"Fuerza Chile" For Chile, By Chile! 03/10/2010
Nacional Records is proud to announce this week’s release of ‘Fuerza Chile,’ a digital-only Chile benefit album. The album displays the strength of the country’s thriving music scene with 11 tracks from Chilean artists across Nacional’s catalog. All the proceeds are being donated to benefit victims of recent Chilean earthquake.
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs
Nacional founder Tomas Cookman was in Chile with management and label artist Los Fabulosos Cadillacs for the Vina del Mar Festival when the earthquake occurred. Fortunately no one in the band was injured but Cookman suffered a bruised leg. The group ended up taking a van across the Andes Mountains back to Argentina and were able to witness the devastation firsthand.
Chilean mixmaster Latin Bitman was DJing a massive party when the earthquake occurred. He escaped but within minutes, Bitman noticed that the ceiling had caved exactly where he had been spinning.
Chilean mixmaster Latin Bitman was DJing a massive party when the earthquake occurred. He escaped but within minutes, Bitman noticed that the ceiling had caved exactly where he had been spinning.
Words courtesy of Nacional Records.
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Surviving the Tsunami, Soul Surfer Style... 03/03/2010
North Shore, Oahu- Morning of Tsunami
To quote Family Guy, “God is pissed!” apparently… Escaping the “snowmaggedeon” of DC, I was in Hawaii at the time of the horrific earthquake in Chile and my heart goes out to them. Check out the blog I wrote last year of the incredible music scene of the South American country. On top of that, a chunk of Antarctica as large as Oahu broke off. And then of course a Tsunami was headed straight toward the islands and our hotel on the north shore (Turtle Bay Resort, the greatest hotel ever!), as well as Japan and most of the western border of North, Central, and South America.
Day of Tsunami...
But even though the entire island closed up shop, sold out of food at the markets, ran out of gas at gas stations, gathered at the highest level of all hotels and look out points, and news anchors advising everyone not to surf- it was the sunniest cloudless windless day ever, with some of the stillest waters I’d ever seen. We drove by Pipeline after the Tsunami warning had been cleared, and it might as well have been a hotel pool- there were no waves. And THAT was scary.
Pepper
Meanwhile, I had set out in hopes of capturing some local band action, and though I didn’t get any footage of that, word on the street was the band Pepper was huge. Originally from the Big Island, they now are based out of L.A. and are regulars on the Warped Tour circuit. They combine rock, reggae, ska, and even a lil' hip-hop up in that.
I also learned more about the history of Hawaii’n music while on a ghost tour through Honolulu. The last queen of Hawaii, Queen Lil’uokalani, was also a terrific song composer, and penned a song about farewell that has been popularly covered by such greats as Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley; “Aloha Oe.”
Some genres of music created in Hawaii include Jawaiin and Na Mele Paleoleo. Jawaiin is a mixture of local Hawaii'n music mixed with reggae (thus “J” for Jamaican), that started back in the early 80’s as part of the “disco sucks” movement… haha! Awesome. And Na Mele Paleoleo is a newer genre, that combines traditional American hip-hop with Hawaii’n rapping.
Me, Post Tsunami Surfing
So yeah, that trip to Oahu was pretty rad. Found out Lost is still filming, two more episodes to go- and even inside info on what’s gonna happen soon… which I’m not gonna tell. J Also ran into Craig T. Nelson, rumored to be in an upcoming film called Soul Surfer, based on the story of surfer girl Bethany Hamilton- who is mad fantastical! (Maybe he was just on vacay.) Me and my buds are quite possibly gonna be in the film as background extras as they filmed at the hotel pool. Word. And my life pretty much changed with a mere 40 minutes of post tsunami surfing. The waves were ridiculous, the wind wasn’t kind, sea turtles were abundant, but my fear of water was quickly banished. If you haven’t surfed, it is a must. The wave, when it grips on to your board willing you to stand up, is the greatest rush that is indescribable, and just has to be experienced, omigaw. Anyway-shots of me epically failing a couple times will soon be up on my youtube page, but until then, mahalo Hawaii!! I miss you.
Random World Scene: Chile 12/03/2009
Leyton is in there somewhere
This week's random wiki article landed on the youthful Chilean soccer goalie Richard Leyton. Poor kid has a pitiful two lines describing his position on the bench. Ouch. But in other news, lo que es con la escena musical de Chile?
Akineton Retard Goofin'
Check out this bunch of prog-rock hombres, Akineton Retard. They've been together since 1994, performing a mix of trad Chilean roots, prog-rock, jazz fusion, and beat samplings. Overall they describe their sound as a "blow to the head." Not sure how they came up with such an interesting name, but all I know is that Akineton is actually a pharmaceutical drug known to cause delirium in old folks. A silly bunch indeed. Check out their shenanigans as they hang out in Tokyo in this video clip.
Vigilante
And on the complete opposite spectrum of anything Chilean traditional is the industrial rock band, Vigilante. With a discography of 3 albums spanning back to 2005 (plus being featured in a handful of goth/electro metal compilations), a European tour just completed, and a DVD just released in October, this bunch is about to bring forth their 4th independent release in 2010. Holy wow. They are easily at the head of the pack of the South American electro-metal scene.
Rock Hudson (RH+)
And lastly comes the reason I love doing these random world music scene scavenges; discovering gems like Chilean indie rock band Rock Hudson. Known as The Must Urban back when they started in 2000, they later changed their name to Rock Hudson in 2003, but now they are simply known as RH+. They finally had a US debut release this year, Quintana Roo, an album that puts them right up there with Stereolab and Air. Check out this freakin' awesome song featured as a bonus track on said album.
