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Review Summary: A big "fuck you" to La La Land. Moving to Los Angeles was a surreal experience for me. Arriving as a nineteen-year-old kid from middle-of-nowhere Ohio, the promise of adventure and the chance to re-imagine myself was something that gave the city of Los Angeles a somewhat mystical quality to me. I’d see the towering U.S. Bank building in the hazy distance and I’d begin to feel a sense that I was finally beginning to connect to a culture that could help shape me into the person I was to become. What I didn’t realize until five years later, however, was that this “culture” I was romanticizing was nothing but a sham. In actuality, the hip coffee shops, the trendy restaurants, and the “vintage” or “boutique” clothing stores are all part of a process called “gentrification,” which in simple terms means a process in which areas of a city are brought to middle-class standards (usually meaning affluent white “hipster” standards). Gentrification is something I had no idea existed before moving to L.A., but over the years I have seen firsthand its devastating effects on various communities. It is within these communities, the real Los Angeles, that the members of Chicano Batman are trying to maintain their own culture.
Chicano Batman is a four-piece Latin influenced psychedelic/soul band from L.A., and they are one of the few bands in the spotlight of the Angelino music scene trying to bring a positive voice to the extremely heated and important conversation revolving around gentrification. Their new record, Freedom is Free, is a celebration of what makes us human, and a celebration of authentic culture in the face of oppression. Album opener “Passed You By” sweeps you right into the current of the record with a beautiful guitar melody and atmospheric background vocals before frontman Bardo Martinez pushes the melody along with his unique voice and the opening line “every time you step outside the door you wanted more,” which sets up the tone and theme of a record unafraid to step into cultural struggle. The opening track highlights brilliantly what is to come; lush melodies, unique vocals, and groove, because sweet Cristo does this record groove.
Across the board the instrumentation on this record is gorgeous. Syncopation between the rhythm section and the lead guitar make some of the best moments instrumentally (see the jam track “Right Off the Back”), and the strength of the bass and drum work really allow the lead melodies, whether on keys or guitar, really shine. Lead single “Friendship (Is a Small Boat in a Storm),” one of the strongest tracks on the record, opens with soulful keys and an introduction to Bardo Martinez’ staccato-y falsetto singing style as the song ebbs and flows with a simmering urgency building into two emotional guitar solos before the wave of instrumentation collapses back into a groove.
The production feels the furthest thing from synthetic; it’s raw (but clear), and it makes you feel as if you are right in a room of musicians who are jamming with the sole motivator being a love for the language of music. It’s with this unspoken language as a backdrop that frontman Bardo Martinez is really able to speak about his experience in a rapidly changing Los Angeles. The track “La Jura,” one of the two songs completely sung in Spanish, is, in Martinez’ words, a “Spanish-language Black Lives Matter song.” It’s a beautiful thing for one to advocate for black rights using the Spanish language; it’s a visceral and tangible expression of unity, especially in the face of a city known to have palpable racial tension. In the track “The Taker Story” Martinez croons “Mass killings and mass graves, globalization of slaves, genocide and extinction, all the functions of civilization” followed by the background vocals repeating “you Takers take and take and take and take.” But for all of the pain and the darkness of both the past and present, there is a hope that is born out of a community looking out for each other. And thematically, that’s what makes this record important. The guys in Chicano Batman could easily approach the racial tension, cultural misappropriation, and gentrification with clenched fists, but instead we get words like this in the second verse of the title track:
Because the ocean is all around us, and life will flow on. As long as there are ripples in the waves and sun rays from the sun, and while I’m here on earth, I’ll rejoice in it’s worth.
Chicano Batman have crafted a soul-filled, groovy record that paints a hopeful portrait of a city and culture that is struggling to maintain a sense of self. The longer I’ve lived in Los Angeles, the more my eyes are opened to the real culture of the city – the culture represented within Freedom is free ; and as I continue to simultaneously see the plight of my fellow humans and see my own life changed in the process, I can sing to myself in the same staccato falsetto as Bardo Martinez, “Freedom is free, and no amount of negativity can put a dent in me.”
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Album Rating: 4.0
The dudes in this band are probably too nice to actually say fuck you to La La Land, but hey. S/o to my roomie for getting me into these guys; it's crazy to experience a city like Los Angeles first hand for a handful of years now. Really brings this record to life for me. First review in a while so sorry if its rusty! I'm just stoked for people to hear this.
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I was already planning on getting around to this record, but this review convinced me I need to check this ASAP. Great review!
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Thanks!! I'm honestly curious to see what people are going to think of it. I'm really fond of it because I genuinely observe the context of the album almost everyday. Hopefully people outside of LA can get just as much out of it
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Two songs are streaming below:
http://chicanobatman.bandcamp.com/album/freedom-is-free
Good review, pos, I liked what I've heard so far from this album.
One tiny correction:
is a celebration what that make us human
a celebration of what makes us human
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
hahaha good lord that was a cluster fuck. It's insane how many times I reread this but still didn't catch that. Fixing now. But thanks!
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Seriously great review. I'll definitely have to check this out.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
This sounds awesome
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Nice review. Only thing is, personally, I don't think "advocate for" sounds correct. "... to advocate black rights" sounds better to me.
Also, and it's a touchy subject, but I don't agree with the whole gentrification argument. No one has a god given right to live anywhere and, while a wholly imperfect way of determining who can live somewhere, ability to afford the costs of living is the best thing we have. You can make an argument that tax dollars should be allocated to help lower income people afford to live in expensive areas (and to a degree this is needed because not every job pays a relative living wage), but that creates another arbitrary decision mechanism that isn't a whole lot more fair than who has the money to afford to live in whatever place you're discussing. Basically, if there's high demand to live in NYC, LA, whatever, there's high demand. You can't just magically make more space and "I was here first" isn't a valid claim.
What I disagree with is landlords harassing tenants to leave so they can shake their cheaper rent contracts and sign up new tenants at a more expensive rate, which happens too often here in NYC.
Anyway you didn't ask for that and I don't want an argument, just throwing my 2 cents out there.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I'm a little mixed bag.
On one hand this reminds me of Santana Latin-Psychedelic era circa 1976, so that aspect makes me want to give it a spin. The review though, while good, comes off a little bit like "virtue-signalling". I get that societal issues and the like will always make their way into music, but the review does get a bit heavy handed in the way it handles these topics. This makes me not want to listen because it makes me feel the album is going to overcompensate with the issues it's talking about. I'll listen to it regardless.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Also agreed, La La Land sucked.
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"Virtue-signalling [sic]"
And the irony remains unacknowledged...
Great review. Will definitely check out.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
What irony?
I don't mind people getting political in their reviews, in this case it just came out in a heavy handed way.
EDIT: Holy shit this album is good.
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You might find a better phrase to use, then. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAmM872874A
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
What a horrible source.
"Alt-Right Buzzwords"
Gimme a break.
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Alt-right or not, "virtue signaling" is a meaningless buzzword / dog whistle at this point. It's not really an argument; it's just some assertion that someone is saying something to promote certain views in order to look good or fit whatever mold is supposedly expected of them by their audience. That's something that can be accused of anyone and, regardless of what's true, fails to disqualify the merits of the contended point in question.
The irony is that people who regularly accuse others of "virtue signaling" are actually "virtue signaling" themselves. Is there really a point to using the phrase in retaliation to another person's views, other than to promote oneself as above such matters? Virtuous indeed.
If you feel it's heavy handed, that's fine. I think you've explained your opinion on the matter, even if I don't entirely agree. Still, although it's unfair to delegitimize an argument for some arbitrary reason or another, buzzwords do a solid job of depreciating one's point.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I disagree with what your saying but now I understand where you are coming from. I did specify though that is "Slight came off as such" not that it was pure virtue-signalling. I didn't use it to delegitimize his argument. Regardless, we're at an impasse. I've expressed my opinion on the matter.
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band rules, have to checck
nice review too dude
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The source is pretty dumb, agreed. "Alt right" itself is a buzz term anyway.
You can definitely argue that "virtue signalling" is a meaningless term and I would also generally agree with that. However it does, due to lack of a better term, do a decent job of capturing the idea of the self-appointed moral high ground that authors of both sides suppose is theirs to claim. Nonetheless it remains dismissive and not encouraging of real discussion. Not that people are generally interested in real discussion these days in any case.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Whoa! Thanks for the feature! Also, I'm sorry if the review was heavy handed with the idea of gentrification -- it's just something I've personally seen affect the communities of Los Angeles and it's something that this band is known to talk about.
"What I disagree with is landlords harassing tenants to leave so they can shake their cheaper rent contracts and sign up new tenants at a more expensive rate, which happens too often here in NYC."
Spacesh1p, this is one of the most devastating effects that come directly from a community becoming gentrified -- we've seen entire neighborhoods having to relocate because of it. Also, my intent was not to highlight gentrification, but Chicano Batman's response to gentrification. The whole "unity and hope" aspect. Sorry if that wasn't made completely clear. Either way, thanks for reading the review and dialoguing about this
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
And just to be clear, I have certainly not "arrived" at a point where I can say without a doubt that gentrification is an inherently bad thing. There are areas of Los Angeles that were mostly gang run that people can now feel safe in, and that came with the process of gentrifying places. It's not always a bad thing, and I'm definitely not putting on my social justice warrior hat, I just wanted to give people a context to this album and help them get a little picture of what these guys are creating out of. It's cool to see people talk about this though.
Also, thanks for the really nice comments! I don't get around to reviewing often, but I love the process and even though we are a bunch of buttholes, I love the Sput community too.
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