East Oakland was the place of birth for this peculiar band called Carne Cruda. A band that came together from the mixture of salsa bands, funk groups, cumbia conjuntos, jazz combos, rock power trios along with the fire of the hyphy, norteno and banda beats. Quite a mix huh?
Collaborating with Grammy nominated producer Greg Landau (former guitarist that shared the stage with none other than Silvio Rodríguez, Mercedes Sosa and Pablo Milanés) to create their new album “Oakland’s Tight”. This ambitious and visionary project seeks to shake everyone’s booty, no matter what your genre preference is, literally. I can guarantee that at some point or another you are going to like what you hear. This 12 song album brings is tunes that will take is to Mexico, Brazil, to some sexy island in the Caribbean (remember that when you hear Anachro-Syndicalism). My personal metaphor for this band? A bouncing ball that is all over the place but with a certain charm and interesting twist to it.
Although I am not a huge fan of norteno or banda beats, I do appreciate the risk and ambition that they had to bring us such experimental latin sounds. The production of the album is a clear A+, not to mention the incredible musicianship. Because the members of this band have been part of many other bands, they were able to bring big time guest artist to be part of the album like Omar Sosa (Cuban free-jazz pianist), Dandha da Hora (from the funksters SambaDá). Among my favorite tunes is Ring of Fire, a Johnny Cash all time classic with a Brazilian twist to it. The reason why I enjoy so much this tune is that to me it is amazing how this band’s creativity can extend to bring an oldie, mix it not only with new beats but also put a Brazilian hint to it! Simply BAD-ASS!
This band can make it big time, not only for their huge variety but the amazing creativity they have… oh yeah and I absolutely LOVE the lucha libre mask look on them!
By Claudia Camargo
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