Sounds from Colombia
Speakeasy, Thursday, March 17If you’re going to stand onstage behind a laptop and mixing board, take a cue from Colombia production duo De Juepuchas. The Bogota boogie men danced like maniacs, tossing confetti into the crowd and sporting a multitude of silly costumes (Santa Claus hat, Mexican wrestling mask, full-body banana suit), while whipping the largely Latin American crowd into a frenzied dance party. The pair embrace Girl Talk as a key influence and patch together an array of aggressive dance tracks and found sounds, brewing the live mix with dizzying loops and echo effects. The silliness could be summed up in four words: “It’s a banana party!” A secret stash of banana costumes was passed out to the crowd as todo el mundo was invited to party onstage. A late add and surprise opener, Bogotá sixpiece (guitar, drums, bass, horns) Skampida started the night with a party-popping blend of ska, punk, and funk. Sound problems delayed the start of Estados Alterados by 20 minutes, but if they were plotting how to best pulverize the ear drums of everyone in the room, mission accomplished. The veteran Bogotá quartet (drums, guitar, keys, vocals) unleashed a fury of electro-inspired prog-rock en español from 2010’s Romances Cientificos, their first studio effort in a decade.
This article appears in March 18 • 2011.
