New York’s own Pistolera has just dropped a new album and this is its first single. El Desierto y la Ciudad is the title of both, album and song and it’s a reference to the way the album was conceived in two parts in opposite locations: half in New York City, half in the Mojave desert. The result is an album with two distinctive sides with very different moods (it would make a lot more sense if it was released in vinyl, the effect gets lost in the CD/digital format).
While all the dance tracks (cumbias!) are on the ciudad side, the desert side is a lot more mellow and less vocal. This single and its video, even though it talks about the contrast of both environments, is a good example of the desierto side of the album, very… meditative, if not a bit too boring.
Watch Sandra Velasquez and her bandmates cooking, eating and jamming in the desert and you’ll get a feeling of how much of contrast it must have represented to them, coming from New York City.
Pistolera is also about to embark on a coast-to-coast tour, check the show dates below.
07.16.11 to 07.17.11 – California WorldFest – Grass Valley, CA
07.18.11 – Elbo Room – San Francisco, CA
07.19.11 – Moe’s Alley – Santa Cruz, CA
07.20.11 – Zoey’s – Ventura, CA
07.21.11 – The Mint – Los Angeles, CA
07.22.11 – El Centro Cultural de La Raza – San Diego, CA
07.23.11 – Solar Culture – Tucson, AZ
07.25.11 – National Hispanic Cultural Center – Albuquerque, NM
07.29.11 – DROM – New York , NY
08.05.11 – Cafe Nine – New Haven, CT
08.12.11 – Artisphere – Arlington, VA
11.04.11 – Latino Arts – Milwaukee, WI
11.06.11 – Mayne Stage – Chicago, IL