Taking cool aim at empty culture
La Santa Cecilia
‘Winning’ (Rebeleon Entertainment/ Universal)
The first song from the Grammy-winning L.A. band’s upcoming album indicts social media, hashtag culture and empty advocacy. In the video, as lead singer La Mirasoul and band stare at their smartphones and poke at screens, she drops a series of Instagram-style captions and Twitter-speak lines.
“Hashtag kids-in-cages. Frida Kahlo has an Instagram? ... Hashtag thoughtsand-prayers. Can your soul be saved?” La Mirasoul sings. As she does so, Pepe Carlos plucks out a requinto-guitar guided melody before the rest of the self-described Mexican American cumbia-soul, tango-punk band joins in to let loose.
Allah-Las
‘In the Air’ (Mexican Summer)
The Los Angeles band has long had a thing for late-’60s jangle rock but not the optimistic stuff. Think more stoned, like the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” the Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” or Love’s “Alone Again Or.” The quartet’s new song and video, “In the Air,” operates on the same lysergic frequency as Tame Impala — but as created by a well-rehearsed full band instead of the auteur approach taken by Kevin Parker. The video takes place on land, in water and by air and puts guitarist Pedrum Siadatian squarely in the sights of a poisondart-shooting intruder, who spikes Siadatian in the neck, causing him to drop into a swimming pool. His band mates pull him from the water, but instead of hitting the emergency room, they embark on a curious margarita-fueled journey. They drive a convertible along the L.A. River, board a helicopter for a trip across Los Angeles. Are they going to Cedars-Sinai? Nope. With their guitarist still passed out, they load him into a hot air balloon. Then, they carry him up a hill overlooking Los Angeles. He never regains consciousness.
The song is taken from band’s first album for Brooklyn-based Mexican Summer (after a trio for LA-based Innovative Leisure). Called “LAHS,” the full-length finds them pushing their sound away from three- and four-minute rock songs and toward less restrictive structures and textures — while maintaining a stylistic cohesion.