“Nappy hair, proud brown people singing in the dark!” – Chicano Batman
Yeap, that’s me everyday. Super thrilled that one of my favorite bands – Chicano Batman – will be coming to the East Coast next week for a few shows. Even better, that #FUTUREROOTS has the opportunity to promote their July 9th show at Nublu [RSVP HERE!] All their East Coast shows:
I saw the band in 2009 at a fundraiser for IMIX Bookstore – a radical chicana-owned bookstore in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles – which is now Espacio 1839 in Boyle Heights. I dug their baby blue old-school ruffle shirts and style, but honestly, I was running around so much that night, I barely got to enjoy the group.
But true artists never stop. To me, that’s a true sign of a band worth supporting.
These guys have kept going over the years, building in their hometown of Los Angeles, adding band members, securing strategic press that tells their story, improving their live shows and making amazing albums which you can hear HERE.
Watch this awesome live segment for Los Angeles public TV station – KCET – where the band introduces themselves and their sound:
Chicano Batman really defines the mission of the #FUTUREROOTS to me – which I’ve been putting on since 2011 to provide platform to groups touching on these themes across genres, geography and scenes – they are a blend of our now!
In this LA Weekly profile from 2011, they talk about their sonic-soul intentions:
“The goal is to draw from pan-Latin rhythms and movement in an atypical way. “I really appreciate the rhythmic stuff that also really challenges the idea of what a Latino is,” Bardo says. “In general, the idea is to complicate the notion of where music comes from, the notion of race, the manifestation of music from different races, the fact that there’s no race in general. People see Latinos as just Mexican, Spanish, Spaniards or whatever, but there’s definitely a lot of Afro roots in that. The whole idea is to put it out there — my work with cumbia is to throw that out there.”
And the kicker: “They were able to take traditional Latin musical forms and put them in a blender.”
That is #FUTUREROOTS! So, don’t miss this very special show with Chicano Batman – from East Los to the East Coast – on Wednesday, July 9th at Nublu. RSVP HERE!
Bonus Points: Little Dragon chose the band’s album “Joven Navegante” for Amoeba Music’s cool video series “What’s In My Bag?”
