The LAMC came and went, giving us a sampling of what’s happening in Latin alternative music, highlighted experimental acts that don’t play NYC nearly enough (sup, crowd favorites Juana Molina, the Wookies, Los Macuanos), and some safer, nostalgic bets (hi, Ilya Kuryaki and the Valderramas and Babasónicos). We’re still recuperating after the concerts/parties/afterparties throughout the week– but for now, our team recaps some of the highlights and lowlights of LAMC’s quinceañera edition.
Day 2
Analuz Vizarretea
Manager of Partnerships & Publicity
Winners:
1. The collective booty shake that happened when Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas sang “Coolo”. Yes, it’s a classic.
2. The fine folks at SuperCrush Studio for setting up shop at Radio Bushwick. Amazing venue in this part of town, y’all.
3. Panel on “Every Centavo Counts” during the conference. Glad to see music streaming and digital distribution addressed – let’s keep the conversation going!
4. ChocQuibTown–second show in New York ever–whaaaaa?! Also, special mention to “Tostao” for sporting the Colombian jersey and reminding us how much we wish Colombia was in the World Cup finals.
Losers:
1. Getting terribly sick during LAMC week. Take your vitamins, beautiful people. And if you see someone coughing profusely at a show, that’s me.
2. Only seeing one female panelist during the “Every Centavo Counts” talk. Where my music ladies at?
Juan Data
Freelance Writer
Winners:
1. Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas funking it up at Prospect Park. Hells yes. Almost twenty years had passed since the previous time I saw these guys live on stage and they didn’t lose any of their energy. That ten year hiatus did them very well.
2. The two old ladies that started got up and started dancing during the RVSB set and got the party started, when everybody else were still sitting down.
3. The way Danay Suarez looked at me when I asked her for a picture.
Losers:
1. The Colombian fans who left Prospect Park after ChocQuibTown and missed Illya Kuryaki’s show.
2. Illya Kuryaki keeps avoiding me. I’ve been trying to interview them for years and I was pretty confident I’d finally get them yesterday, it was all set and confirmed but like in previous occasions, they stood me up again.
3. The drunken moron standing next to me who almost ruined the Illya Kuryaki experience. He kept screaming “Dante! Dante!” every time Emmanuel got close to us. And then he elbowed my friend on the head.
Day 3
Sara Skolnick
Music Editor
Winners:
1. The team that put together the Ana Tijoux afterparty at Club Europa that night. The world needs more bookings like this in underutilized spaces, preferably with a similarly welcoming techno-den-of-yore vibe.
2. Los Macuanos creating a dance pit at Gramercy Theatre during their ruidosón-ero set.
3. Danay Suarez’s casual greatness. Within the hour we had with her to shoot for our video portrait, she high-fived a Spiderman-ish character in Times Square, shot tourist photos of a man vogueing his way across the 42nd Street crosswalk, and then picked up a copy of the New York Times reviewing her own performance. All in an hour’s work.
Losers:
1. Gramercy was feeling pretty empty that night. Could’ve been the lineup, or the timing, or the Romeo Santos taking over the city for the night– but something wasn’t aligning quite right.
2. Google Maps. Because apparently there are two “Meserole and Manhattan” locations in Brooklyn– one with a Club Europa, and another with quiet apartment buildings that appeared to not be hosting afterparties.
Juan Data
Freelance Writer
Winners:
1. Danay Suárez unplugged. It’s been scientifically proven that it’s impossible not to fall in love with this woman under this particular conditions.
2. Scored a pile of free vinyl, courtesy of La Disquería.
3. Halfway through their show, two of The Wookies removed their golden robes to reveal Remezcla t-shirts.
Losers:
1. The depressingly small crowd at the Gramercy showcase. Where did everybody go?
2. The annoying crowd that wouldn’t STFU during Diana Fuentes’ acoustic performance at SOB’s.
3. My hangover.
Analuz Vizarretea
Manager of Partnerships & Publicity
Winners:
1. Ana Tijoux, again, for having the best after party on Friday at Club Europa. When was the last time we got to see Ana in an intimate space like this? Now add killer DC-based DJ duo Maracuyeah, and psychedelic Brooklyn band Chicha Libre to the equation. God, I love NY.
2. Juana Molina, for being such a warrior queen – she played in Slovakia the night before, drove to Geneva, flew to Madrid, and then arrived in JFK just in time for her New York show at the Greene Space.
3. Esteman for bringing their cosita tropical to NY, once again. Can’t wait to hear the new track with Carla Morrison.
4. Los Macuanos, for discussing the meaning of life with us on a beautiful rooftop in the LES right around sunset and then listening to bachata with us. Moises x2 and Rueben, you guys are awesome.
5. Los Wookies for making us all jump and sweat. And for giving us this beautiful moment with some Remezcla swag <3 :
Losers:
1. Overlapping showcase schedules and missing Danay Suarez doing her acoustic set at SOBs.
Andrea Gompf
Senior Editor
Winners:
1. Juana Molina, for being a witchy weirdo genius and delivering a killer WNYC performance despite technical difficulties.
Losers:
1. Me, for failing to make it to the Romeo Santos concert, which would have been the perfect counterpoint to LAMC.
Day 4
Joel Moya
Partnerships & Publicity
Winners:
1. Subsuelo for taking a temporary residency in NYC last week.
2. Jessica Weber from Co-sign for spreading the Remezcla Gospel at the “What Actually Moves the Needle?” panel. You goooo girl.
3. Carmen (Doll Music), Roberto (Epicentro), Valeria (Spotify), Mario (Vevo), KaryAnn (Sony Music Latin), Maclovio (Gibson), Dr Lacxos (La Casetera), Marissa Gastelum (iTunes), Nelson (Shure), Kirsys (#Viennasmom BFF), and each one of you that I spent time with in the last couple of days. You’re all #DedicatedFans.
4. Romeo Santos (wait and you’ll see).
5. Artist and friends rocking Remezcla swag.
Losers:
1. Whoever decided to move the Gramercy show to a Friday date; by then people are either way too tired, or maybe on the way back home.
2. Those of you that stayed home and didn’t come to any of the official or unofficial shows. Do not use the weather as an excuse, we had the best weather ever.
3. I missed Ana Tijoux’s show Friday night.
4. LAMC is over and so is the World Cup, now back to work 🙁
Analuz Vizarretea
Manager of Partnerships & Publicity
Winners:
1. La Santa Cecilia for playing the best day set on a bright sunny Saturday afternoon in Central Park.
2. All of the Argentinian attendants at Central park for wearing the azul celeste jersey in support of their soccer team and for screaming their heart outs when Babasónicos played “Yegua.”
Losers:
1. The World Cup match for third place (Brasil v. Netherlands) for overlapping with the last LAMC show. News of the first two goals against Brasil came in as Juana Molina was starting her set and it was hard to get back the good vibes. Can we discuss streaming the soccer matches at Central Park?
Juan Data
Freelance Writer
Winners:
1. La Santa Cecilia premiered their animated video of their Beatles cover, “Strawberry Fields Forever,” on the big screen.
2. Juana Molina pleased the impatient, soccer-jersey wearing Argentine fans by hinting the melody of her national team’s unofficial chant.
3. It felt like a reunion party backstage at SummerStage for Argentine musicians, with Babasónicos and Juana Molina plus Illya Kuryaki and Nito of Los Auténticos Decadentes showing up to support and wish each other luck for the World Cup final.
Losers:
1. La Santa Cecilia played too early and a lot of people missed them. Juana Molina should’ve opened instead because…
2. I love Juana Molina and I have nothing but respect for her art, but I don’t think the outdoors stage and big crowds are the ideal for her quirky music and her stationary performance.
3. I miss when Babasónicos used to do medleys of their old ’90s classics. They almost exclusively played post-Jessico stuff, which is great, but doesn’t appeal to the nostalgia of this writer who used to go see them live a lot in 1995.
Sara Skolnick
Music Editor
Winners:
1. Babasónicos/Juana Molina/la Santa Cecilia for bringing out a pretty intergenerational crowd to SummerStage.
2. Que Bajo?! for packing out Tammany Hall without announcing a lineup more detailed than “special guests.” That’s a sign of some serious trust from your community.
Losers:
1. I’m all for forward-thinking programming, and was psyched for her SummerStage appearance, but Juana Molina could have been much better suited in a more intimate venue.
2. Me, for not finding a way to clone myself in time to make it to Azucar!’s LAMC closing party with Maracuyeah as well.
