Latin psych

Rudy De Anda: “Tu Mirada”

These days us Austinites know all too well that an Adrian Quesada production credit is ostensibly a golden ticket to brilliance. And although Adrian’s predominant territory is Tex-Mex soul, the style that courses through his formulas wouldn’t be what they are without California’s historic Latin psych scene. That’s a no-brainer for native Los Angeleno Rudy De Anda, who formalized his ’60s psych-rock tastes in the scenic stretches of Long Beach, despite major sources of inspiration from London’s The Kinks and NYC’s The Velvet Underground.

However, in drawing from the psych products of those grayer, more industrialized musical hubs, De Anda’s turn-of-the-decade relocation to Chicago makes a lot more sense. And while it didn’t take long for Rudy to find his footing in the Windy City, that cross-country migration put a lot of distance, physically and emotionally, between himself and his lifelong home state friends. But it was that vulnerability allowed De Anda to brush off the surface-level sun and sand aesthetic typically ascribed to his Cali output in favor of confessional cultivation.

For his latest LP, De Anda recorded outside of California for the first time – but not in Chicago. Instead Rudy recruited his Cali bandmates to join him in Adrian Quesada’s Electric Deluxe recording studio right here in Austin. The new setting, plus a decision to track straight to tape, finds De Anda and the band approaching the process more seriously than ever before, and soon we’ll hear the fruits of that labor flourish on Closet Botanist.

Closet Botanist drops April 28th, introducing us to ten lush sonic shrubs, all audibly (though unobtrusively) influenced by Quesada’s production input. These bilingual herbs will feel right at home in your record collection, and give you a bit of insight into Rudy De Anda’s journey over the past two years, as heard on Closet Botanist‘s next installment, “Tu Mirada”. Inspired by the Brazilian baroque pop and psych folk of Milton Nascimento and Lô Borges’ 1972 landmark Clube da Esquina, “Tu Mirada” (the first track Rudy penned post-Chicago) is a great look for De Anda’s new grooves, bookended by a sunrise-slow introduction and an instrumental jam section that climaxes into mind-melting reversed soundscape.

Money Chicha: “Fuentes” (Studio 1A Version)

On the ascent towards their latest album Chicha Summit, you’ve been hearing lots about our October 2021 Artist of the Month, Money Chicha. This exotic cumbia-psych-rock project features some of the biggest standouts from both Grupo Fantasma and Brownout as well as relative newcomer Kiko Villamizar, who helped Money Chicha achieve the peak perfection heard on Chicha Summit.

If you’re the type that loves Latin grooves and can’t resist dancing, you won’t want to miss Money Chicha’s electric energy tonight at Far Out Lounge. But even if you plan on staying home, you can drink up the long-awaited return of live music to our beloved Studio 1A with a luscious three-song video set, including a real outpouring from Villamizar on one of Chicha Summit‘s finest flows, “Fuentes”!

Omarr Awake: “Háblame”

After a solid stint behind the wheel of Slow Car Crash, Chicago-L.A.-Austin transplant Omarr Escoffié shifted gears and took a hard left with his half-eponymous quartet Omarr Awake. Since premiering the project last year, Omarr Awake’s defied any detractors and pushed their genre-fluid sound further and further with each new single.

Last Tuesday Omarr Awake told off anyone who thought this music could be confined to any sole style, relishing in the density of sample-heavy, cumbia-tinged, latin-psych with “Háblame”!