After starting the year hot with “Frío,” his much-loved collaboration with Buscabulla, Helado Negro will be releasing his album Private Energy for the first time on vinyl. New York label RVNG will be the conduit for Private Energy’s phoenix-like resurgence, for which the tracks have been digitally remastered. The release will include new versions of songs “Transmission Listen,” “Runaround,” and the essential “Young, Latin & Proud.”
To mark the occasion, today Helado drops the video for “Obras Complete,” a piece that would not look out of place sprawled across a wall in a dark corner of the MOMA itself (there’s a connection here, keep reading.) Three and four panel shots unscroll Helado’s beloved glitter monsters in a relaxed quartet, rain-stroked subway windows and a thousand colorful dots, a child’s rendering of a tight closeup of a pixelated image. The song itself is minimal and arching, a thousand memories packed into its five minutes.
New York-based Helado fans fiending for the Private Energy upgrade have a clear mandate; go cop at MoMA PS1’s Other Music Present Come Together Music Festival and Label Market on Sunday, March 26 — for now, it’s the only opportunity to pick up the remastered album. (Or put your pre-order in, the album officially comes out on May 5.) In addition to performances by unique artist pairings (like one set with Black Quantum Futurism’s Moor Mother and Rasheedah Phillips, GENG, and Matana Roberts), panels on DIY creation, a zine making workshop from Suffragette City, a Venus X DJ set, the NYC premiere of A Life in Waves documentary on electronic music producer Suzanne Ciani, over 60 independent music businesses will be selling music and march. It’s a nice place to make good on that resolution you made to support indie culture producers, no?
Watch the video for “Obras Complete” below.