Walle - ¿Qué obo? Darcowboy [2013]

Walle is an inspiring, baffling and emotional combination of various sounds both foreign and familiar that come together in impressive harmony, pulling from a plethora of musical stylings to realize a complex musical representation of the disorder, depression, banality, joy, spontaneity and absurdity of everyday life. Their ability to combine angular riffs, mathy rhythms and dischordant progressions with catchy lines, heavy jams and uplifting crescendos is not something I've heard much of before Walle.

One time when I was under the influence of something I said Walle is like running through a thick forest downhill, winding your way through the various life forms that all speak to you in different tongues as you pass until upon reaching the bottom you collapse and melt into the soil and become reincarnated as a mountain peak. Maybe its just the DL4, weird wailing vocals and explosive drumming but sometimes it just feels like the soundtrack to a hypnotic curse.

Somehow Walle has passed under everyone's noses for years and much of the world remains ignorant to their very progressive and surprisingly relatable soundscapes. They have toured parts of the US and Mexico a few times (they just finished a 4-week US tour) and last year headed down to South America to play in Perú, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.

I imagine they'll continue to grow faster as they gain popularity, but perhaps their approach is far too free from typical rock structure and doesn't fit tidily into a certain genre or scene for folks that aren't already looking for this kind of music to begin with.

Anyway, ¿Qué obo? Darcowboy is their first LP and though it was released digitally in 2013, the official vinyl release didn't become available until some months ago, so now's your chance to pick up a record!

To buy the vinyl in the US, contact Dream Diver (website) or Ethospine Noise.
To buy the vinyl in México, contact Walle (facebook).


I realize I should have posted about them before their US tour so folks would go see them, so I'm sorry for that but I'm sure they'll be back soon. They play in SoCal from time to time or if you live nearby you can always hop into Tijuana for an evening when they play there.

Here's a cool review from the dudes in Zeta (from Venezuela/Colombia), who shared a number of tour dates with them in the US just a few weeks ago: Una de las más interesantes propuestas que tiene américa latina

Genres: old Screamo, Math Rock, Bolero, Punk, Post Rock, Classical, Shoegaze 

Walle - ¿Qué obo? Darcowboy [2013]

1.México 2 - Brasil 1

2. Yo Soy la causa

3. Ya no late, ya no oscila

4. Olvídalo, así comienza todo

5. ¿Qué obo? Darcowboy

6. Noise it up!

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

LÖRI - Split 12" w/ Yusuke [2014]

LÖRI was one of the first Latin American bands from Perú I found, as they form part of La Flor Records in Lima (two members also play in Procrastinación Uno Yo Cero, see older post). At the time they were known as Löri Berensön. I was particularly ecstatic about this album when I found it, and had Sajid Ñopo from La Flor send me a copy to the US all the way from Perú. Okay, I suppose it's not that far, but it was a momentous occasion for DIY for La Flor and I was pretty stoked to get a CD from Peru (living in Buenos Aires these days makes acquiring South American music a little easier, so looking back on it feels kinda silly, but it had a romance to it so just go with it). With this album he also threw in Caídas y Vueltas from P1Y0 and the Angkor Wat/Día Gris split on a scratched up mini CD (to this day I haven't gotten a chance to try and play it, but I suppose it doesn't really matter since I have the songs on the compy). I'll do a post on Angkor Wat soon, they rule.

Anyway, LÖRI is a fierce band that was a bit more emo-violence on the first releases and are now have a lot of post-rock elements. The band shrieks and growls and plays some heavily distorted stripped-down riffs that feel punk as frick. Whether they're conscious of it or not, the band definitely takes some root in hardcore punk, from the abrasive shout/scream distorted vocals to the heavy walking drumbeat. Maybe it's just a hardcore punk band that has tastes that lean towards emo? Maybe I've classified this band all wrong, but either way it's pretty slick and contains that serious abrasion and disgust that I sense in a lot of aggressive Peruvian bands. Check out their other stuff on their bandcamp, as their old stuff is super rad and is a bit rougher around the edges.

So, here's the important part: YOU CAN ORDER THIS RECORD RIGHT NOW. Friendly Otter (Chicago) has it up for pre-order HERE, so get your hands on it while you can because Latin American screamo on vinyl is pretty rare and v exciting. It will also be available from Zegema Beach (Canada), La Agonía de Vivir (Spain) and Off Cloud Nine (Michigan).

Edit: Now available at Zegema Beach HERE

Genres: Screamo, Emo-violence, Hardcore Punk, Post Rock

(this is from an older album, listen to the split below)

LÖRI - Split 12" w/ Yusuke [2014]

1. La Taza Medio Llena

2. Cada vez que te levantes a las 6 AM

3. Coherencia

You can listen to the Yusuke side here!

Le-Mat - Diálogos de Sol y Luna [2013]

Le-Mat is a crushing hardcore punk/screamo band from Monterrey, Mexico. It's moments of fast and discordant hardcore that nearly reach the realm of powerviolence or emoviolence are really jarring, displaying an aggressive strength that reveals signs of desperation. You can pretty much feel the record weeping in loneliness amongst a world of a disparate outlook. It's is a really serious record. The number of quotations from famous authors and dramatic sound bytes may be a deterrent to those interested in just hearing the music. That said, it's really tastefully constructed and the topics covered are socio-politically relevant and a coherent philosophical message is on display.

Their mixture of hardcore and screamo is unique and is definitely appealing to followers of both genres. It's pissed off, hopeful, unstoppable, pensive, engaged and heartbreaking. Keep an eye on this band, they're sure to tour the US sometime soon (they just finished an impressive South American tour).

Aquí tienen una entrevista muy buena de la revista Vice que proporciona una mejor idea del impacto social que puede hacer la banda (el entrevistador aparentemente lloró cuando los vio en vivo):
Un Salto al Vacío Con Le-Mat

Y aquí otra entrevista en Santiago de Chile durante su gira latinoamericana:

Genres: Hardcore Punk, Screamo

Le-Mat - Diálogos de Sol y Luna [2013]

1. Prefacio

2. La Roca Hace Cantar al Río

3. Montegrey

4. Llanto de las Abejas

5. Postales desde Roma

6. Elegía

7. 5-7-5

8. Le-Mat

9. Reminiscencias

10. (a)tormenta

Luxemburgo - MDXCII [2011]

Luxemburgo is from Santiago, Chile and plays some really beautiful heartfelt emo/screamo. If there's anywhere in Latin America you should be looking for really good screamo, it's Chile. There's a solid history of good stuff especially if you're interested in European/U.S. style screamo (with of course a certain Chilean feel). Luxemburgo uses a lot of strong clean tones and rich overdrives and it's mixed well, overall its just pretty to listen to. There are some nicely anxious jam sections so if you're into longer form this is definitely for you. I really don't know how to talk about this band other than that it's fresh, and you should check it out. This album is their first from 2011, and they have an EP that came out the same year and another LP that came out in 2013.

Genres: Emo, Screamo, Post-hardcore, Punk

Luxemburgo - MDXCII [2011]

1. 2060

2. 1968

3. 0 a.c.

4. 1907

5. 1948-1984

La Última Canción del Mundo - 2007 [2007]

Screamo fans, this is your dulce de leche. In reality, there's not an incredible amount of screamo in Latin America, especially in Argentina, but there are definitely some gems to be found. This group from Rosario, Argentina is one of them. Okay, so they have all the cliche screamo requirements - clean guitars with delay break up the heavier chaos, multiple vocalists pour out their feelings into microphones, everything is recorded imperfectly, etc. However, there are some keys to this band that really make it stand out. The most notable is the tasteful use of a melodic/clean voice and screaming voice at the same time, in a way that reminds me of The Kodan Armada or Alexisonfire's first album. The other thing is they take advantage of a great vocalist and slow things down while she sings, so her performance really stands out. These calmer moments tend to be little less anxious than most screamo - City of Caterpillar for instance always has the sense of impending breakout, the slow build up to explosion - making the experience slightly stranger and showing influence from Argentine rock.

I don't know how this album was recorded, but given the different recording qualities and how the female vocalist doesn't appear until halfway through, it seems it was done in multiple sessions over a long period of time and the album serves more like a combination of recordings than a single, complete piece.

They have another album that came out in 2011 and are on a noteworthy compilation with Chilean and other Argentine bands that I'll post about later. I'm also going to go see them play in two days so I'll try to take some photos/video and include them in a later post.

Genres: Screamo, Emo

La Última Canción del Mundo - 2007 [2007]

1. hoy mis manos ardieron

2. tu palabra y mi razón

3. marionetas

4. esperando el momento

5. el juego

6. juancito

7. run

8. silencio

9. ignorantes corazones (nada que decir)

10. dulce tan dulce

11. fin

12. el lamento

13. la última canción del mundo