Aterciopelados- Rio

Iconic Colombian Group Builds Upon the Crossover Success of Latin
GRAMMY-winning Oye (2006) With New Album

Mixed in NYC by Hector Castillo (Brazilian Girls, David Bowie, Gustavo Cerati)

Nacional Records is proud to announce that Colombian music icons Aterciopelados will release their highly-anticipated new album, Rio. The new release finds the band aggressively building upon the creative momentum of Oye, the critically-acclaimed album that not only won them a Latin GRAMMY but also a Premio Lo Nuestro award. TIME said, “Aterciopelados’s true skill lies in its ability to take north-of-the-border musical styles… and breathe new life into them, all while giving them a distinctly Colombian sheen.”

Rio is evidence that, as VIBE put it, “For Aterciopelados, maturity has become a form of liberation.” The album was recorded in the band’s hometown of Bogotá and mixed by Héctor Castillo (Brazilian Girls, David Bowie, Gustavo Cerati) in New York City. It is an impassioned, socially conscious record with the group’s signature organic rock sound.

The album’s opener and first single is the title track, a call to action that finds Aterciopelados at a new level of creativity and musicality. It coincides with a proposed Colombian constitutional referendum that declares the country’s bodies of water deserve basic rights. “When I was growing up, the Bogotá River was considered a mythic and iconic place, and now it’s a tiny stream,” says singer Andrea Echeverri. “Musically and lyrically, the track ‘Rio’ is unlike any previous Aterciopelados song. I’m even singing in a different way than in the past. With this one, we reached an entirely new place.”

The album’s guests range from rapper Gloria “Goyo” Martínez (of Colombian hip hop act Choc Quib Town) on “28,” to the Andean group Kapary Walka on “Madre” and “Aguita.” Echeverri’s

daughter, Milagros, makes an appearance on “Ataque de Risa.” The birth of Milagros, now six, was the primary inspiration for her critically lauded self-titled solo album. “This track was originally going to be on a children’s album I’ve been recording with Manolo, my husband, and Milagros in our home studio. With the first couple tracks, Milagros was nervous at the mic but now she approaches it with such confidence and happiness.”

Aterciopelados plan to tour the U.S. in support of ‘Rio’ in early 2009, following the birth of Andrea Echeverri’s second child. They recently completed a European tour with her pregnant belly proudly displayed.
The longtime creative relationship between Echeverri and Buitrago proves to be the source for the band’s musical genius. “We have had quite a musical career, which has evolved over the years through our own identity search and experimentation, finding our own sound,” Echeverri says. “I do some things, like writing the songs and he does the other things, such as producing and imagining the musical vision for the song. We really complement each other musically in a way that works. And more important than anything, we have love and respect for each other.”

sábado, 4 de abril de 2009

Aterciopelados's Lively Sociable Awareness

Aterciopelados: Live Last Nigh
Nature and environmental themes dominate "Rio,'' the latest album by eclectic Colombian band Aterciopelados. So it was fitting that the first few numbers the quintet played Thursday night at the State Theater just rippled pleasantly. Then singer-guitarist Andrea Echeverri shed her bulky white jacket, and the mood became livelier.

Aterciopelados ("the velvety ones'') didn't revisit the early '90s, when they played punk and hard rock. They didn't even allocate much time to their more recent forays into electro-lounge. The set emphasized the mode of "Rio'' -- jangly Latin folk-rock with rhythms that straddled from the Caribbean to the Andes. Songs began with synthesized burbles, Afro-Cuban syncopation or guitar fanfares in the styles of either Carlos Santana or the Edge. But such elements were soon absorbed into the loping whole, and overwhelmed by Echeverri's hearty, penetrating alto.

If such jaunty pop-rockers as "Bolero Falaz'' sounded more like Liverpool than Bogota, the dominant accent was still Latin, with a new tilt toward jazz. Andean pan flutes produced both traditional bird-like tones and free-jazz squawks, and such midtempo tunes as "Aguita'' showcased Echeverri's torch-singer potential.

"Aguita'' is actually a protest of the privatization of water resources, and Echeverri is known for political lyrics. The singer drew cheers when she adorned her guitar with a "No Mas'' sticker from a campaign targeting violence against women, and when she introduced "Cancion Protesta,'' a song the band remade for an Amnesty International project. Aterciopelados's music may sound more easygoing these days, but it's still pointed.

-- MARK JENKINS

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