I Went To See A Band...

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Monday, I was casually surfing Facebook, when I saw a post from Villa Diamante that Fauna was playing acoustic at Mercurio, in Patio Liceo, "rato".
Which means, of course, that I had time to stroll over the four blocks, browse CDs for a while, buy a couple, buy a beer, and sit down, before Fauna sat on a bench in the patio, and, for an audience of about 20 of us, played a 20 minute set. Intimate, casual, and fun.
Mercurio often does a free acoustic set by somebody every week or so.
https://www.facebook.com/MercurioDisqueria

Here the boys are being interviewed-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0UJvDaGrMk

and in the studio-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcMLEXKec4E

 

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I am back in Buenos Aires, and going to see music.

Last night I went to CC Haroldo Conti, at Esma.
They are doing a festival all month. Its totally free, the theater has wonderful acoustics and a great sound system, and is clean, comfortable and well run.
It is, of course, in the old Naval College, where thousands of people were kidnapped, tortured, and disappeared.
Including Haroldo Conti himself.
So there is an aura of respect and solemnity over all the musicians who play there- nobody can be in that space and not feel the weight of history.

There will be the amazing Liliana Herrero tonight, Sunday.

Last night, I saw 4 different acts.

First, Loli Molina, with a small band of two horns, drums, and keyboards, did songs from her new album, Rubi.
I am a big Loli fan, she is multitalented and a great singer and guitarist, in particular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlXP4rbbx7Y

 

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Then, Leo Masliah.
My spanish isnt good enough to catch all the subtleties and puns and double entendres of his music, but he is still very fun to watch. A natural piano player, a poet, a scat singer, he is a bit of Tom Leher, a bit of Mose Allison, a bit of Randy Newman, but mellow and laid back. Because, of course, he is from Uruguay, and everybody there is mellow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I-0XiIgRoo

 

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The second set was amazing- again, free, you just had to wait in line to get a ticket.
A 20 piece band, including an entire classical string section and wind section, with a core of well known jazz musicians, played Hernan Jacinto's music from his new CD, Camino.
The string arrangements and conductor were excellent- especially considering they were merging with improvised free jazz on most of the pieces. This is an only in Buenos Aires kind of show- everybody so good, so well trained, and so relaxed and happy to be involved in something new. The violinists were closing their eyes and rocking out during the sax solos, it was a marriage of opposites that worked perfectly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I25sJZ-z0io

 

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And finally, closing the night, Soema Montenegro, with a 5 piece band, doing modern re-interpretations of folkloric themes. That woman has pipes- she can really sing. The band was impeccable. Bandeon, Sax, upright electric bass- the instrumentation was very eclectic, and it worked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48zE0Vv1eDg

I highly recommend attending events at CC Haroldo Conti. Its a bit out of the center, but not too far, and it has films, theater, music, and art shows all the time. The staff are really on the ball, they all obviously care a lot about being there. There is a great bookstore, a small cafe, and some historical exhibits as well.

https://www.facebook.com/centroculturalconti/?fref=ts

 

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Sunday night was Festi Mercurio at CC Matienzo.
Disqueria Mercurio is the music store in Patio Liceo, on Santa Fe, which specializes in local indie music of all sorts. Most of the bigger music stores here are much more stocked with imports- virtually all of them will have Pink Floyd or Deep Purple, but even the biggest, Zivals, will often not have local musicians unless they are commercial, radio type performers.
Mercurio is a co-op, owned and run by five musicians- so whoever is working there is always able to give suggestions, and usually knows the artists personally.
They sponsored this Festi, which featured 2 of the owners in various bands, along with friends. Many times you can find a CD that was only released in a run of 500, with hand drawn, or sewn, or painted covers. Also they have 7" vinyl of bands sometimes, and they hold mini-concerts in the store a couple of times a month. Definitely worth a visit if you are interested in the wide variety of Argentine music out there.

First up was Jaz Esquivel- folk rock, more or less, with an interesting mix of instruments, including banjo and harmonica, kind of argentine folklorico with a bit of US americana thrown in. She doesnt have an recorded music out that I can find except this one mix on soundcloud.
https://soundcloud.com/jazminylosalces/agua-turbia-mix-febrero

Then, the latest incarnation of Guauchos- a rock band from Formosa that was founded in 2008 or so. I saw them a year ago, and found them a bit country rock for my tastes. But this time, it was the stripped down version, and they were actually more interesting, to me. They have gone thru some changes over the years, and the current lineup really brings their violin player to the front, and he brings a bit of Mahavishnu, a little Scarlet Rivera from the Bob Dylan days, and even a hint of Its a Beautiful Day, the psychedelic band from San Francisco from the late 60s (you have to be as old as me to remember that one).
And the band in general was more rocking, while less bloated, without the extra guitar player. I am not sure, but I think they may have a new rythym section, too.
They sounded like this cut, but better- tighter and fiercer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riNkxFfXyz0

 

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Next up was Rascolnikoff. Which really means Jiri Alvriv, and his band. He is a very Buenos Aires type of musician- mixing all kinds of genres that nobody in Europe or the EEUU would ever think go together. A bit of Suicide, some Bauhus, a little Antony and the Johnsons, but with a great, roaring, psychedelic/trance wall of sound from the band. And his own lighting tech, who runs realtime LED lighting columns on stage, thru a sound organ.
Eclectic, to say the least- I dug it.
But I am an old hippie, before I became a punk in 1975.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci3FMGJ8UTY

I really like his collaboration with Barbara Togander, who is a jazz singer well known here for decades. She was not there last night, but the video is pretty out there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ-Yj0zfjb8

 

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Marina Fages was on after that- 4th band of the night, maybe 2 am. She has a current lineup that is all female, hard rock/punk in its presentation.
When I first saw her play, years ago, she was a singer songwriter, alone with her acoustic guitar, but now she has become much more fierce in her presentation.
Last night, she also had Kabusacki sit in on lead guitar, and when he chooses to, he can really shred. It was a total audio assault, I found it pretty entertaining, although I think the sound will develop further as time goes on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4WbPARljus

here is a similar lineup, a year ago- you can see how it was more mellow, but you can also see the bigger band starting to rock out more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWcGtiEGr8U

 

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Finally, Villa Diamante y Pato Smink, with rapper CeHacheRespira.
Villa and Smink always get everybody up dancing.

no clips of the particular combination of the three last night, but here is Villa's classic Sandro remix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLc7SodgGm8

I lasted until almost 4. There might even have been another band after that- I dont know.

 

[Ries]

I have a friend visiting from Nueva York, who is a drummer.
So, of course, on Monday Night, we went to Konex, to see la Bomba de Tiempo.

First we went to eat peruvian food at La Conga, an enormous peruvian restaurant a few blocks away. Platters of chicken, papas fritas, and ensalada, pitchers of Freeze, enough food that no one can ever finish it all. So, of course, we had a bag of leftovers.

when we got to Konex, there was a huge line, all the way down the block, but it moved quickly, past the vendors selling organic muffins, vegetarian empanadas, and cold cans of beer. The reason the line was so big was the guest artist of the night- every monday, the basic drum group has a guest artist, and this week it was Eppurse Muove, a famous Rock nacional band that was formed in 1990.

An amusing thing is that they do a bag search, mainly to keep out outside liquor- but they seem to have a ban on leftovers, as well. My wife had to deposit our bag of leftovers in an enormous box full of other bags of leftovers.

once inside, the huge patio of Konex was almost full- probably 3000 people, swilling liter cups of beer, with giant clouds of pot smoke rolling by.

La Bomba begins by playing 2 or 3 sets, 20 minutes long each, of roaring percussion.
https://www.youtube....h?v=3lxDKFB7jvM

All 3000 people are dancing and bobbing to the beat.

then, Eppurse came out-
https://www.youtube....h?v=fltG-0NCJlg
a five piece rock band, with 16 percussionists.
The band loved it.
They just do a few songs, maybe 3, but most of the audience was there for them, as well as the drums, so it was well received.

Then, another few sets of drumming, with a final song augmented by trumpet, played by one of the drummers.

It starts early, at about 8, and ends early- around 10.
At which point we went looking for our leftovers.
And, amazingly, the woman at the door immediately recognized my wife, and plucked our bag of leftovers from the box instantly.

If you havent been to konex, you should go on a monday night- its amazing. The space is huge and varied, the crowd is friendly and excited, the drumming is contagious.
Other nights, there is sometimes cinema upstairs, or individual bands or djs, but Monday is the night to start with.