Chicano Batman: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

From the creator

The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space. Felix Contreras | July 7, 2020 It's very appropriate that Chicano Batman's Tiny Desk Home Concert comes with the band members in four separate boxes. The group has been an Alt.Latino favorite, almost from the beginning, and I've always enjoyed listening to how creatively they've crafted their musical identity with layers of sound, from vintage organs to the most nuanced of funk grooves. So, watching them in their individual Hollywood-Squares-type boxes is the visual equivalent to how I listen to them. The songs performed are from their new album, Invisible People which, coincidentally, is a major shift in their group sound. As you hear in songs like "Polymetronomic Harmony," their sound is now much denser, with full-on references to a variety of influences, including the 1973, Herbie Hancock funk-jazz classic Head Hunters, which makes a walk-on appearance in the stack of vinyl just behind guitarist Carlos Arévalo. Vocalist and keyboardist, Bardo Martinez, bassist, Eduardo Arenas, and drummer, Gabriel Villa all close their eyes during the performances, and you can both see and hear how they mentally inhabit the same musical place that has made them a favorite and clubs and festivals for nearly ten years, now.

Published 2020-07-07 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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