1	Music Indie rocker José González reveals his diverse influences. read more...
2	Film & TV A look at JoAnna Garcia and her new television show, plus two PBS documentaries. read more...
3	Books Great new selections to stock your shelves. read more...
4	Calendar Our monthly list of premier events throughout the U.S. read more...

Latin Forum

MUSIC

By Dave Gil de Rubio

Suave Swede

Offbeat indie-rocker José González has drawn on a wide range of influences on his roundabout road to becoming a musician.

IT’S NOT often that an artist can claim inspiration from both the noted Cuban revolutionary/composer Silvio Rodríguez and author/scientist/atheist Richard Dawkins. But then again, José González is not your average pop star. Born to a Swedish mother and Argentine father, the 28-year-old singer-songwriter went from studying for his doctorate in biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg to being a guest vocalist on some sessions for UK ambient pop duo Zero 7. From there, his solo career has earned critical accolades thanks to distinctive vocal phrasing and a strident nylon-string guitar style that has garnered him comparisons to some lofty names, including cult favorite Nick Drake and the late Elliott Smith.
González’s latest album In Our Nature is a stripped-down affair featuring subtle yet intense fare ranging from political statements about warfaring world leaders (the hypnotic How Low), to how the most inconsequential things can wreak havoc on a relationship (an insistent Cycling Trivialities). Sonically, these songs are made all the more impressive by the fact that most of the music features González urgently finger-picking his guitar while occasionally being accompanied by the stray synthesizer or piece of percussion. Credit this combination of force and dexterity to a diverse musical background that included a teenage stint playing in a hardcore punk band and the influence of his father’s cultural heritage.
“A lot of the music we used to listen to at home was Latin American music like Silvio Rodríguez, Caetano Veloso and some Argentinean folk,” says González. “But it was the music by Rodríguez and the Argentinean folk that had this kind of dramatic pace, which I like a lot. I still enjoy music like this. It makes me very nostalgic.”
Not unlike how Drake’s music was rediscovered by a new generation via the use of Pink Moon in a Volkswagen commercial, González has also attracted fans who may have heard his cover of fellow countrymen The Knife’s Heartbeats, which was featured in a Sony ad and can also be found on the 2005 full-length debut Veneer.
Then again, the Swedish native has a knack for the unorthodox. He’s covered Massive Attack for the electronica classic Teardrop on In Our Nature, in addition to throwing in a few curves during his live shows, when he’s been known to trot out the odd number by the likes of anyone from Kylie Minogue and Bronski Beat to Joy Division and Bruce Springsteen.

The Hot and the Cool
from Argentina

Two recently released discs from record label Vampisoul
rescue rare Argentinean jazz gems. By Victor Cruz-Lugo

Releases Jazz Argentino and Quinteplus take listeners back to the mid-60s and early-70s when jazz heated up in Buenos Aires. The musicians represented on these two discs were among the nation’s finest. But while contemporaries like tenor sax great Leandro “Gato” Barbieri went abroad to make their careers, pianists like Rubén “Baby” López Furst, featured on Jazz Argentino, clung to home. “Baby” made his career in Argentina from 1951 through the early 1980s. When he died in Buenos Aires, where he was born, he was known as one of the city’s most significant musicians. Jazz Argentino—which includes the 1967 release of the same name, as well as a recording of a live session in 1964—represents two rare recordings of the Rubén López Furst Trio, with Jorge González on double bass and Néstor Astarita on drums. They tackle music by Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, and George Gershwin.
The members of Quinteplus were not only unified by their commitment to Buenos Aires (and “Cannonball” Adderley), but their interest in fusing Argentinean folk music and rhythm, with American jazz. A gathering of former members of the Argentinean art collective Agrupación Nuevo Jazz, Quinteplus was conceived in 1969, and bloomed into 1973, with jazz tenor sax player Jorge Anders, trumpeter Gustavo Bergalli, keyboardist Santiago Giacobbe, bass innovator Jorge “Negro” González and drummer Norberto “Pocho” Lapouble. Later, Jorge Cutello on sax, and Ricardo Lew on electric guitar joined after Anders departed. Their jazz rocked, literally.

Listen In

Jose Gonzalez has some great company in the rock game.
Here are two more bands to keep an ear out for.

The Mars Volta
Mexican American lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Puerto Rican guitarist and composer Omar Rodriguez-Lopez cook up hard, psychedelic sounds with influences that run the gamut from jazz to punk to Latin. The Mars Volta is known for putting on highly energetic performances and producing highly thematic albums. And Bixler-Zavala is also known for weaving Latin American motifs, such as Mexican folk tales, into his lyrics.
Check out: The Tremulant EP (Gold Standard Labs), the band’s first endeavor, and The Bedlam in Goliath (Universal). The band’s fourth album was released in late January.
Tour: The Mars Volta goes through the European leg of their tour this month.

Alejandro Escovedo
With a sound that’s as difficult to describe as it is to dismiss, Escovedo’s songs can transform from one to the other. What at first seems like a track of brilliantly blending blues, rock and alternative country, can shift seamlessly to a punk and folk mix with the next song. As diverse as he is, this Austin native’s music is highly emotive and listeners are hard-pressed to come away from an album untouched.
Check out: The Boxing Mirror (Back Porch), Escovedo’s seventh album and With These Hands (Rykodisc), his haunting 2003 release.
Tour: Escovedo performs in Georgia, Florida and Alabama this month.