Joliette - Principia [2013]

Post-hardcore is not lacking at all in Mexico, but a few bands rise to the surface amongst the sea of breakdowns, and one of those is Joliette. They hail from the city of Puebla, which to me is especially annoying because I lived in Puebla for 5 months and didn't even hear of them until I left. Fortunately they seem to have some connections with the various scenes in the US so maybe they'll get the chance to tour the west coast and I'll finally see them play. It's always exciting to see bands from different countries (with different languages) crossing borders (they're currently on tour in Mexico with Chicago band Ittō!).

Joliette is a band that I'm really into but secretly don't really want to be. I think it might just have to do with their genre, given it's popularity and the inundation of similar sounding bands that really need to stop using the same hooks and oversimplified riffs in a cookie-cutter structure. Joliette, however, is different. Their experience as musicians and talent is apparent in every moment and it's exciting to watch them play (I've never seen them live, but they have some cool videos they did with Audiotree the last time they were in the US, see below).

Genre: Post-hardcore, Post-everything

Joliette - Principia [2013]

1. Todos Temen

2. Todos Odian

3. Quiral

4. Martina, Merlina y Dale con Martín

5. Say Hola!

6. Czirros

7. Qúmulos

8. California Yisus

9. Juan Matón

10. Norte y Bravo

11. Die Stunde des Käses

Ostende - Ciudades de Mimbre [2011]

Ostende is an emo-violence band from Buenos Aires, Argentina that takes influence from bands like Orchid and Ampere. There's a small, tight-knit group of folks playing screamo in Buenos Aires that make/made up bands such as Federico Luppi, Arde Hollywood, Bahía and Beatrice Kaleth. This is one of the more established long-term bands of the group, though they've gone through a few lineup changes they keep pushing forward and playing the good stuff. It's pretty shreiky and a little rough around the edges, but it'll hook you good.

Genres: Emo-violence, Screamo

Ostende - Ciudades de Mimbre [2011]

1. Ser Conciente No Te Hace Inocente

2. Seguimos Siendo Ciegos

3. Sie Esta En Tus Brazos, No Lo Creo

4. Malformaciones De Una Reelección

5. Cuantos Chicos, Tantos Chicos...

6. Los Convencidos Caminamos Por La Vereda De Enfrente

7. Palabras, Palabritas (A Los Conservadores)

8. La Gran Pregunta Es Una Respuesta (Tomo I)

9. Greg Ginn Vs Tommy Dunster

10. Un Rio Menos

11. La Suma Es La Resta De La Conciencia

Also, the background of this blog is a photo I took of Ostende playing in Buenos Aires :^)

Zat/Avitación 101 Split [2011]

Bazinga, I'm back in the U.S. and for real this time I'm gonna be posting consistently again. This one's a twofer I guess, it's a split between two radical Latin American screamo bands that's sure to rock yer socks off.

Avitación 101 is from Uruguay (I assume Montevideo but I haven't found anything that actually says) and define themselves on their facebook as neoscreamocrust, which is definitely accurate as heck. Bass heavy, driving and riffy is how I'd describe it. The first riff of every song is always so damn catchy. The vocals stand out quite a bit, they seem to have a nice mix of sass, screamo and hardcore influence. It's one of my biggest regrets that I didn't go see this band when they played in Buenos Aires while I was there.

Genres: Screamo, Crust, Hardcore

Zat is from Buenos Aires, Argentina and plays a sort of punk/screamo. The guitars are a bit angular and can even get reminiscent of Fugazi in their discordance and the way they play off each other. For the most part they walk with a sort of dark, catchy melody that can be a little off-putting or make you ask where they were going with it, and it's like chunky and doesn't necesarily make sense and it comes off pretty well actually. Like, pretty stripped down, but not 3 chord punk but somewhat reminscent of it.

Genres: Punk, Screamo, Post-hardcore

Zat/Avitación 101 Split [2011]

Zat

1. Levanta tus palmas y sacude tus balas

2. Sabor a Troya

3. Bosques

4. Arma calibrada

5. Charlas, descontentos, universos

6. Tribunales

7. Camino al juzgado

8. Estallido

Avitación 101

9. Intro 

10. Iglesias

11. Oxido

12. Pesadilla

13. Tengo miedo

14. Trazada

http://institucionzat.wordpress.com/

https://loszats.bandcamp.com/
https://myspace.com/havitacion101