Mariachi El Bronx (2011 album)
Encyclopedia
Mariachi El Bronx is the fifth studio album by the Los Angeles
rock
band The Bronx
, released August 2, 2011 through ATO Records
. It is the band's second album under their alter ego
s "Mariachi El Bronx", in which they play mariachi
music in place of their usual hardcore punk
and hard rock
styles.
, norteño
and bolero
), and the passion and fire on display are simply undeniable. And the songs, in particular, are uniformly strong and memorable".
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band The Bronx
The Bronx (band)
The Bronx is an American hardcore punk band from Los Angeles formed in 2002. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist Matt Caughthran, guitarists Joby J. Ford and Ken Horne, bass guitarist Brad Magers, and drummer Jorma Vik...
, released August 2, 2011 through ATO Records
ATO Records
According to Our Records was founded in early 2000 by Dave Matthews , Coran Capshaw, Chris Tetzeli, and Michael McDonald as a division of RCA Records...
. It is the band's second album under their alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
s "Mariachi El Bronx", in which they play mariachi
Mariachi
Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...
music in place of their usual hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
styles.
Reception
K. Ross Hoffman of Allmusic gave Mariachi El Bronx four and a half stars out of five, saying that "If there was any doubt that the gringo Angeleno hardcore punks in The Bronx were dead serious about their Mexican folk alter-ego ... the outfit's second album offers ironclad reassurance that this is no novelty act." He remarked that the album was a "significant improvement" over the band's 2009 mariachi album "in almost every respect: both the production and the performances are notably crisper and punchier; the arrangements are richer and more complex, full of swirling, soaring strings; the stylistic range is successfully broadened (to emcompass cumbiaCumbia
Cumbia is a music genre popular across Latin America. The cumbia originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia, where it is associated with an eponymous dance and has since spread as far as Mexico and Argentina...
, norteño
Norteño
Norteño may refer to:* The Norteños are a large organization of largely Mexican-American street gangs in the United States* Norteño is a style of Mexican music related to polka and corridos...
and bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
), and the passion and fire on display are simply undeniable. And the songs, in particular, are uniformly strong and memorable".
Track listing
Band
- Matt CaughthranMatt CaughthranMatt Caughthran is an American singer, best known as the frontman for Los Angeles based punk band The Bronx. In addition to The Bronx, Caughthran is involved in a side project, The Drips. Caughthran has also recorded a number of tracks with Bullet Treatment which can be found on the What More Do...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Joby J. Ford – vihuelaVihuelaVihuela is a name given to two different guitar-like string instruments: one from 15th and 16th century Spain, usually with 12 paired strings, and the other, the Mexican vihuela, from 19th century Mexico with five strings and typically played in Mariachi bands.-History:The vihuela, as it was known...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bajo sextoBajo sextoA bajo sexto is a musical instrument with 12 strings in 6 double courses, used in Mexican music. It is used primarily in norteño music of northern Mexico and across the border in the music of south Texas known as "Tex-Mex", "conjunto, or "música mexicana-tejana".A similar instrument with five...
, accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, jaranaJarana huastecaThe jarana huasteca, jarana de son huasteco or jarana is a string instrument.It is a guitar-like chordophone with 5 strings. It is smaller than the guitarra huapanguera and usually forms part of the trio huasteco ensemble, along with the quinta huapanguera and violin, taking on the role of the...
, recording engineer, album art - Jorma Vik – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Brad Magers – trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, backing vocals - Ken Horne – jarana
- Vincent Hidalgo – guitarrón, requinto jarocho, guitar
- Ray SuenRay SuenRay Suen is an American multi-instrumentalist. He is currently the violinist for Los Angeles punk rockers, Mariachi El Bronx. In 2010, Suen began working with Morgan Kibby of M83 on a new project called White Sea.-History:...
– violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, guitar, harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, requinto jarocho, vihuela, jarana, backing vocals
Additional musicians
- John AvilaJohn AvilaJohn Avila is a Mexican-American bassist and music producer, best known for being in the new wave band Oingo Boingo from 1984 to 1995.-Career:Avila co-founded the music group Food for Feet in 1981, and played with them until 1991....
– charangoCharangoThe charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, 66 cm long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. Primarily played in traditional Andean music, and is sometimes used by other Latin American musicians. Many contemporary charangos are now made with...
, backing vocals - Alfredo Ortiz – percussion
- Laura Peña – gritos, backing vocals
- Sasha Hernandez – gritos, backing vocals
- Linda Uhila – gritos, backing vocals
Production
- John Avila – producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, recording engineer - Danny Avila – assistant recording engineer
- Beau Burchell – mixing engineerMixing engineerA mix engineer is the person responsible for incorporating all the different recorded elements of music to make the final version of a song. These mixing professionals have many years of experience and training with audio equipment which has enabled them to master the art of audio mixing...
- Gavin Lurssssen – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Lisa Johnson – photographs