Expect to find the unexpected in Mexico City (DF) with Marcela Viejo, keyboardist/vocalist of Mexico’s praised electropop ensemble, Quiero Club. Mexico’s capital is a lively, rich, and diverse place where one is bound to find oddities, novelties, and underground movements of sorts. In this weekly column, Marcela takes you along on her musical quest to find these rare gems and obscure scenes via reviews, interviews, and profiles. The idea is to search.
In Mexico, the expression “dance to forget” is heard a lot. Could it be that because of all of our national problems that it’s almost obligatory to go out and dance to disconnect? That could be the case or it could just be my personal perspective on it. What I have noticed is that the love for electronic music in Mexico is more popular, more diverse and much better produced.
Without a doubt, one of the greatest contributions to the wave of Mexican electronic music is one of my favorite producers, Julian Placencia — one of the brilliant minds from Disco Ruido. I met Julian in 2005, and because he is from my generation, we met in the same scene many times. But it wasn’t until 2 years ago when I moved to DF that I had the opportunity to see him more and get to know him better. He then invited me to sing at their album release show for Raversiones in which Disco Ruido showcases remixes they made made from different artists, including “Que Hacer En Caso De Oir Voces” by Quiero Club, which was interpreted by me, and others like Molotov, Kinky, El Columpio Asesino are included.
It was so much fun and very interesting to see how Julian could change the original direction of the song; convert them into songs for the dancefloor, and produce a show of similar caliber. Because he was such a perfectionist — demanding and a born leader who knows how to earn the respect of others — the featured musicians of the show nicknamed him “Madonna.” Along with being the leader of Disco Ruido and La Vox Humana, he was the drummer of The Wookies, and along with Andre VII, they produce electronic music with a ’90s feel for his project, Club 303.
Returning briefly to the history of Disco Ruido, Julian Peto and Narino Tierno were DJs, and that’s how Disco Ruido was born. They did remixes together and then they decided to form a band. Later, they invited Mercedes to sing with them which changed the direction of the project. Along with having a new vocalist on stage, to this day they are always evolving and growing.
Last week on Wednesday, at the M.N. Roy club, the original band members, without Mercedes, presented La Vox Humana project, which was closer to the beginning of their careers as DJs experimenting with drum machines, synthesizers, and voices (Julian) with filters and effects. This made their music more like the remixes and re-edits that they did with other artists. The results were amazing and we couldn’t stop dancing during their shows. The sound was clear and strong. One other thing that I love about Disco Ruido, like La Vox Humana, is that aside from worrying so much about the audio experience, they take a lot of time to assure the quality of their visuals. Their stage has 2 triangles and is lit by strobe lights. Although it wasn’t too intense, it gave a great lift to the visual experience of the shows. La Vox Humana will be playing shows in many cities around Mexico and their album will be available in December. So stay tuned because non stop dancing is always highly recommended!
To read more articles and reviews by Marcela Viejo in D.Fining, click HERE.