Soul Food Taqueria
Encyclopedia
Soul Food Taqueria is the third studio album
by former professional skateboarder and Quannum Projects
-member Tommy Guerrero
, released April 8, 2003 on Mo' Wax Records in the United States and April 14, 2003 in the United Kingdom through the same label. The album was also released on April 26 of that same year in Japan through the Flavour of Sound Ltd label. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2002 and 2003 at the Function 8 record label's recording studio in San Francisco, California
. Production, instrumentation and songwriting for Soul Food Taqueria was almost entirely handled by Guerrero, with contributions from producers Gadget and Monte Vallier. The album's cover art, depicting a taquería
that also serves soul food
, was designed by artist Stephen J. Powers, also known as ESPO.
The album consists mostly of downtempo
, instrumental and sample
-based chill-out music with musical influences such as Latin soul
, R&B
, trip hop
and lo-fi music
. It also features only a few vocal contributions from guest artists, which include rapper Lyrics Born
and singer Gresham Taylor. Promotion efforts for the album were limited, as no radio singles were issued, and it did not chart. Despite no commercial and sales success, Soul Food Taqueria was mostly well-received by several music writers and critics who viewed it as an artistic progression by Guerrero, in comparison to his previous studio effort, A Little Bit of Somethin' (2000). The album also earned critical praise for its diverse musical elements and production quality. In 2004, Rolling Stone
magazine named Soul Food Taqueria the second best album of 2003.
/engineers Gadget and Monte Vallier. Prior to these sessions, Gadget and Guerrero had previously worked together on independent label projects and collaborations, including their collaborational studio effort, Hoy Yen Ass'n (2000) for Function 8. Most of the instrumentation for the album was employed by Guerrero, while session drummer Chuck Treece
and keyboardist Greg Galbreath also contributed to Soul Food Taqueria. All of the album's material was written and arranged by Tommy Guerrero.
The album is primarily sample
-based and instrumental, as recording and production followed a lo-fi
and downtempo
aesthetic. Gadget also assisted in vocal production for the album's three vocal tracks, "Organism", "It Gets Heavy" and "Getting It Together". In contrast to Guerrero's previous studio album A Little Bit of Somethin' (2000), production for Soul Food Taqueria was more polished, despite Guerrero stating that he is "still down with the fucked up 4 track action" upon the album's release. During recording, the instrumentation, sequencing
and mixing
was more detailed than its predecessor's, as noted by one critic who wrote "everything sounds much more polished and in tune with their surroundings."
that serves soul food
, was designed by world-renowned graffiti artist and graphic designer Stephen J. Powers, also known as by his moniker ESPO. On September 29, 2007, the album's artwork and other similar works by Powers were displayed at Coney Island
's Dreamland Artist Clubhouse in Brooklyn, New York during his studio visit there. Music journalists have noted the title and artwork as reflective of the album's musical influences. A columnist for the Santa Fe Reporter
later described the artwork as "totally cool, with a blocky style depicting some kind of Miami soul food/taco stand." Music journalist Kimberley Chun of the San Francisco Bay Guardian
wrote of the concept, stating "So what is a soul food taquería? Do you get a side of collard greens
with your menudo
?" In an interview with Chun, Guerrero discussed the concept and title, stating "It's just this funny idea I had, growing up in the city – it's so diverse. The city itself is just down-home, down-to-earth, blue-collar, full of everyday kind of people. My music is along the same lines, just being simple – I just try to be honest in what I do."
Music writers and critics have noted that the musical style of Soul Food Taqueria was inspired by the San Francisco music scene, as one critic later cited the "general street vibe of San Francisco's Mission district
". Editor of BBC Collective Matt Walton described the music as "chillout music". According to one music writer, the title of the album reflects its "spicy fusion of soul, funk, hip-hop and Latin flavors stirred up in an intoxicating downtempo gumbo that is hard to resist". According to Carmen Johnson of Prefix magazine, the album has Tommy Guerrero, a San Francisco-native, "oozing soul in every track". She also described the music of Soul Food Taqueria as "an exploration into soulful, bass-heavy trip-hop that combines a lot of twists and sweeps through many genres and styles".
The album features a blend of 1970s soul music
with Latin-style grooves, as well as with other diverse styles of music, including R&B
, samba
, drum and bass
, and trip hop
, while the songs contain a retro vibe. One writer noted the diverse musical elements of the album, writing that it contains a "hybrid sound that’s hard to categorize and easy to enjoy". Several of the songs on the album are built on laid-back breakbeat
samples. A notable influence on the music is the West Coast jazz
of Chet Baker
. Similar to Guerrero's previous work, which has been described as "instrumental neo-funk", Soul Food Taqueria encompasses influences from stripped down folk
, jazz
, lounge
, guitar-blues
, rock
and minimal funk
, as well as indie rock
. Despite Guerrero's musical background, a CMJ columnist noted the album's similarity to New York City's experimental music scene, citing artists such as the Beastie Boys
, Cibo Matto
, JSBX and Luscious Jackson
. Columinst Lily Moayeri of Remix Magazine
noted the similarity of the album's "low-key soul threaded through the understated funk" to the work of underground artist Money Mark
.
Guerrero's guitar work for the album encompasses styles such as blues and flamenco music
, and uses chord progression
s and four note
melodies
, creating "nimble and colorful pieces of musical texture" when mixed in with the rest of the tracks' instrumentation. His guitar playing utilizes a minimal, acoustic and sparse sound and space blended with the live percussion of drummer Chuck Treece, Jupiter
-heavy bass lines and keyboardist Greg Galbreath's synths. Vocals are more prevalent on the album than on Guerrero's previous recordings, with vocal tracks from rapper Lyrics Born
of Blackalicious
, Quannum and Latyrx
fame, and long time friend and collaborator, lo-fi and indie pop
singer-songwriter Gresham Taylor, credited as Gresham for the album.
) consists of low bass lines, allowing for guitar solo interplay that stylistically contrasts the bass, while bells jingle quietly with the drums. "Organism" contains predominant wah-wah guitar effects, which accompany a notable funk groove. "Thank You (MK)" is an ode to the tropics
and features soft, jazz instrumentation. Guerrero's guitar arrangement for the song is reminiscent of the music of Brazilian bossa nova
musician João Gilberto
and American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz
, with guitar licks similar to the playing-style of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery
. Accompanied by delicate harmonies, "Tatanka" is a funk-infused and bass-driven track that features intricate percussion and guitar riffs, as well as unique fret
-work by Guerrero. The album contains three atmospheric break
tracks, "Train of Thought", "So Many Years Ago" and "And the Day Goes By". One critic stated that the interludes "render the ambience palpable". The adumbral "It Gets Heavy" features melancholic lyrics and folk vocals by Gresham Taylor, which are similar to those of singer-songwriter John Secada.
The song "Thin Brown Layer" has a noticeable Latin rhythm and guitar arrangement. The song also contains a predominant hypnotic beat, which, according to one music critic, "makes you feel stoned even after completing a Twelve step program
". "Terra Unifirma", "Another Brother Gone" and "Broken Blood" are built around laid-back grooves and detailed guitar orchestrations. The mood track "It Gets Heavy" features Guerrero and Gresham Taylor on vocals, and is reminiscent of trip-hop artist Tricky
, contributing to the album's general sound of hip-hop infected Latin soul. The song's lyrics have been described as "socially conscious but thought-provoking". Often cited by critics as the standout track on the album, music critic Bryan Carroll described it as "the sole hip-shaker among a gaggle of moodier pieces". The bongo
-driven track "Lost Unfound" has Guerrero occupying all instruments, and the album's third vocal track, "Gettin' It Together", features rapper Lyrics Born delivering a blend of emceeing and singing
, which is a departure from his previous work. One music writer described the album's closing track, "Falling Awake", as "the most beautiful song Guerrero’s written to date". The song contains melancholic piano arrangements. Another critic noted "Falling Awake"s meditative sound, writing that its light guitar melodies are "slowly ascending on a journey of Satori
".
(2001). Soul Food Taqueria was released on the iTunes Store
as a digital download
on April 28, 2003.
According to website sources such as Allmusic and Billboard.com, the album has not exhibited any charting in the United States since its release. Soul Food Taqueria received some airplay on the college radio station KALX
. In Canada, it peaked at number 6 on the CKUA Radio Network's Best of 2003 chart. No promotional or radio singles were released from the album. "Gettin' It Together" later featured a limited edition single release in 12" vinyl format on March 22, 2004, through the Santa Cruz
-based label Galaxia. The cover art for the single was designed by Stephen (ESPO) Powers, designer of the album's artwork.
magazine editor Noel Dix noted the improvement of production and complexity of instrumentation by Guerrero from his earlier work, and stated "This record pours so much heart and emotion into it that you’re bound to feel its warmth and splendor while it’s bumping in your walkman as you trek the city streets." In comparing the album to his previous effort A Little Bit of Somethin, which had earned mixed criticism from those who received it as a "lifeless piece of pop-trip-hop", Dusteds Brian Ho praised Guerrero's artistic growth, writing that the album "is filled to the brim with body and life in a way that few albums can claim". He also noted the more polished sound and production values, describing it as "seamless", while stating "everything on Soul Food is an improvement over its predecessor". A columnist for Kevchino
praised the diversity of Soul Food Taqueria, describing it as a "highly addictive musical phenomenon capable of reaching hearts of music lovers in all genres of style", while also stating, "The end product sounds as if Curtis Mayfield
and Durutti Column hung out in a San Francisco loft with Ween
, but much better." XLR8R
magazine contributor Liz Cordingley called the album a "nice case of dubby, electric guitar-driven downtempo", while describing the music as "dusty lo-fi soul that is seductively languid".
Columnist Joe Warminsky of the Washington City Paper
praised Guerrero's minimalist approach to the album's chill-out sound, as the chill-out music genre mostly features implementation of a slicker production. He also compared the lo-fi grooves of Soul Food Taqueria to "Shuggie Otis
with Baja
roots". A dk presents writer lauded its production style, stating "It’s appropriately earthy, and backed by multiple beats from the street, yet the entire album shimmers with an undeniable urban sophistication ... the extra layer of polish only highlights the intricacy of the tunes. Guerrero’s rhythms are so organic that no amount of knob-twiddling could render them otherwise." Carmen Johnson of Prefix Mag gave the album a 7.0/10 rating, and called it a "stellar follow-up to 2000's A Little Bit of Somethin' ", and commended Guerrero for producing "his own organic, subterranean blend of bohemian blues, hip-hop and salsa that's creative and adventurous". Johnson praised his use of more vocals than featured in his earlier work, and lauded the album's mood and atmosphere, stating "Guerrero has a great talent for keeping things simple while staying inventive making music for the soul. It's easy to listen to Soul Food Taqueria and be swayed by the rhythms and grooves. This is the perfect soundtrack for the lazy days that hearken back to the end of summer."
Bryan Carroll of Allmusic, however, gave the album 2.5/5 stars and criticized the predominance of "mood pieces", while stating, "on the whole Soul Food Taqueria fails to stick to the ribs because it simply lacks the proper spice". Luke McManus of RTÉ gave a more favorable review of the album, comparing the songs to "those jazzy Beastie Boys
tracks", and describing the sound as "undemanding and smooth". Despite favoring its instrumental qualities, he criticized Guerrero for the mood of the album, stating, "Soporific, over polite and too damn quiet, Soul Food Taqueira veers dangerously close to snooze territory." However, others have noted Guerrero's simple, inventive style and sound for the album as to being one of its better qualities. Bill Campbell of Ink 19 magazine called Soul Food Taqueria an "exemplary album ... 100% soul". Campbell went on to praise Guerrero's musical ability, stating "he constructs heartfelt music with a complexity few can pull off successfully", as well as his guitar playing, as Campbell wrote "his guitar work is subtle and works the spaces between the beats marvelously". While the album experienced minimal airplay and no commercial success, the Canadian radio station CKUA
ranked the album number 93 on its Best of 2003 Chart. Uptown
magazine contributor Anthony Augustine later selected Soul Food Taqueria as one of the Top 10 albums of 2003. In a January 2004 issue, Ulli Pfleger of Germany's publication of Rolling Stone
magazine named the album number 2 on his "best of list" of 2003.
*Co-producer
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by former professional skateboarder and Quannum Projects
Quannum Projects
Quannum Projects is a hip hop collective based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been active since 1992, when it was formed at UC Davis under the moniker Solesides Records. It is also the name of the independent record label that releases their records, as well as those of a number of other...
-member Tommy Guerrero
Tommy Guerrero
Tommy Guerrero is an American skateboarder and musician. As a teen, he was one of the prominent members of the Bones Brigade, Powell Peralta's professional skateboarding team that was successful during the 1980s...
, released April 8, 2003 on Mo' Wax Records in the United States and April 14, 2003 in the United Kingdom through the same label. The album was also released on April 26 of that same year in Japan through the Flavour of Sound Ltd label. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2002 and 2003 at the Function 8 record label's recording studio in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. Production, instrumentation and songwriting for Soul Food Taqueria was almost entirely handled by Guerrero, with contributions from producers Gadget and Monte Vallier. The album's cover art, depicting a taquería
Taqueria
Taquería is a Spanish word meaning taco shop. In some localities, however, it is used to refer to restaurants specializing in burritos , although tacos and other dishes are often served as well. Originally, Taquerías referred to the stands of street vendors. However, many taquerías today are...
that also serves soul food
Soul food
Soul food cuisine consists of a selection of foods traditional in the cuisine of African Americans. It is closely related to the cuisine of the Southern United States...
, was designed by artist Stephen J. Powers, also known as ESPO.
The album consists mostly of downtempo
Downtempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...
, instrumental and sample
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
-based chill-out music with musical influences such as Latin soul
Latin soul
Latin soul was a short lived musical genre movement which developed in the 60's in New York City. It consisted of a blend of Cuban mambo with elements of Latin Jazz and Soul music. Although short-lived, the genre had a great influence on the growing Salsa movement which would dominate the New York...
, R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
, trip hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
and lo-fi music
Lo-fi music
Lo-fi is lower quality of sound recordings than the usual standard for music. The qualities of lo-fi are usually achieved by either degrading the quality of the recorded audio, or using certain equipment. Recent uses of the phrase have led to it becoming a genre, although it still remains as an...
. It also features only a few vocal contributions from guest artists, which include rapper Lyrics Born
Lyrics Born
Lyrics Born , is a Japanese American rapper, record producer, songwriter, and voice over announcer. He is also one half of the group Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker.-History:...
and singer Gresham Taylor. Promotion efforts for the album were limited, as no radio singles were issued, and it did not chart. Despite no commercial and sales success, Soul Food Taqueria was mostly well-received by several music writers and critics who viewed it as an artistic progression by Guerrero, in comparison to his previous studio effort, A Little Bit of Somethin
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine named Soul Food Taqueria the second best album of 2003.
Production
Recording for Soul Food Taqueria took place at the recording studio of the San Francisco-based independent label Function 8 from 2002 to 2003. Mostly handled by Tommy Guerrero, production for the album also featured audio mixing contributions from producerRecord producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
/engineers Gadget and Monte Vallier. Prior to these sessions, Gadget and Guerrero had previously worked together on independent label projects and collaborations, including their collaborational studio effort, Hoy Yen Ass'n (2000) for Function 8. Most of the instrumentation for the album was employed by Guerrero, while session drummer Chuck Treece
Chuck Treece
Chuck "Chuck" Treece is a session musician and professional skateboarder from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His credits include starting the 1980s skate punk band McRad, remixing songs for Amy Grant and Sting, playing the bass line on "The River of Dreams" by Billy Joel, filling in on drums at a...
and keyboardist Greg Galbreath also contributed to Soul Food Taqueria. All of the album's material was written and arranged by Tommy Guerrero.
The album is primarily sample
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
-based and instrumental, as recording and production followed a lo-fi
Lo-fi music
Lo-fi is lower quality of sound recordings than the usual standard for music. The qualities of lo-fi are usually achieved by either degrading the quality of the recorded audio, or using certain equipment. Recent uses of the phrase have led to it becoming a genre, although it still remains as an...
and downtempo
Downtempo
Downtempo is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambient music, but usually with a beat or groove unlike the beatless forms of Ambient music. The beat is sometimes made from loops that have a hypnotic feeling...
aesthetic. Gadget also assisted in vocal production for the album's three vocal tracks, "Organism", "It Gets Heavy" and "Getting It Together". In contrast to Guerrero's previous studio album A Little Bit of Somethin
Sequencing
In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure of an unbranched biopolymer...
and mixing
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
was more detailed than its predecessor's, as noted by one critic who wrote "everything sounds much more polished and in tune with their surroundings."
Artwork
The album's front and back cover artwork, which depict a taqueríaTaqueria
Taquería is a Spanish word meaning taco shop. In some localities, however, it is used to refer to restaurants specializing in burritos , although tacos and other dishes are often served as well. Originally, Taquerías referred to the stands of street vendors. However, many taquerías today are...
that serves soul food
Soul food
Soul food cuisine consists of a selection of foods traditional in the cuisine of African Americans. It is closely related to the cuisine of the Southern United States...
, was designed by world-renowned graffiti artist and graphic designer Stephen J. Powers, also known as by his moniker ESPO. On September 29, 2007, the album's artwork and other similar works by Powers were displayed at Coney Island
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southern Brooklyn, New York, United States. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill....
's Dreamland Artist Clubhouse in Brooklyn, New York during his studio visit there. Music journalists have noted the title and artwork as reflective of the album's musical influences. A columnist for the Santa Fe Reporter
Santa Fe Reporter
Santa Fe Reporter is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. It features reports on local news, politics, art and culture....
later described the artwork as "totally cool, with a blocky style depicting some kind of Miami soul food/taco stand." Music journalist Kimberley Chun of the San Francisco Bay Guardian
San Francisco Bay Guardian
The San Francisco Bay Guardian is a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. The paper is owned mostly by its publisher, Bruce B...
wrote of the concept, stating "So what is a soul food taquería? Do you get a side of collard greens
Collard greens
Collard greens are various loose-leafed cultivars of Brassica oleracea , the same species as cabbage and broccoli. The plant is grown for its large, dark-colored, edible leaves and as a garden ornamental, mainly in Brazil, Portugal, the southern United States, many parts of Africa, Montenegro,...
with your menudo
Menudo (soup)
The soup Menudo is a traditional Mexican dish, made with beef stomach in a clear broth or with a red chili base . Usually, lime, chopped onions, and chopped cilantro are added, as well as crushed oregano and crushed red chili peppers...
?" In an interview with Chun, Guerrero discussed the concept and title, stating "It's just this funny idea I had, growing up in the city – it's so diverse. The city itself is just down-home, down-to-earth, blue-collar, full of everyday kind of people. My music is along the same lines, just being simple – I just try to be honest in what I do."
Musical style
Music writers and critics have noted that the musical style of Soul Food Taqueria was inspired by the San Francisco music scene, as one critic later cited the "general street vibe of San Francisco's Mission district
Mission District, San Francisco, California
The Mission District, also commonly called "The Mission", is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, USA, originally known as "the Mission lands" meaning the lands belonging to the sixth Alta California mission, Mission San Francisco de Asis...
". Editor of BBC Collective Matt Walton described the music as "chillout music". According to one music writer, the title of the album reflects its "spicy fusion of soul, funk, hip-hop and Latin flavors stirred up in an intoxicating downtempo gumbo that is hard to resist". According to Carmen Johnson of Prefix magazine, the album has Tommy Guerrero, a San Francisco-native, "oozing soul in every track". She also described the music of Soul Food Taqueria as "an exploration into soulful, bass-heavy trip-hop that combines a lot of twists and sweeps through many genres and styles".
The album features a blend of 1970s soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
with Latin-style grooves, as well as with other diverse styles of music, including R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
, samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
, drum and bass
Drum and bass
Drum and bass is a type of electronic music which emerged in the late 1980s. The genre is characterized by fast breakbeats , with heavy bass and sub-bass lines...
, and trip hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
, while the songs contain a retro vibe. One writer noted the diverse musical elements of the album, writing that it contains a "hybrid sound that’s hard to categorize and easy to enjoy". Several of the songs on the album are built on laid-back breakbeat
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
samples. A notable influence on the music is the West Coast jazz
West coast jazz
West Coast jazz refers to various styles of jazz music that developed around Los Angeles and San Francisco during the 1950s. West Coast jazz is often seen as a sub-genre of cool jazz, which featured a less frenetic, calmer style than bebop or hard bop. The music tended to be more heavily arranged,...
of Chet Baker
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...
. Similar to Guerrero's previous work, which has been described as "instrumental neo-funk", Soul Food Taqueria encompasses influences from stripped down folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, lounge
Lounge music
Lounge music is a retrospective description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place — a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera — other than where they are listening to it...
, guitar-blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, 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...
and minimal funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, as well as indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
. Despite Guerrero's musical background, a CMJ columnist noted the album's similarity to New York City's experimental music scene, citing artists such as the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
, Cibo Matto
Cibo Matto
Cibo Matto are a New York City-based band formed by two Japanese women, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, in 1994...
, JSBX and Luscious Jackson
Luscious Jackson
Luscious Jackson are an alternative rock group formed in 1991. The band's name was inspired by now-retired American basketball player Lucious Jackson....
. Columinst Lily Moayeri of Remix Magazine
Remix Magazine
Remix was a monthly magazine for disc jockeys, audio engineers, record producers, and performers of electronic music. The magazine focused on recording and live-performance hardware, electronic musical instruments, and music-production hardware and computer software.The final issue of Remix was...
noted the similarity of the album's "low-key soul threaded through the understated funk" to the work of underground artist Money Mark
Money Mark
Mark Ramos-Nishita aka Money Mark is a producer and musician who has collaborated with the Beastie Boys many times. He also appears on the first Banyan album in 1997 as the "Freeway Keyboardist".-Career:...
.
Guerrero's guitar work for the album encompasses styles such as blues and flamenco music
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
, and uses chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
s and four note
Note
In music, the term note has two primary meanings:#A sign used in musical notation to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound;#A pitched sound itself....
melodies
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
, creating "nimble and colorful pieces of musical texture" when mixed in with the rest of the tracks' instrumentation. His guitar playing utilizes a minimal, acoustic and sparse sound and space blended with the live percussion of drummer Chuck Treece, Jupiter
Roland Jupiter-8
The Jupiter-8 is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in 1981.The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980's...
-heavy bass lines and keyboardist Greg Galbreath's synths. Vocals are more prevalent on the album than on Guerrero's previous recordings, with vocal tracks from rapper Lyrics Born
Lyrics Born
Lyrics Born , is a Japanese American rapper, record producer, songwriter, and voice over announcer. He is also one half of the group Latyrx with Lateef the Truthspeaker.-History:...
of Blackalicious
Blackalicious
Blackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel . They are noted for Gift of Gab's often "tongue-twisting", multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats...
, Quannum and Latyrx
Latyrx
Latyrx is a hip hop music group consisting of Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born. The roots of their partnership lay in the formation of the Solesides collective at the University of California, Davis.-History:...
fame, and long time friend and collaborator, lo-fi and indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
singer-songwriter Gresham Taylor, credited as Gresham for the album.
Content
The minute-long intro track, entitled "Lectric Chile Goat", is a blues-based guitar instrumental performed alone by Tommy Guerrero. The album opener "Abierto" (open in SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
) consists of low bass lines, allowing for guitar solo interplay that stylistically contrasts the bass, while bells jingle quietly with the drums. "Organism" contains predominant wah-wah guitar effects, which accompany a notable funk groove. "Thank You (MK)" is an ode to the tropics
Tropics
The tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
and features soft, jazz instrumentation. Guerrero's guitar arrangement for the song is reminiscent of the music of Brazilian bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
musician João Gilberto
João Gilberto
João Gilberto Prado Pereira de Oliveira, known as João Gilberto , is a Brazilian singer and guitarist. His seminal recordings, including many songs by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, established the new musical genre of Bossa nova in the late 1950s.-Biography:From an early age, music...
and American jazz saxophonist Stan Getz
Stan Getz
Stanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
, with guitar licks similar to the playing-style of jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery
Wes Montgomery
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, Russell Malone, Emily...
. Accompanied by delicate harmonies, "Tatanka" is a funk-infused and bass-driven track that features intricate percussion and guitar riffs, as well as unique fret
Fret
A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
-work by Guerrero. The album contains three atmospheric break
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
tracks, "Train of Thought", "So Many Years Ago" and "And the Day Goes By". One critic stated that the interludes "render the ambience palpable". The adumbral "It Gets Heavy" features melancholic lyrics and folk vocals by Gresham Taylor, which are similar to those of singer-songwriter John Secada.
The song "Thin Brown Layer" has a noticeable Latin rhythm and guitar arrangement. The song also contains a predominant hypnotic beat, which, according to one music critic, "makes you feel stoned even after completing a Twelve step program
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
". "Terra Unifirma", "Another Brother Gone" and "Broken Blood" are built around laid-back grooves and detailed guitar orchestrations. The mood track "It Gets Heavy" features Guerrero and Gresham Taylor on vocals, and is reminiscent of trip-hop artist Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
, contributing to the album's general sound of hip-hop infected Latin soul. The song's lyrics have been described as "socially conscious but thought-provoking". Often cited by critics as the standout track on the album, music critic Bryan Carroll described it as "the sole hip-shaker among a gaggle of moodier pieces". The bongo
Bongo drum
Bongo or bongos are a Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of single-headed, open-ended drums attached to each other. The drums are of different size: the larger drum is called in Spanish the hembra and the smaller the macho...
-driven track "Lost Unfound" has Guerrero occupying all instruments, and the album's third vocal track, "Gettin' It Together", features rapper Lyrics Born delivering a blend of emceeing and singing
Singing
Singing 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...
, which is a departure from his previous work. One music writer described the album's closing track, "Falling Awake", as "the most beautiful song Guerrero’s written to date". The song contains melancholic piano arrangements. Another critic noted "Falling Awake"s meditative sound, writing that its light guitar melodies are "slowly ascending on a journey of Satori
Satori
is a Japanese Buddhist term for enlightenment that literally means "understanding". In the Zen Buddhist tradition, satori refers to a flash of sudden awareness, or individual enlightenment, and is considered a "first step" or embarkation toward nirvana....
".
Commercial performance
The album featured release in three different countries; the United States on April 8, 2003 and the United Kingdom on April 14 of that same year on Mo' Wax Records, and Japan on April 26, 2003 through the Japanese record label Flavour of Sound Ltd. Released by Flavour of Sound, the Japanese issue of the album contains bonus material previously featured on Guerrero's Junk Collector EPExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
(2001). Soul Food Taqueria was released on the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
as a digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
on April 28, 2003.
According to website sources such as Allmusic and Billboard.com, the album has not exhibited any charting in the United States since its release. Soul Food Taqueria received some airplay on the college radio station KALX
KALX
KALX is a freeform FM radio station that broadcasts from the University of California, Berkeley in Berkeley, California. KALX, a community- and student-run radio station licensed to the University of California, Berkeley, broadcasts in stereo with 500 watts of power...
. In Canada, it peaked at number 6 on the CKUA Radio Network's Best of 2003 chart. No promotional or radio singles were released from the album. "Gettin' It Together" later featured a limited edition single release in 12" vinyl format on March 22, 2004, through the Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
-based label Galaxia. The cover art for the single was designed by Stephen (ESPO) Powers, designer of the album's artwork.
Critical response
Soul Food Taqueria was met with generally positive reviews, as music critics perceived it as an artistic progression from Guerrero's previous work, in terms of instrumentation and songwriting. Exclaim!Exclaim!
Exclaim! is a monthly Canadian music magazine that features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with special focus on Canadian and cutting-edge artists...
magazine editor Noel Dix noted the improvement of production and complexity of instrumentation by Guerrero from his earlier work, and stated "This record pours so much heart and emotion into it that you’re bound to feel its warmth and splendor while it’s bumping in your walkman as you trek the city streets." In comparing the album to his previous effort A Little Bit of Somethin, which had earned mixed criticism from those who received it as a "lifeless piece of pop-trip-hop", Dusteds Brian Ho praised Guerrero's artistic growth, writing that the album "is filled to the brim with body and life in a way that few albums can claim". He also noted the more polished sound and production values, describing it as "seamless", while stating "everything on Soul Food is an improvement over its predecessor". A columnist for Kevchino
Kevchino
Kevchino is an indie music critic website founded by Kevin Serra, founded in Santa Barbara, California, but now based in Brooklyn, New York. The website contains reviews of several indie music artists by volunteer reviewers....
praised the diversity of Soul Food Taqueria, describing it as a "highly addictive musical phenomenon capable of reaching hearts of music lovers in all genres of style", while also stating, "The end product sounds as if Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
and Durutti Column hung out in a San Francisco loft with Ween
Ween
Ween is an American alternative rock group. They formed in 1984 in New Hope, Pennsylvania when central members Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo met in an eighth grade typing class. Ween has a large cult underground fanbase despite being generally unknown in American pop music...
, but much better." XLR8R
XLR8R
XLR8R is a magazine and website thatcovers music, culture, style, and technology. It was founded as anewsprint ‘zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in Seattle; themagazine currently has offices in San Francisco and New York...
magazine contributor Liz Cordingley called the album a "nice case of dubby, electric guitar-driven downtempo", while describing the music as "dusty lo-fi soul that is seductively languid".
Columnist Joe Warminsky of the Washington City Paper
Washington City Paper
The Washington City Paper is a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Founded in 1981, and published for its first year under the masthead 1981, taking the City Paper name in volume 2, by Russ Smith, it shared ownership with the Chicago Reader from 1982...
praised Guerrero's minimalist approach to the album's chill-out sound, as the chill-out music genre mostly features implementation of a slicker production. He also compared the lo-fi grooves of Soul Food Taqueria to "Shuggie Otis
Shuggie Otis
Shuggie Otis is an American singer-songwriter, recording artist, and multi-instrumentalist....
with Baja
Baja California Peninsula
The Baja California peninsula , is a peninsula in northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California. The Peninsula extends from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south.The total area of the Baja California...
roots". A dk presents writer lauded its production style, stating "It’s appropriately earthy, and backed by multiple beats from the street, yet the entire album shimmers with an undeniable urban sophistication ... the extra layer of polish only highlights the intricacy of the tunes. Guerrero’s rhythms are so organic that no amount of knob-twiddling could render them otherwise." Carmen Johnson of Prefix Mag gave the album a 7.0/10 rating, and called it a "stellar follow-up to 2000's A Little Bit of Somethin
Bryan Carroll of Allmusic, however, gave the album 2.5/5 stars and criticized the predominance of "mood pieces", while stating, "on the whole Soul Food Taqueria fails to stick to the ribs because it simply lacks the proper spice". Luke McManus of RTÉ gave a more favorable review of the album, comparing the songs to "those jazzy Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
tracks", and describing the sound as "undemanding and smooth". Despite favoring its instrumental qualities, he criticized Guerrero for the mood of the album, stating, "Soporific, over polite and too damn quiet, Soul Food Taqueira veers dangerously close to snooze territory." However, others have noted Guerrero's simple, inventive style and sound for the album as to being one of its better qualities. Bill Campbell of Ink 19 magazine called Soul Food Taqueria an "exemplary album ... 100% soul". Campbell went on to praise Guerrero's musical ability, stating "he constructs heartfelt music with a complexity few can pull off successfully", as well as his guitar playing, as Campbell wrote "his guitar work is subtle and works the spaces between the beats marvelously". While the album experienced minimal airplay and no commercial success, the Canadian radio station CKUA
CKUA
CKUA is a Canadian radio station. Originally located at the University of Alberta in Edmonton , it now broadcasts from studios in downtown Edmonton and south Calgary. CKUA was created in 1927 through a provincial grant which allowed the University of Alberta's Extension Department to purchase the...
ranked the album number 93 on its Best of 2003 Chart. Uptown
Uptown (newspaper)
Uptown is an alternative weekly arts and entertainment newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Like most alternative weekly newspapers in Canada, Uptown includes articles regarding the arts and entertainment, CD reviews, concert reviews, book reviews and extensive current events listings...
magazine contributor Anthony Augustine later selected Soul Food Taqueria as one of the Top 10 albums of 2003. In a January 2004 issue, Ulli Pfleger of Germany's publication of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine named the album number 2 on his "best of list" of 2003.
CD
U.S. compact disc release. All songs written by Tommy Guerrero.*Co-producer
Vinyl LP
U.K. vinyl LP release.Personnel
Credits adapted from album sleeve liner notes.| # | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Soul Food Taqueria | All tracks written and produced by Tommy Guerrero Published by Fo Traques Ana Munkey Music (BMI) All instruments by Tommy Guerrero except where noted All songs mixed at Function 8 by Monte Vallier except where noted Gresham appears courtesy of Function 8 Records Lyrics Born appears courtesy of Quannum Projects Art by Stephen (Espo) Powers |
|
| 1 | "Lectric Chile Goat (Intro)" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 2 | "Abierto" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 3 | "Organism" | Mixed by Monte Vallier Vocals: Gresham Talyor Additional keys: Greg Galbreath All other instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 4 | "Thank You MK" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 5 | "Tatanka" | Mixed by Monte Vallier Drums: Chuck Treece All other instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 6 | "Train of Thought (Interlude)" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 7 | "It Gets Heavy" | Mixed by Monte Vallier and Gadget Additional vocal production by Gadget Vocals: Gresham Taylor All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 8 | "Thin Brown Layer" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 9 | "So Many Years Ago (Interlude)" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 10 | "Terra Unfirma" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 11 | "Gettin' It Together" | Mixed by Monte Vallier and Gadget Additional vocal production by Gadget Vocals: Lyrics Born Drums: Chuck Treece All other instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 12 | "Another Brother Gone" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 13 | "Broken Blood" | Mixed by Monte Vallier and Gadget Drums: Chuck Treece All other instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 14 | "And the Day Goes By (Interlude)" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 15 | "Lost Unfound" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 16 | "The Color of Life" | Mixed by Monte Vallier Drums: Chuck Treece All other instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
| 17 | "Falling Awake" | Mixed by Monte Vallier All instruments: Tommy Guerrero |
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | April 8, 2003 | Mo' Wax Records Mo' Wax Mo' Wax was a UK-based record label owned by James Lavelle, who founded it in the early 1990s with Tim Goldsworthy. Steve Finan became co-owner shortly after. The label came to recognition for being at the forefront of trip hop, turntablism and alternative rap during the mid-90s... |
stereo CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
MWR 158 CD |
| United Kingdom | April 14, 2003 | vinyl Gramophone record A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove... LP LP album The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
MWR 158 LP | |
| Japan | April 26, 2003 | Flavour of Sound Ltd. | stereo CD | PUCY-1021 |
External links
- Soul Food Taqueria at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Review at Music Emissions
- Review at Ottawa XpressOttawa XPressThe Ottawa XPress, currently spelled press on its cover, is an alternative weekly newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario.The paper was initially launched in April 1993 by Jim Creskey, who also founded The Hill Times. In March 2001, the paper was sold to Voirs president and founder, Pierre Paquet...
- Beyond Board at SF WeeklySF WeeklySF Weekly is a free alternative weekly newspaper in San Francisco, California. The newspaper, distributed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area every Wednesday, is published by Village Voice Media, a 16-paper alt weekly newspaper chain that also includes the New York City Village Voice and the Los...