.

Friday Apr 22, 2011 9:00 PM
858 Lounge, 858 W. Lake Chicago, IL

Zizek is a new club from Buenos Aires, Argentina dedicated to the emerging sounds of Hip Hop, Dancehall, Reggaetón, Cumbia, Bastard Pop, Mashups, and more.

From the beginning, Zizek has been a club where genres clash and cross over, making you dance, while still providing fresh and innovative sounds rarely heard before.

“I suggest you go see Zizek is you are ever in Buenos Aires on a Wednesday Night, It’s a Movement!”
..-Diplo..

“Just as tango did 90 years ago, today it’s cumbia that transcends the shanties and the wealth divide.”
..-The Wire..

“Mixing cumbia melodies with way out electro sounds and samples artists, [Zizek] is bringing the new sound of Argentina to the world.”
..-Sxsw.com..

“The most daring DJs and musicians create a digital alchemy, fusing cumbia, reggaetón, zamba, chacarera and carnavalito with dancehall and hip hop to create nights of endless dancing.”
-La Razón

Friday July 1, 2011 9:00 PM
Green Dolphin, 2200 N. Ashland Chicago, IL

The Pinker Tones are the brainchild of Barcelona natives Mister Furia and Professor Manso. The group’s music is an eclectic mix of pop, funk, soul, bossa, break beat, swing, lounge, and psychedelia. Their songs feature Spanish, French, English, and German lyrics.

Since the release of ‘The Million Color Revolution’ on the band’s own label Pinkerland Records (founded by the band and UK label Outstanding Records) & Latin alternative label Nacional Records, The Pinker Tones have played more than 300 shows in over 40 countries. They have performed in New York, Moscow, Beijing, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Caracas, Puerto Rico, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, Toronto, as well as many other world cities.

History

In “Pinkerland,” a tiny rooftop studio in the center of Barcelona, the Pinker Tones put together their first album, ‘The Pink Connection’, which was released in 2003 in Japan it was released under the name ‘Mission Pink’ on the Japanese label Rambling Records.

The Pinker Tones inked a deal with UK label Outstanding Records to release their debut album worldwide under a new name: ‘The BCN Connection’. Thanks to the fantastic videos for the singles “Mais Pourquoi?” and “Viva la Juventud”, The Pinker Tones started to appear regularly on MTV Europe and other channels around the world. The video for “Mais Pourquoi?” spent 19 weeks in the top 20 on MTV Spain’s Dance Floor Chart. During this time, they produced various albums and singles for Spanish and international bands, they composed a couple of film soundtracks (Sincopat & Survival Train) and they dedicated some of their time to experimenting with remixes.