Latin rock is sort of one of those genre titles that tends to turn just about any red blooded American off. There’s the potential of cheesy salsa-like dancing to pop rock or metal heads with shamefully goofy band name tattoos covering their bodies. Thankfully, we live in Miami, we’ve heard of Manu Chao and we have seen, here and there, that Latin rock can be quite good.
Fabrika, a music and lifestyle website promoting Hispanic American culture, is bringing to town the Colombian group Monareta to perform with locals, Minimal, this Thursday. Fabrika has been around 8 years and truly believes in this town, its talent and potential. And it’s a good thing someone does, because we need the support.
MInimal (pronounced like mini-mall) is a Latin alternative band that brings quality indie rock to the Magic City. The Miami New Times described them as, “the tastiest bitter-sweet candy for fans of wall-flower angst electropop.” Which sounds like a backhanded compliment, but why not? A combination of musical elements create a consistently quality sound while the interesting characters make for an animated live performance. You’ll definitely catch the dancing bug at some points and shuffle your feet introspectively at others.
Monareta, an electronic group from Colombia, boasts their sound as a mashup/beat-tripping style. Not sure what beat-tripping is, but it sounds like it could possibly be fun, definitely fun to watch. This band has been making danceable beats since the turn of the millennium. The sound is a little Brooklyn, a little Bogota. It has a definite dub sound with some trippy elements, almost trance-like in their effect. The addition of instrumentation makes the sound more organic and more distinctively Latin.
For those who don’t speak Spanish, just listen to the music, watch other people and follow their lead. These guys are playing a free 10 p.m. show on Thursday at Transit Lounge. Expect something great.
For more of Liz Tracy's Miami missives, visit her blog, Miami, bro.
