Your Mix Fix: Animal Chuki

By  Joel Moya

Your Mix Fix: Animal Chuki

The word mixtape has plenty of different interpretations. It used to be that mixtapes were actually DJ sets recorded on cassette tapes, but with the coming of the digital music age, the name remained the same, but the definition expanded. Nowadays, people call mixtapes many different things, some of which are not necessarily mixed and most of which were never taped. Here we try to cover them all. In this column, Juan Data gives you a worthy one every week.

DJ: Animal Chuki
MIXTAPE: ZZK Mixtape Vol. 16

Animal Chuki is the first ñu-cumbia artist to be signed to ZZK Records that isn’t from Argentina or has a direct connection to the burgeoning Buenos Aires’ underground scene. The duo is based in Lima, Peru.

While cumbia has been part of the Peruvian musical menu since like forever (chicha fever, anyone?), ñu-cumbia (as in digital, sample-based, bass-centric, hispter-friendly) took its time to come out and achieve international notoriety. It wasn’t until fairly recently that we heard about Deltatron and Dengue Dengue Dengue, Peruvian ñu-cumbieros taking over the blogosphere. Now its the turn of this boy-girl duo who, just like Dengue, wear masks during their live performances.

The mixtape they put together for the ZZK series is basically an introduction into their magical world of hypnotic, futuristic cumbia, showcasing the tracks of their recently released Capicúa EP, plus some exclusive remixes. Pay attention to what they did with La Yegros’ “Viene de mí” and you’ll clearly see the potential in these guys. Lima might very well end up being the next epicenter of the global, electropical revolution.

Mix Fix Weekly Mezcolanza your mix fix ZZK