Sunday May 5 * 5pm * in the backyard * $15-25 * TICKETS
Electric Cowbell Presents...
La Perla - from Bogota, Colombia
Taxi Vision - Queens
Leon City Sounds - all vinyl
Empanadas De Vico - eat!
Often referred to as the 3 Colombian drum witches, La Perla is a one-of-a-kind percussion and vocal trio consisting of three of Bogota's best young musicians, whose powerful lyrics combined with intoxicating rhythms make for an unstoppable dance party. They represent and pay tribute to the Colombian Caribbean culture and tradition, while at the same time modernizing the genres with original music filled with politically charged lyrics based around feminism, indigenous struggles, and the power of Latinxs and the global south. A live show will hit multiple genres including bullerengue, cumbia, merengue, gaita, and kreyol champeta, all accompanied by their deep voices and punk rock attitude. This ain't your mama's drum trio, and it ain't what we used to call world music. It's three powerful modern women playing original music influenced by and based in the folklore of their country, who are also not afraid to challenge the traditions by adding the urban elements which define the contemporary Bogota which has shaped them.
Taxi Vision is a Queens-based music project with branches extending to Quito, São Paulo, and Umbria, purveying reckless arrangements of highlife guitars, doo wop harmonies, chopped up samples, samba and psychedelia.
The band was formed in 2017 by NYC high school friends Matteo Battistini and Luca Senise, when the duo occupied the storage room of a Greenpoint woodshop to explore their joint obsession with polyrhythm and songform. They began cutting their teeth playing with a collective of drummers who congregated weekly at Issyra Gallery in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Battistini moved his lodgings and studio to a shipping container located in the yard of an underground artist warehouse, then to a neighboring shed, before settling in his home borough of Queens. After a debilitating, near-fatal illness left him temporarily unable to play his instruments, he started to incorporate electronic elements and samples into the band’s recordings. This period of medical marijuana-fueled experimentation came to define Taxi Vision’s hybrid sound.
After a slew of singles, Taxi Vision released their debut EP, Channel One, in March 2022. Recorded in various improvised settings with drummer Matteo Ciambella, multi-instrumentalist Ernesto Papaleo, and vocalist Victoria Ruiz, this arresting debut served as a sonic manifesto for the genre-defying band.
To fulfill this new and ambitious sound, Taxi Vision expanded to six members, taking their lush arrangements to ballrooms and basements throughout the New York area and across the east coast, playing with such like-minded acts as Meridian Brothers and Delicate Steve. The band developed a cult following, known for their bombastic, multilingual live show that features mighty dance grooves, polyrhythmic guitar freakouts, subatomic bass, and the subtle magic of vocalist Laura Pereira (known for her work with Juan Wauters and Sessa). Taxi Vision performances regularly resolve into all-night dance parties presided by bassist and resident DJ Ernesto el Defensor.
Taxi Vision is Ricardo Lerman, Jay Pluck, Ernesto Papaleo, Laura Pereira, Camilo Perez, and Matteos Battistini and Ciambella. Their debut full-length album Dollar General will be released late summer 2023.