Summer in the Global Village: Latin Alternative Music Conference – Part Two

Back at the Latin Alternative Music Conference, day two’s showcases kicked off with a speed round of acoustic sets at SOB’s in SoHo. For 30 years the venue has remained a haven for Latin, Caribbean, African, and Brazilian acts in the midst of Lower Manhattan’s rampant gentrification.

First up was the Dominican Republic’s Las Acevedo, a duo of identical twins (Anabel and Cristabel Acevedo) from Santiago. Their sunny, stripped-down, acoustic sound was a folksy departure from the rest of the conference’s offerings. We had the chance to chat the next day and I asked what the term “Latin alternative” means to them. Cristabel responded, “It’s such a huge word that sometimes you don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

Listen to more of the conversation here:

Each act at SOB’s only got to play two songs… so it was a pretty rapid fire showcase. Up next was 28-year-old Peruvian artist Pamela Rodriguez whose sweet piano styling invited the audience into a fantasy world of her creation.

Then Uruguayan artist Martin Buscaglia took the stage with just a guitar and a contagious exuberance. Alex Anwandter, one of the Chilean electro pop artists at LAMC, followed up. In my opinion his moody pop songs and self-possession made him one of the breakout stars of the conference.

We talked at length about the Chilean music and political scene, and there will be more to come on him at a later date. Back at SOB’s it was refreshing to hear acoustic versions of his songs, many of which began to feel like classics the more I listened.

Closing out the acoustic showcase was Los Angeles’s La Santa Cecilia. Their quick and rowdy set first delved into a crowd pleasing cumbia. Have a listen to the feature The World did on them last year.

Later that eve it was off to the Gramercy Theater and as I walked in Chile’s Javiera Mena was on stage. Alone with her laptop she was cranking out a 90s era house beat and was soon joined by two male dancers in fluorescent track suits. Her production is decidedly DIY but she was handily able to keep the party going. When asked about her thoughts on the term “Latin alternative,” Mena answered, “I think in the indie terms more than alternative because I’ve always done my music on my own… I like mainstream music too but that’s big industry and I’m not in the big industry, yet.”

But the act that everyone seemed to be waiting for, as evidenced by the chants of “Carla! Carla!” both inside and outside the theater, was Carla Morrison. The singer songwriter’s work has struck a chord with young Mexicans because of an emotional accessibility that’s been lacking in her country’s pop music scene. Have a listen to The World’s recent feature on her.

The next day I got to talk with Adrianigual, another Chilean electro pop act at LAMC. When asked about their perspectives on what “Latin alternative” means, Diego Adrián revealed an interesting take… but in the end he said, “It’s like when you name something it really exists, before you name it it doesn’t exist. We have been called alternative, hippies, technos, crazies, hipsters… it’s just a word. We don’t care much about it… I care about music.”

The next installment of Summer in the Global Village will focus on the closing days of LAMC… stay tuned.

In the meantime, check out some of my pictures from LAMC.