Ceci Bastida
SXSW showcase reviews
Reviewed by Belinda Acosta, Fri., March 14, 2008
Ceci Bastida
Continental Club, Wednesday, March 12 La indie rocker from Tijuana by way of East Los settled in for a relaxed night of new and familiar tunes from her most recent EP. Not that La Ceci was slacking off. On the contrary, she and her three-boy band were in full command of the intimate Continental Club stage, the perfect space to hear her plaintive, crystalline voice that contrasts as sharply as white clouds against a vivid blue sky when set against the righteous rhythms of favorites like "No te Digan Que No," and "Empieza a Amanecer," two of the tunes in her eight-song set. The Continental space allowed you to hear and feel every note. The new tunes she sang were admittedly rough; not bad, just green, sung a little tentatively. She closed her set with one of her strongest songs, "Ya Me Voy," that'll make you swoon with its lushness only to kick you in the rocks just when you think it's going all soft and gooey. There were many people new to Ceci in the audience, taking her in and withholding judgment till the end, when the Mexican sign of approval was showered upon her: "Otra! Otra!"
