I Went To See A Band...

[oddDistribution]

8000 pesos. A similar concert in Seattle, the place where I grew up, would easily be 4 times that. Concerts of Argentine bands are a bargain here. Like everything else imported, seeing the aging Chili Peppers or the geriatric Blink 182 in their wheelchairs would cost you ten times as much. Thats why I almost exclusively go see Argentine bands in Argentina. Plus, I already saw the Chili Peppers at their prime, and my tween son played Blink 182 ad nauseum in my car in the 90s.

Wow, so cheap. So, like 8 USD. That's awesome.

I saw the chili peppers in their prime too. It was probably 20 years ago or so. It was a great show.

 

[Ries]

A friend politely informed me last night that Willi Crook is dead, so I could not have seen him. obvio, I was mistaken, it was his brother Nilo Crook. Willi played woodwinds. I still have much to learn. Lo siento.

 

[Ries]

Wow, so cheap. So, like 8 USD. That's awesome.

I saw the chili peppers in their prime too. It was probably 20 years ago or so. It was a great show.

I saw the Chili Peppers in about 1990 at the Hollywood Paladium on a triple bill with the Beastie Boys and George Clinton. For the finale, they all played a song together. It was epic.

 

[Ries]

When I first got to Argentina, in 2007, ZZK was new and exciting- it was originally a party called ZZK Club, that popped up at different venues.
It quickly became a record label, and, really, a tribe.
I was lucky enough to see a lot of different ZZK events, and bands and performers who were associated with it overthe years.

One of the founders, Grant Dull, originally from the US, has moved to LA, and is still running the record label, signing new bands from Columbia, Mexico, and other countries. He is releasingsome great new stuff, while still maintaining a lot of the original catalog.

Many of the original bands, like DJ Villa Diamante, Tremor, Chancha Via Circuito, El Remolon, and Gaby Kerpel, are still making music and performing here in BA.


In December, they had a 15th anniversary party at Artlab, with a showing of the documentary film on ZZK, Ritmos Bastardos, (which includes a hilarious cameo by Zizek,the philosopher, himself, where he declares he is psychlogically incapable of dancing)

along with a panel discussion, and then 5 hours or so of performance by some of the artists.
Acts included relative newcomer Dat Garcia, with her feminist sexbot alien trap,featuring video, dancing space monsters, and more.
Also Gaby Kerpel,aka King Coya, who was reinterpreting some of his older songs, making them new, performing material from an upcoming album, a killer DJ set by Chancha Via Circuito, a wonderful mixed acoustic and electronic performance by Uji, key member of the no longer existing band Lulacruza, a set by El Remolon, and Dj-ing by Villa Diamante and Grant Dull.
All of them hold up well, having continued to evolve and refine their music, with literally another 15 years of experience. Some of the original acts are deceased, broken up, or expats in other countries, but the core group of several dozen are still making music here in Argentina.
They have filtered into a lot of different scenes, made music for film, dance, theater and tv, appeared at gigantic festivals and in tiny clubs- they are predecessors and inspiration for all kinds of contemporary music here.
It was a fun night, Isaw a lot of people I know, and Artlab, as always, is comfortable and well run, small enough to be intimate and see and hear everything.

 

[Ries]

Uji set that night-

 

[Ries]

I flaked out around 1 am, and missed El Remolon's set of electro cumbia. I always enjoy his music, he loves cumbia, dancing, and getting everybody up on the dance floor.

 

[Ries]

Entire catalog available here- https://zzkrecords.bandcamp.com/

and here is a classic from back in the day.

 

[Ries]

I had not been to the BeBop Club since they moved to Palermo after the Pandemia.
The old space, on Moreno in Montserrat, was in a subsuelo, with a lot of character.
The new space is nicely above ground, but they continued with the theme of red velvet curtains, dozens of black and white photos of mostly argentine jazz musicians, and a low stage in the center of the room.
You book a table, so you can pick where you sit.
Although we saw Kabusacki play in November, that was a solo, improvisational, ethereal show.
In early January, we went to BeBop to see him with his band, which is a very different set of music.
His band varies,depending on what where and when, but this night it was Matias Mango on piano, Juan Ravioli on bass, Lucas Herbin on drums, Gustavo Libedinsky on percussion, and Damian Nisenson on sax.
All great musicians, and, together, capable of a very wide range of music.
Nisenson, who lives in Montreal since 2004, was one of the saxplayers with Los Twist, way back in the late 80s, Ravioli has played with Daniel Melingo in the Ramones of Tango for almost 20 years, as well as playing with Axel Krygier in his touring band. Mango and Herbin have both played far and wide with many different musicians.
Kabusacki is a wizard of a guitarist- sometimes it sounds like he is playing a theremin, other times a pedal steel, then he will break into a hard rock solo or a bit of Django-esqe jazz.
Mango is a very elegant pianist, and the piano at BeBop always brings out the best in pianists, they just seem to enjoy it.
Herbin was ranging from brushes and whispers of cymbals to fierce full drum kit explosions.
What they played was based in jazz, but tempered with a wide range of other things. Nisenson sat in for four or five songs,and his playing ranged from R&B to jazz to rock, Libedinsky was subtle and yet essential.
There were times when it was quiet and meditative, including some remarkable interplays between Kabusacki on guitar and Mango on piano, but other times where it broke out into joyous noise, much more rock.
They covered Brian Eno and Charly Garcia, but not like you would expect...
The sound system there is just right- loud enough to be heard everywhere in the room clearly, but not too loud.
Good views from pretty much every seat, not expensive, table service of basic bar food and drinks.
I kind of wish they would get more modern in the food and drink- nothing wrong with their empanadas or negronis, but the current BA food scene is full of young chefs and bartenders who could knock it up a notch.
This is a really enjoyable club for adults to sit and see music, and the booking is consistently good, with all of the best BA jazz musicians playing there.
Kabusacki will be back on Feb 25, backing up his daughter Uma as she sings Adele songs, with most of the same band.
Then on March 26 with the full band again.
Either show would be great to see.
The quality of musicianship you can experience for 8000 pesos for a table 5 feet from the band is hard to beat, and thats the most expensive seat in the house.

Here is a concert of mostly the same band, last year, which gives you an idea of the range and uniqueness of the band.

 

[mrmorgansh]

Tuesday Night, Marina Fages opened for the film at Konex, and did a 40 minute set, live, solo, acoustic.
She is one of the partners at Mercurio, the indie record store in Patio Del Liceo.

You're keeping track of your music since last 11 years! That's really great job, buddy! Here I can't even keep track of yesterday's music

 

[Ries]

hey thats nothing. I can vaguely remember seeing the Beatles live, in Seattle, in 1966. (they were probably the worst band live I have seen since 1966...)