Mexican Shoegaze, Dream & Noise Pop, a quick guide, Vol.1
To present the great Mexican scene, we asked a specialist: Jairo Manzur, Editor of Sonidos que Permanecen (ex ‘Shoegaze Latino America’). And what a superb introduction it is.
Thanks to Lorrelle Meets the Obsolete, Lasitud, Los Kowalski, El Glum, Acty and Rilve for providing some of the material for this article.
INTRODUCTION
“I find it hard to introduce a genre so global (and kind of diffuse nowadays) as shoegaze, even in a single country. In my mind, any attempt would just leave things out; so, instead of introducing shoegaze in Mexico, I will try to propose a way to approach the genre in two different ways: a historical one and a geographical one. During this brief introduction, I will also refer to other articles that have highlighted bands and musical scenes.
Shoegaze in Mexico: a historical perspective.
When I was asked by Noise Artists to write an introduction to this guide, the first thing that came to my mind was to find and explore the roots of shoegaze in Mexico. In general, shoegaze become a musical phenomenon in Latin America during its resurgence around the 2010s (a resurgence prompted by Internet communities dedicated to the genre and the worldwide availability of equipment and gear that was before too expensive or hard-to-find).
Nonetheless, many countries had seminal bands during the 90s; even if the examples are scarce bands like Silvania or Resplandor (both from Peru), Mellonta Tauta (Argentina) or Un.real (Puerto Rico) were pivotal in the development of shoegaze in Latin America. To my surprise, there is little information about bands doing Shoegaze during the 90s in Mexico.
In his introduction to the Pitchfork's list "The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time", Peter Kember (founder of Sonic Boom and Spacemen 3) remembers that:
“If you had told me in 1991 that, 25 years later, I would be prefacing a list on Shoegaze, I would probably have told you it would never happen. Few of these bands paid even the slightest, fleeting lip service to commerciality. I couldn't see it.
But things change; even by 1993, I was redressing my views. I played a show that year in L.A. at Johnny Depp's Viper Room. The support band, to my complete amazement, was a Shoegaze band—a Mexican shoegaze band. The thought that this music might cut through cultures with such broad swathes had never occurred to me before, but now I could see this genre might have long legs, in between that gaze and those shoes.”
Kember does not state (and probably doesn't remember) the name of that Mexican band; still, the mention is priceless and problematic: that band (and probably others) existed, yet we don't have any valuable information about them. So, that is a (re)search that needs to be addressed in the future. The location of the gig is also important: areas like Baja California (with Tijuana on the lead) have become important musical centers thanks to its proximity to the United States border. As noted by Erich E. Mendoza on "Tijuana's Independent Spirit Has Made It Home to One of Mexico's Most Exciting Music Scenes":
“To understand why the Tijuana scene is experiencing a revival, we have to dive into the early 90s, when a local band named Staura was just getting its start. Staura was made up of Gaby Spica, René Soberanis (better known as Loopdrop, another key band in this scene), and Omar Foglio, who would go on to become Tijuana's top independent promoter and launch Swenga Fest in 1995.
It was during the career of Staura and Loopdrop that the local public began to turn their heads and notice what was going on in the few venues and bars that had performance spaces for bands at the time. And it was through these initiatives and with this support that other acts like Ibi Ego and Shantelle began to come to life in the early 2000s.”
Shoegaze in Mexico: a geographical perspective.
Though Mexico City concentrates most of the population of the country, the musical scene in Mexico is well decentralized. As already commented, Baja California has been an important and fervent musical area for decades.
In recent years, bands like Lorelle Meets the Obsolete (see below) or Mint Field (mixing Shoegaze, Dream Pop and Psych Rock) have risen to global fame, by so increasing the already notorious presence of the area on the musical map of the country.
Aguascalientes also seems to have a strong bond with Shoegaze: bands like Le 1991, Bleak Boys (see below), Car Crash Sisters and others, have explored the genre with success; the same happens to other states like Guanajuato (with interesting bands like DUVVI, Clan de Venus or the already disbanded Candy Colors) and Morelia.
Differently from other Latin American countries, the music in Mexico is not centered around the capital city. So, any attempt to think any genre has to encompass the country as a whole.
Lorelle Meets the obsolete
Mexico’s Lorelle Meets The Obsolete conduct a mind-blowing experiment in restrained noise. Bringing their intense new album ‘De Facto’ to the stage they now push electronics to the fore of their wall of sound. All elements (the surging guitars, clattering electronic beats and heavy live rhythms) coalesce into a wave of sound, like an acid rock Factory Floor. This is their first record with all the lyrics in Spanish.
There is an interesting article in the Guardian that points out that:
“A mix of shoegaze textures and darker psych stylings has earned Lorelle meets the Obsolete acclaim far beyond their native Mexico, with Robert Smith and Henry Rollins among their fans.”
An other article in Sonic Cathedral points rightly about the evolution of the band’s sound on the last album:
“De Facto isn’t just a progression from 2016’s acclaimed Balance, it’s a new start which sees Lorelle Meets The Obsolete ripping up their own rulebook and building everything up from scratch. When they returned to Ensenada after touring Balance in 2017, they built a new recording space with their roommate and touring synth player, José Orozco. As a result, a lot of the songs were initially conceived without guitars.
“There’s nothing unusual about this, but for us it was all new territory working this way,” explains Alberto. “Having a new palette of musical equipment gave us the chance to develop the songs in a different way, so songs were constructed around drumbeats and synth lines – most of the guitars only came at the end.”
The line-up is:
Lorena Quintanilla (Lorelle): Vocals, electric guitar & electric bass.
Alberto González (The Obsolete): Drums & percussion, electric bass, casiotone, electric & acoustic guitars.
Their music work to date is (we included links to some good reviews):
2011: On Welfare, album
2012: Ghost Archives, EP
2013: Corruptible Faces, album; Live In Mexico City; What's Holding You?, EP
2014: Chambers, album; Live in London
2015: God Unknown Records Split, EP
2016: Balance, album
2017: The Sound Of All Things, EP
2019: De Facto, album; Unificado (Pye Corner Audio Remix)
Some songs we love:
SADFIELDS
Sadfields are a Noise Pop band from Mexico City formed in 2015. After a fantastic first song, "Falling apart", the band released their first LP with 6 songs. If you like a huge sound, cranked guitars, beautiful melodies, look no further. The Band and Noise Artists did a full artist presentation that you can find HERE
They sang in English but have started lately with lyrics in Spanish, which works very well.
The music work to date is:
2016: Falling apart, single
2017: Homesick, album; I don’t know why, single
2019: Atrás / Desaparecer, singles
The current line-up is:
Daniel Espinoza - Vox/Guitar
Miguel Lara - Bass
Erick Román - Drums
Some of the songs we love:
LOS KOWALSKI
The Kowalski are a band from Mérida, formed in 2011. They sing in Spanish and mix progressive rock and reverb Pop very efficiently.
“We create a color palette by means of distortion and echo waves, where melodies of reverberated voices appear, combining organic sounds with electronic sounds.”
The current line-up is:
Pablo Fuentes: drums, keyboard, guitar, voice
Manuel Gutiérrez: guitar, keyboard, voice
Arturo Ponce: bass, guitar, theremin
They have 2 EP, 1 album (see below) and are currently working on our second album, which they hope to release in early 2020:
2015: Sputnik, EP
2017: Sónica, EP
2018: Dejarte ir, album
2019: Sputnik, EP
Some of the songs we love:
ACTY
Formed in mid-2015, ACTY (standing for Amparo Carmen Teresa Yolanda) is a band originally from the state of Hidalgo.
The 4 names making the acronym come from Compadre Lobo, a novel written by Gustavo Sainz. The band’s taste for literature is reflected in their songs, the lyrics narrate youthful anguish, while music envelops us in atmospheres of noise (Shoegaze, Kraut, Noise, Post -Punk.)
They are currently belong to the independent label "Amigos Records" with whom they have released their two albums in tapes. They have released 4 official videos, the most recent being "Nada Es Lo Que Quieren".
According to the band, their last album, ‘Once Veinte’
“is the turning point between what it would be and what it is. We follow the path of what it would be, renouncing to what it is. That is why we are here, living that utopia that we always wanted but we never dared to discover.”
The music work to date is:
2016: Amparo Carmen Teresa Yolanda, album
2018: Once Veinte, album
The current line-up is:
Iván Aguilar: voice, guitar
Oscar Aguilar: drums
Emmanuel Cerón: bass
Some of the songs we love:
SPRAY CANELA
Spray Canela is an independent Mexican band and ‘always will be’:
“One day we realized that what is believed and thought about the Mexican music scene is very partly a lie. Unhappy with the national scene we decided to take action by our own hand and stop limiting our ideas and sound, expanding out of our area of comfort. We record our own music and produce our own merchandise, we like to keep it that way.
Since 2017 the netlabel Stupid Decisions has been our hallmark for sharing our vision about sound, as well as our taste for cassettes, independent distribution and other things that could be called D.I.Y.”
Their sound is always changing, song after song, from Shoegaze, Raw Post Punk and progressive Rock, giving them an almost organic life.
Their music work to date is:
2019: Síntomas De Un Punto Muerto, album; Domio Mundial / Ciccone, singles
2018: Milagro Adolescente, LP
Some of the song we love (the second piece is absolutely epic):
LASITUD
Lasitud is a Shoegazing / Dream Pop / Post-Rock band from Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico. They mix the experimentation and stridency of Shoegaze, the soft harmonies of Dream Pop and the sensitivity of Post-Rock, resulting in a deep sound full of unique textures.
“Listening to Lasitud is like taking a long journey of dream landscapes”.
The music work to date is:
2018:Lasitud, EP
2019: Fantasma , EP
The current line-up is:
Paola Vidal,voice and keyboards
Julio Beli in voice, guitars
Andrés Contreras, guitars
Max Campos, bass
José Gorrochotegui, drums
Some of the songs we love:
EL GLUM
Hailing from Guadalajara, Mexico, EL GLUM is the solo project of Eduardo Vela, the guitarist of alternative rock band Aurum, with a debut EP (Uno) in 2018.
Seamlessly melding ’90s influenced dashes of shimmering Shoegaze reverberations and atmospheric sound, lulling Dream Pop with energetic rhythms, mesmerizing synth and blurred vocals.
El Glum has just dropped a new single “Lejos”.
The music work to date is:
2019: Fuera, single; Lejos, single
2018: Uno, EP; Presente. Single
Some of the songs we love:
RILEV
RILEV is a Shoegaze / dreampop band originally from Mexico City. Their first EP was done and released totally independently.
They are mainly inspired by nature and love and believe in music as a catalyst for strong emotions
The current line-up is:
Manuel Grados: Guitar, voice
Alexis Guzmán: Bass
Alfredo Reyes: Drums
The music work to date is
2018: Rilev EP
Some of the songs we love:
BLEAK BOYS
Bleak Boys are a band from Aguascalientes. They released their first music in 2014. Their music is a powerful ensemble and loaded with a loud sensibility,
Describing their music, the bands says:
We met somewhere in a dreamy landscape
The current band members are:
John: Guitars, Vocals, Synthesizer
Paco: Lead Guitar, Vocals
Cruz: Bass, Keyboards
Noel: Drums, Vocals
The musical work to date is:
2015: Part Time Punks Sessions, album; Tensegrity, EP
2014: Corrosive, EP; Ræd, single; Bleak Mates, single
Some of the songs we love:
