Listen: Julieta Venegas on Tiny Desk Concert Podcast

NPR's music coverage  was starting to get stale on me for a little bit there. Today, they totally redeemed themselves on their Tiny Desk Concert Podcast series by featuring Julieta Venegas. Arguably Mexico's biggest female pop star, Venegas striped down her normal live show arrangement to just an accordion, her voice and one other musician joining her.

Get down with M.I.S. at SXSW 2011

Camilo Lara, also known as Mexican Institute of Sound, is one of my absolute favorite Latin Alternative artists. Other than maybe the dudes from Nortec Collective and a select few (very few) others, no one mixes traditional Mexican sounds with dance music better.  Check out the video above if you don't have it playing already.

Aside from being a talented musician/producer, Lara has an amazing vinyl record collection of over 45,000 records. In an interview he did with Austin Vida in 2009, he said the first record he ever bought was a Quiet Riot record. Can you believe it? Quiet 'fucking' Riot. Awesome.

M.I.S. will be performing at South By Southwest this year in support of his new EP. It marks his return to Austin since his 2009 headlining set at Pachanga Fest. I'm stoked. You should be too. Click HERE for details.

(5/24) Ximena Sariñana at Stubb's

My dear Ximena Sariñana, Mexico's best pop star and talented actress, is finally coming to Austin. I was super excited when I got the news this week. She will be performing at Stubb's indoor on May 24th. Latino or not, you need to get familiar with Ximena Sariñana. Trust me.

Maldita Vecindad album release party

The latest album from Maldita Vecindad, Circular Colectivo, comes out tomorrow from Nacional Records. It is their first studio release that they have put out in almost 13 years.  I got to see Maldita Vecindad for the first time during this year's SXSW. They headlined a big Latino showcase at Antone's and I was able to capture some of it on my mini-cam. Check out Maldita performing their song "Fut Callejero" from the new album:



If you want to see more videos from this show, check out my YouTube Channel. For detail on the listening party presented by Austin Vida, visit the Austin Vida blog. We'll be giving away tickets to Pachanga Fest, Los Amigos Invisibles and Sexy Marvin. You should definitely come.

Festival NRMAL in Monterrey line up announced

FESTIVAL NRMAL / MONTERREY / 13 DE MARZO 2010 from Nrmal on Vimeo.

 The battle of Monterrey begins with Festival NRMAL on March 13th. Think Fun Fun Fun Fest getting together for Pachanga Fest for a naughty weekend in Mexico. We all know you've been there and done that. This is an all day thing that has amazing Latin Alternative acts mixed with killer indie bands.

For those of you Latino hipsters, or "Hipspanics", I recommend Chico Sonido, Banda de Turistas, and 60 Tigres. Some of the other bands worth mentioning that I like include Yellow Fever and White Ninja. Either way it will be a good time in Monterrey, my favorite city in Mexico. Buses will be running from Austin and tickets aren't that expensive at all. We posted the full line up and details on Austin Vida here:

Festival NRMAL line up and details

Interview: Kinky for 10 minutes on Austin Vida

Me with Ulises Lozano (keyboards) from Kinky

 Over the past decade, the Latin alternative genre has grown by leaps and bounds. The music is more diverse and more modern in comparison to its rock en español roots of the '80s and early '90s. The Monterrey, Mexico, music scene is responsible for a large part of that growth and evolvement. Monterrey's own Latin alternative headliners (all-stars, maybe), Kinky, are a large part of that growth and the genre's success. Having conquered the Monterrey club scene early on, the quintet's worldwide fan base has only grown. Having released what may be their best album in spring of 2009, Barracuda, their stock will only continue to rise.

Unfortunately, Kinky was not able to play a show here in Austin this year. In order to see one of the greatest Latin alternative acts on the scene, Austin Vida had to travel up Interstate-35 to catch them at the House of Blues in Dallas. Before their set, we got to speak with Ulises Lozano (keyboards) for 10 minutes to chat about Barracuda, soccer, video games and what's coming up in 2010 for the Monterrey rockers.

Pictures from the show in Dallas by Austin Vida photo editor, Mari Hernandez:

Click here to read the interview with Ulises Lozano and check out our exclusive live video from the show:

Kinky for 10 Minutes

New Video for "Despues" by Hello Seahorse!

During South By Southwest this year, some of us at Austin Vida were fortunate enough to catch Mexico City's Indie darlings, Hello Seahorse!. We have reviewed their current album, Bestia, here on AustinVida.com and posted another one of their videos with it.The video for their second single, "Despues", hit YouTube on August 14th.It's a great single to check out if you are unfamiliar with Hello Seahorse!. "Despues" is in Spanish, but if you don't speak Spanish and like what you hear, many of their other tracks are in English. I expect major success from Hello Seahorse! world wide.


For more on Hello Seahorse!, visit their official Myspace page at:

http://www.myspace.com/helloseahorse

Take A Look & Listen to Monterrey's XYX

From Austin Vida's Alysha Hernandez: "Austin Vida sat down with the duo outside of Sound on Sound Records to talk musical projects, chemical inspiration, and the Monterrey music scene. Anel – clad in a black dress, tights, and wrestler-esque boots – stared into the skyline. She seems quiet, but on stage she sings and screams like a banshee – her heart’s contents on display for all to see. Meanwhile, Mou wore dark-rimmed glasses; his hair was characteristically unkempt, with curly tufts shooting into the air."

Here is a YouTube video from their recent show at Emo's, a video different from the one we used for Austin Vida. This should give you an idea of why we were so fascinated with XYX. On Austin Vida, we use the Vimeo player for the better sound quality and HD capabilities.



Click here to read the full interview with XYX on Austin Vida featuring live video.

Free EP from Noise Beat Propaganda

Noise beat Propaganda is a four piece Indie-pop band from Mexicali, Baja California. We’re In Love, Yeah Right! is their new 4 track EP on Poni Republic. This EP is the reason I hate getting good EPs in the mail. They might as well rename EPs “teasers” because that’s what We’re In Love, Yeah Right! is.

Click here to read the full review on Austin Vida and find out how you can download your own copy for free (legally).

Album Review: Barracuda by Kinky

Monterrey, Nuevo Leon is arguably the coolest city in Mexico. So much musical talent comes from Monterrey including one of my favorite groups, Kinky. Having recently released their fifth album, Barracuda, the group continues to live up to the high standard their previous releases set for them. Without a doubt, Barracuda is their best album to date. Without deviating from their signature Latin indie-electro style, Kinky still managed to make Barracuda their most diverse and danceable album. Sure there were a couple of songs that should not have made it to the final cut, but overall it is as close to being a Latin Alternative classic as a group can get.

Click here to read the full review on Austin Vida

Kalua Album Review on cdFuse

Rock en Espanol in Austin has a new voice and youthful energy with Kalua’s debut album, La Novedad. What’s hidden in that youthful energy is an old spirit that summons the old Mariachi classics of our abuelos. Every song is passionately sung in Spanish, the native tongue of all four Kalua members, who hail from Mexico, Columbia and Venezuela respectively.

Read the full review on cdFuse

Kalua Interview on Austin Vida

Last month I sat down with Andres Delgado and Juan Diaz from Kalua. They were a fun interview to say the least. I spoke with them about their new album, a new video,The World Cup, The Police, Latin Music in Austin, and even heavy metal.

Check out the interview with Kalua on Austin Vida.

60 Tigres at The Sound and The Jury Competiton

Last night I ventured out to Antone’s to see one of my favorite new Latin rock bands from Mexico, 60 Tigres. Hailing from Monterrey (the coolest city in Mexico it seems) , 60 Tigres brought a unique and original sound to The Sound and the Jury competition. They are a good mix of psychedelic and bass heavy funk, with a Latin percussion of course. They also have two singers, their bassist and their drummer.

The bands at the showcase last night were chosen by online fan voting. That being said, it was an amazing accomplishment just to be there. I know that sounds PC and cheesy, but considering the amount of quality competition, being there as one of the top vote getters speaks volumes. I think it speaks especially well of 60 Tigres being that they were the only foreign band in the top group.

Now I knew going into Antone's that they weren't going to win. The odds were against them as they were going against local favorites and other top vote getters. The competition was judges by the in house crowd and a panel of industry judges. There were other factors that were against them also, such as the fact that they sing primarily in Spanish. It is often hard for people sometimes to get into a band at first if they don't understand the language they are singing in. The other factor they were going up against was that they had equipment issues. Luckily for them one of the other bands, T-Bird and The Breaks, were kind enough to lend them equipment.

T-Bird and The Breaks was also the band that went on before them, and up to that point they were the band with the best crowd support. Man did I feel for 60 Tigres after they finished. Hell, even I thought T-Bird should have won if 60 Tigres couldn't. They were awesome and more original than the other generic indie rock bands playing. That's just what ACL needs right…more indie rock.

60 Tigres, like the other bands on the bill, only had about a 20 minute set. Despite their short set, I honestly think they made a good impression on the majority gringo crowd there at Antone's. That is one thing I love about this town. People are open to different types of music and embrace it even. Of course the Hispanics there were going to love them, but seeing everyone else nod their heads and dance (thanks to the beer I suppose) was great to see. 60 Tigres noticed as they made it a point to thank everyone for listening and let the audience know how honored they were to be there.

I hope they make it back to Austin next year so more people can get a chance to see them. They were great live and if you like to dance at concerts, then you'll love 60 Tigres. Having got a chance to speak with them after their set, I got the impression that they want to come back as soon as they can. They loved it here. In the meantime, you can check out their music for free on their website. Click here to check them out, and do check out this video from the show: