A mixtape can be many things, but one thing is for sure, a mixtape is more than just random songs put in a particular order. It’s about recontextualizing sounds, giving them a new meaning (sometimes very different from the original) by setting them side by side, or juxtaposed in ingenious ways with others. Best thing about mixtapes, most of them are FREE (!), and they’re a great way to discover new music. In this column, Juan Data gives you a worthy one every week.
MIXTAPE: Ay Qué Vintage!
DJ: Chee-Bo
This week we’re going back, waaay back. Back to the times when rock ‘n’ roll was still synonymous with youth rebellion imported from the north. The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were the biggest bands on earth and in Latin America plenty of bands (most of them with names starting with “Los”) were adopting these new sounds, but instead of creating their own songs, most of them just made covers of the foreign hits, clumsily translated to Spanish.
For today’s standards, this would be beyond cheesy (unless it was made “ironically,” of course), but back then they didn’t know better. Nevertheless, these same songs that many from our parents’ generations would be embarrassed to admit they danced to, are now resurfacing thanks to the work of diggers, archeological DJs, and nostalgic music lovers, giving them a new life while putting them in a completely different context and appreciating them from a different angle.
In Los Angeles, DJ Chee-Bo has been holding an oldies-en-español party called ¡Ay Qué Vintage! for a year now, dedicated to rescuing these forgotten classics from the bygone days. This mixtape was done to commemorate the anniversary and in its 46 minutes includes priceless versions of Elvis, The Doors, and Their Satanic Majesties themselves done by bands with names like Los Johnny Jets, Los Ovnis, and Los Blue Caps.
Download Chee-Bo’s Ay Qué Vintage! below for an intentionally, or maybe ironically, cheesy blast from the past.