Bloque, "Bloque"

Bloque
"Bloque"
Luaka Bop (1988)
1000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die

Tom Moon paints a double picture when he describes Bloque. On one hand, he depicts a group disappointed in the mainstreaming of Latin American music. On the other hand, he also says that the musicians of Bloque approached their debut album with an attitude influenced by American hip-hop. Neither is entirely false, but Moon overstates the second half. There are hip-hop moments on "Bloque," but that's almost par for the course with modern Latin American music. I live around Washington Heights, and I hear it every day. But Bloque feels its Columbian roots strongly, and tries to introduce it to the '90s without selling the music out.

Moon's statements about the mainstreaming of Latin American music is 100 percent correct. I could have told you this, even as a child, based strictly on the Gloria Estefan albums my parents own. If my parents have an album, it's got some mainstream appeal behind it. And at this point, even the Santana resurgence hadn't started yet. My summary of these pop albums would include a conga and Spanish guitar. They exclude the rest of the percussion and polyrhythms that we've come to expect (based on every other Latin American album we've heard so far). Bloque includes the congas, but "westernizes" with a standard drum set as well, maintaining the necessary polyrhythms.

Instruments like horns and the Hammond organ are things we've heard before on salsa albums, but Bloque uses the instruments to establish a different vibe than they might've during the '60s. Check out the intros to "el Hedor" and "Lo Que Sucede" to feel how funky the tone is. Something completely different is the guitar of bandleader Ernesto Ocampo. His riffs frequently duel an acoustic guitar, but not in stereotypical flamenco fashion, and his solos are right out of the '80s hard rock scene, reminiscent of Living Colour's Vernon Reid. Ocampo's playing on "Lo Que Sucede," shifting from quick-picking to a ballad-style outro typifies how Bloque feels comfortable switching songs and styles mid-track.

If you want a taste of everything that Bloque offers, go to "Descarga." The opening percussion and guitar licks sound like Santana, but everyone gets a chance to shine. There's an excellent organ solo, plus spotlight moments for guitar, bass and flute. The percussion section tops it off with a bitchin' break. The short call-and-response vocal section will comfort those who think Bloque has slid too far from the Latin American music of old.

The hip-hop moments take the form of heavier bass lines and rapped vocals in "Rap del Rebusque," but these don't water down the Latin identity of the album. This stuff is definitely too out there for my parents, but will appeal to rock fans thanks to Ocampo's guitar. The attitude is similar to that of Arepa 3000, but a little more accessible.

INTERESTING FACT: Bloque is probably the only group you'll see ever in this blog that doesn't have a Wikipedia page.

"Descarga"

Los Amigos Invisibles, "Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey into Space"

Los Amigos Invisibles
"Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey into Space"
Luaka Bop (2000)
1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die

“Arepa 3000: A Venezuelan Journey Into Space” might not actually head into space, but it certainly goes all over the place. Tom Moon looks at the album by Venezuelan band Los Amigos Invisibles as an overview of Latin music, from the samba to what he refers to as an “Ibiza rave,” but I see it as an overview of the club scene in the band’s hometown of Caracas.

A brief look at the group’s history shows that the band formed to counteract the overabundance of traditional fare at dance clubs, such as salsa and Brazilian merengue. As Moon points out, it was never the band’s idea to eradicate the city’s cultural background, but rather advance it into the 21st century. The process takes place on “Arepa 3000,” the group’s third album, by serving as a timeline of club music, and in the process teaching the old forms new tricks.
A majority of the album has a style blending cha-cha-chá and samba, forms of music popularized in Cuba and Brazil respectively, but understandably big in Venezuela as well. “La Vecina” exemplifies the play between the guitar and the bass, and the traditional percussion of congas and claves adds to the feel. A variety of electric blips and whirs contribute to the space theme. Much of the music reminds me of the theme that plays on the main screen when you turn on a Nintendo Wii. Light, easygoing stuff.

From there the band heads in the direction of funk. Moon compares the group to Parliament Funkadelic, and the similarities are inescapable. The obscenely titled “Masturbation Session” sounds like the Hispanic stepbrother of “Give Up The Funk” at times. “Mujer Policia” features some particularly funky guitar playing from José Pardo and the use of a Hammond organ in “Cuchi Cuchi” is an obvious funk throwback.

Toward the end of the album, genres such as disco (“Amor,” with a synthesizer line and very anglicized vocals) and electronica (“El Barro,” with early use of autotune) make their appearances as well.

A final masterstroke is the way the album winds down like a club-goer after a long night at the bars. “Llegaste Tarde,” the closing track, was recorded in a low quality that could be compared to the feeling of a tired club hopper at the end of the night, zoned out or just exhausted. But why shouldn’t they be? They went hard at four different clubs over the course of this album.

INTERESTING FACT: “Arepa” is a bread dish made of ground corn flour, popular in Venezuela and other parts of South America. So, essentially the title of the album is “corn bread of the future.” Sorry to disappoint those who were hoping for something deeper.

Caetano Veloso: "Caetano Veloso"

Caetano Veloso
"Caetano Veloso"
Philips (1968)
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

The tropicálismo music movement of Brazil was largely defined by “antropofagia,” or cannibalism. That is to say music made within the movement had swallowed up the other genres and digested it down into one big casserole. Caetano Veloso was one of the head chefs behind this movement when it began in the ‘60s.

The reuse of other styles reflects the postmodern attitude present in the arts at the time. The belief (in photography at least) was that there were no new photographs to be taken. Therefore new art could only be made by splicing and using old work with a new purpose. Now, Veloso’s sounds are plenty new, but the styles he pulled together are evident on this album.

Bossa nova was a jazz movement that began in Brazil during the ‘50s. This take on “cool jazz” is one of the major elements of Veloso’s record, discernible in the horns that are present in most songs. Classical inspiration is found in the orchestration implemented in some tracks. Veloso even makes a stab at incorporating Indian music into the intro to “Eles.”

The western popular influence is probably most attributable to Brian Wilson and the style he built into “Smile” and “Pet Sounds.” Veloso uses traditional instruments, but often in disconcerting patterns that sound mildly off to listeners, inducing a psychedelic effect.

Another Brazilian trend present in Veloso’s music is “poesia concreta,” or concrete poetry. This approach to poetry emphasized rationalism over abstraction. Although I can’t understand a lick of Portuguese, understanding this approach still explains much of Veloso’s style. Regardless of the meaning of the lyrics, Veloso rarely places much emphasis in his voice. As the music picks up speed, his voice remains the same. I would argue this is because of the “rational” tendency of concrete poetry.

Without understanding the lyrics, one can still understand what they mean by looking at Veloso’s history. Songs like “Alegria, Alegria” and “Soy loco po ti, América” are now political anthems in Brazil, and Veloso was forced into exile by the dictatorship ruling Brazil at the time.

Veloso’s influence stretched outside of Brazil however. Kurt Cobain was reportedly a fan, and Beck recorded his own version of the song “Tropicália” on his album “Mutations.” This is a good starter album for world music beginners, because it’s just western enough and just foreign enough.

INTERESTING FACT: Veloso performed the Oscar nominated track "Burn it Blue" for the "Frida" soundtrack, including performing it onstage at the ceremony. He didn't win.