Algodón Egipcio

NEW SONG: Algodón Egipcio - La Plegaria A couple of months ago I...

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:06:00 -0400

NEW SONG: Algodón Egipcio - La Plegaria

A couple of months ago I was asked by my friend Luke from International Tapes and Coco from Coco’s OCD to participate on The Nablus Project, where I had to make a new piece based on a 25-minutes recording of a Muezzin call to prayer, made on the Nablus mountains. This recording has a huge and beautiful natural reverb (that later proved to be very hard to work with).

The entire compilation, which also features 11 other tracks made by Helado Negro, MEGAFORTRESS, White Ninja and more, is now for sale on Bandcamp. Please, if you like it, spend the 4 bucks, all the money will go to charity.

IMPOSE made a note on the compilation HERE.

Entrevista @ Disidencia Sonora

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:12:27 -0400

Entrevista @ Disidencia Sonora:

Mi amigo colombiano Andrés (de la súper banda Andrés Gualdrón y los Animales Blancos) me hizo unas preguntas interesantes para su espacio Disidencia Sonora, en la página de Revista Arcadia.

NEW REMIX: Mariachi El Bronx - Revolution Girls (Algodón Egipcio...

Mon, 14 May 2012 21:32:11 -0400

NEW REMIX: Mariachi El Bronx - Revolution Girls (Algodón Egipcio Remix)

A couple of months ago I was asked to remix a Mariachi El Bronx song. I didn’t have a clue where to start. Here’s the result, probably the hardest I’ve worked on a remix. It was premiered today on the KCRW Blog, you can download it for free there or on my Soundcloud.

Perfil de Algodón Egipcio en el nuevo número (61) de Tendencia!...

Mon, 14 May 2012 12:20:50 -0400

Perfil de Algodón Egipcio en el nuevo número (61) de Tendencia! Cómprenla!

NEW COVER: Algodón Egipcio - Color Café (Serge Gainsbourg...

Wed, 09 May 2012 21:01:21 -0400

NEW COVER: Algodón Egipcio - Color Café (Serge Gainsbourg Cover)

The guys at Revista 69, a very cool blog from Perú, asked me to make a cover of a Serge Gainsbourg song for a tribute. I almost didn’t do it, because I don’t feel I know enough about Gainsbourg’s work to participate on a tribute. But I took it as a challenge, as usual, and just had fun with it. I did Couleur Cafe, sung in Spanish. Hope you like it, I sing a bit in French, which is a first.

There are other participating Latin/Spanish bands that I love, like Odio París and Lido Pimienta. Click HERE to download the track and the rest of the tibute.

These pictures are from my show in Caracas last Friday. During...

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:52:44 -0400

These pictures are from my show in Caracas last Friday. During El Escapismo there were fireworks, it was so unexpected and epic.

Pics by my brother.

Algodón Egipcio - Love Will Never Do (Without You) (Janet...

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:00:00 -0400

Algodón Egipcio - Love Will Never Do (Without You) (Janet Jackson Cover)

FREE DOWNLOAD!

This is my contribution to Cokemachine Glow’s new Fantasy Podcast, “The 80s Part Two.”

CARACAS! Festival de la Lectura Chacao 2012 Viernes, 4 de mayo...

Tue, 01 May 2012 21:42:00 -0400

CARACAS! Festival de la Lectura Chacao 2012
Viernes, 4 de mayo
Plaza Altamira (Tarima Norte)
8:00 pm
Gratis!

Este viernes toco en el increíble Festival de la Lectura que se montaron en Plaza Altamira. Para todas las edades. Así que aprovechan, van con la familia, compran un libro o dos y ven el concierto, que va a ser en la tarima norte, que está sobre el espejo de agua detrás del obelisco.

NEW COVER: Algodón Egipcio - Love Will Never Do (Without You) (Janet Jackson Cover)

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:57:04 -0400

NEW COVER: Algodón Egipcio - Love Will Never Do (Without You) (Janet Jackson Cover):

I was ask by Cokemachine Glow to make a cover of an 80s song for their latest Fantasy Podcast. I picked this song by one of my favorite artists ever. Check it out!

Entrevista @ Myexpace

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:55:45 -0400

Entrevista @ Myexpace:

Publicaron esta entrevista rápida que me hizo la web española Myexpace. Está divertida.

Tour Notes - Feb '12 // España (pt2)

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:41:00 -0400

I woke up very early on a Wednesday to take a bus to Vigo, I was really happy to go back there because it was the first Spanish city I ever visited and I have great memories of going there. I fell asleep almost instantly, very boring bus ride, until I found out there was internet connection, score! The highway to Galicia has such a lovely landscape, for real. The promoter’s girl, Sabela, picked me up at the terminal, and we went to their apartment to rest for a bit. The first things I saw there was a Lightning Bolt poster and Spiderland on vinyl, how cool is that? Abel arrived a couple of hour later and off we went to the soundcheck.

La Casa de Arriba is a tiny venue, but with a cozy feel to it. It was cold as fuck, though, but I thought “hey, I survived Italy”. The place had old posters from friends’ shows, like Bart Davenport or Xoel López, that was nice. I set up my gear and did an interview for the Galician television, while we waited for Xose, the guy in charge, to arrive. We were actually waiting for him because me and three other guys couldn’t figure out how to power the speakers, I think it was a low point for all of us haha. After that, soundcheck went nicely, no monitors though.

I think there were like 14 people in the room when I started playing. It was actually one of my favorite shows of the tour, everyone was so respectful and receptive. It definitely helps you perform better when you feel that reciprocity with the audience. I was very happy by the end of the night. I got to meet Bruno from Milknaut and Nico from Fantasmage, two great Galician bands, check them out.

That night I got to sleep without jeans and a sweater for the first time in a loooooong time! Next day I pretty much stayed in the appartment doing nothing, I wish I had gone out to the city. I saw the interview on TV, I always feel so embarassed when I see myself talking. Got to work a bit on a cover song for a Cokemachine Glow podcast, and then at like 7pm me and Abel went to Bueu to do the gig. Bar Labranza is a bar in a big house which I think isn’t actually in Bueu, but in an outside village, and the distribution inside the venue is crazy. We got to eat some fish and salad at Rafa’s place, he’s the owner, and then talked to some older dudes and heard stories, like the insane AMDISCS showcase they had recently.

The first songs of the show were rough, that was the night were the machines didn’t cooperate. But then I got it going. Not too many people again, and it was crazy to see this guy from the previous show attending to this one also, and he hadn’t even heard my music before that. After that, back to Vigo to spend the night there again, before leaving to Portugal the next day.

A million thanks to Abel for making the Galician and Portuguese shows happen. Also to Sabela, Xose and everyone from La Casa de Arriba, Rafa from Bar Labranza, Bruno and Nico.

NEW REMIX: Wild Honey - Kings of Tomorrow (Algodón Egipcio...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:20:00 -0400

NEW REMIX: Wild Honey - Kings of Tomorrow (Algodón Egipcio Remix)

This is a bit old remix I made last year for my friend Guille, who has an amazing project called Wild Honey, one of my favorites from Spain. This remix was just released on digital and 7” (vinyl release, yeah!), on the label Lovemonk as part of an EP called Fake Horoscopes. It also has a remix by Gummy Soul, from Nashville. Enjoy!

Click on the image to stream/buy it.

Finally! The cool guys @ Nrmal released today the Norte Sonoro...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 22:18:47 -0400

Finally! The cool guys @ Nrmal released today the Norte Sonoro EP 1. This is the resulting work of a residence/festival they organized past November 2011 in Monterrey, were a bunch of international producers and musicians, including me, had the chance to reinterpret the sounds of northern Mexico. I had the chance to meet and share with so many talented people, such as Helado Negro, Mumdance, DJ /rupture, Toy Selectah, White Rainbow and Chanca Via Circuito, and we all managed to produce very interesting pieces of work, each one of us took the music they provided us and gave it their own style.

My track is called “La Espina del Cardenche”, it’s a piece that mixes elements from different styles, and the lead vocals are from the song “Yo ya me voy a morir a los desiertos”, recorded by Los Cardencheros de Sapioriz. These guys are pushing 80 years old and are the very last cardenche group in history. I will always remember when they saw me perform this song live and said “now we know our music will live forever”.

Hope you can find a couple of minutes to listen to our work and share it with your friends. It’s a free download!

Latest pieces of music by Algodón Egipcio

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:55:41 -0400

Just a reminder of the latest songs of mine that have been released recently:

- “La Conducta Original” is a song included on the “Plásticos y Etéreos 2012” compilation, put together by Revista Plástica. Get it for free HERE.

- “El Mejor Lugar” and “Anita (La Estrella de David Cover)” come in a new split 7” with Spanish band El Faro, and was released by Acuarela/Yoyó Industrias/Club Social. Stream and buy it HERE.

- I made a remix of the song “Mizraïm”, by Mexican band Andrea Balency Trio, and it comes in their new EP called “Lover”. It’s available for free, so get it HERE.

I recommend checking out THIS post and THIS other one to stream/download/buy pretty much everything I’ve put out as Algodón Egipcio. Or the discography page.

Tour Notes - Feb '12 // Italia

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:39:00 -0500

I opened my eyes and thought “this is it: I’m doing the rest of the tour by myself”. That means a lot of things: I have to take care of everything, and be alert at every second; one misstep and I’ll get lost, miss the show and won’t get paid. Also means a lot of spending time alone and thinking and thinking, that can drive you a little crazy. And you better pray that the people at the venues, etc., aren’t huge douchebags, ‘cause that’s the people you’ll spend time with and share with. I’ve been very lucky in this particular case.

I had to take a plane from Madrid to Bologna, I didn’t know how flying on Ryanair was, oh boy. We got on the plane and seconds later we were asked to get off, because there were “technical issues” that needed to be fixed. “Technical issues” is pretty much the last thing you want to hear when you’re about to take a flight. We took off, and a couple of hours later we were in Bologna. Surprise surprise: it was snowing and everything was covered in snow. It was the first time I saw snow, so I took a minute and thought “take it in, experience this”. Beautiful.

On my bus ride to the train station I had my first live interview in English (with Francesco for the show Maps, on Radio Città del Capo). Then, train to Padova, where Davide was waiting for me to go to Vigonovo. We had some minutes of serious Tetris action, trying to fit all my stuff inside a Mini Cooper. The venue, Studio 2, had just opened, it looked and sounded awesome. It also has a recording studio inside, which is pretty rad. I had my first Italian pizza, with ham and mushrooms. I think it was alright. The soundguy’s nickname was Checo!!

The show was alright, also. This is one thing I discovered that day: Italians love to talk during shows. And they talk A LOT. I just assumed no one was paying attention to me, but the crazy thing was that after the show like 10-15 people congratulated me for the show and my music. Multitasking abilities? I’ll go with that. I even sold some 7”s. Later that night this girl Alice was doing her DJ set, and when she played a Gossip tune, people went wild, I really think that was what they were expecting that night. Also on the bill was this band called The Junction, very cool guys. They were having a hard time ‘cause their drummer decided at the last minute that he wasn’t going to play the show.

Slept for a couple of hours at Davide’s place, on the countryside. The whole landscape was so sad and pretty. He took me to the airport, it was like an hour-long ride to Treviso. The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Perfect” came up on the radio, that was like a shot of caffeine. Muffins for breakfast and then off to Bari. Tommi picked me up with his girlfriend and we went to a hotel, which was actually a bed & breakfast outside Molfetta. They had these HUGE peacocks in the backyard. FCKN PEAKOCKS. I was pretty shocked by this, I have to say haha, and I don’t even know why.

The show was outside Giovinazzo, the place (Arci Tresset) was like an old house that served as a cultural center, and it was wrecked because they had like a birthday party the previous day (there even was cake left). It was freezing inside and outside the place, if I could have played with my gloves on, I would have. Very little people in the audience, because of the cold and the rain and whatever, I don’t blame them. At least there was this girl who a lot about my music, with her friends. She said that she told Jonathan Clancy from A Classic Education I was coming to town and he said something like “why on Earth is he playing in Giovinazzo??” haha. Friendly people. By the time Fabio (Il Pade) was doing his set, the place was pretty much empty.

Next day I was freaking out ‘cause I thought my phone had ran out of credit and I wasn’t near anything, there was no internet and no one around spoke English or Spanish. Luckily Tommi saved me, and then I got to eat pasta, watch a football match on the TV, and do a little sightseeing around town with Sabino and his friends. I actually ended up watching a local basketball match at some arena, I found that so awesome. Tommi had set up a little show at this nice place, there was no plane back to Madrid on Sundays so it was good to have an extra show. I was actually a little sad because I had just found out about Whitney Houston’s death, so I did a my cover of Broadcast’s “Echo’s Answer” with her in mind. The venue was a little bar where people just go in to talk, have a beer or two and leave, so I just tried to make the most of it, did my show, a DJ set, and that was it.

On my last day I got to visit Bari, which I loved. I have to say that on that day I had the best chocolate muffin I’ve had in my entire life, sweet Jesus, I still dream about it. Tommi, the promoter, is such a sweet guy, I really felt welcome those 3 days in town. He and his friends put together the Giovinazzo Rock Festival, they have like ten thousand people everyday, I think that’s very impressive for a small city like that. Anyway, he took me to the airport, and a couple of hours later I was, again, in Madrid.

A really heartfelt thank you to Enrico, for making these dates possible. Also Davide, Francesco, Cristopher and everyone in Vigonovo, and Tomasso, Sabino and the guys in Giovinazzo, you all rock.

Bing Originals: Aurora Guerrero I’m very happy that the...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 08:09:00 -0500

Bing Originals: Aurora Guerrero

I’m very happy that the people from Bing used my song “El Día Previo” to promote the work of Aurora Guerrero on their latest TV spot. Aurora is the director of the new movie “Mosquita y Mari”, which premiered on Sundance and it also features the song in one scene. Find out more about the movie here: http://www.mosquitaymari.com/

Also: I’M ON TV.

EDIT: Just found out this spot was premiered on E! during the Oscars, whaaaat.

Tour Notes - Feb '12 // España (pt1)

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:48:14 -0500

Madrid was the place for the first show of the tour. I played a venue called Siroco with my labelmates Fair Ohs, from England. I met them and Laura, their tour manager, at Callao to eat lunch and Eddy, the singer/guitar player, managed to call me a prick in the first 30 seconds of our meeting. I knew I was going to have fun. We went together to El Prado Museum, it was pretty shocking to see those dark-era Goyas and The Garden of Delights in person, just to name a few.

Soundcheck was interesting. It always happens to me that when I start putting out tons of cables and start asking for DIs and explaining my setup, the soundguys’ attitude change instantly. It sounded pretty good, and they had these amazing amps. I was setting up my bass guitar sounds playing American Football’s “Honestly?” and Eddy loved that (days later the same happened to me when he started playing Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon”). My dear friend Borja came in with the new 7”s and the t-shirts and tote bags, which got me pretty excited. Jamón and other miscellaneous tapas for dinner, and then straight to the stage. I enjoyed the show, not my best vocal performance though. Many friends on the audience, good attendance. Then we got to dance to a Klaus & Kinski DJ set. Lovely people those two.

Woke up early to take a flight to Barcelona, traveled with Fair Ohs, Laura and Borja. I had to go through all the customs crap all over again when I got there, what’s up with that?? “Do you have a hotel reservation?”. “Do you have a ticket back?”. “Can I make sure that these people are your friends?”. UGH. We stayed at a hotel which was like a college dorm place or something. The rooms were TINY, specially the bathrooms, I think it was hilarious. We grabbed lunch at this amazing place, I wish I could remember the name (Venecia? Venice?).

Then went straight to soundcheck. I played at this amazing gallery/bookstore called Mutt, I was really looking forward to it because the space is so damn pretty, and they had this David Méndez Alonzo exhibit going on, which kinda served as a backdrop for the show. It was a struggle, though, ‘cause all the tracks, guitars and vocals had to come out of these two tiny speakers placed on the gallery, and no monitors. Because of that, the show was very ethereal, like an ambient thing, almost no beat, vocals way in the background, but I had a blast. Got to see old Venezuelan friends there, that was sweet. The owner, Juanjo, is such a sweetheart, he even got me a present: a huge-ass black comb. Also these photographers that I love, called Paco y Manolo, took some polaroids of me. I kinda had to keep my cool, I really like their work.

Had a kick-ass hamburger, met some cool people from bands and festivals and stuff, and then went to the Apolo 2 to catch Villarroel and Fair Ohs. I thought Villarroel’s show was pretty good, I enjoyed them a lot. The Fair Ohs show was excellent, serious dancing session here. I didn’t care for the people smoking in the backstage, but hey, it is what it is.

We took a train to Castellón to play the Tanned Tin festival. I was the only one with a second class seat, so I had to travel alone. I pretty much slept and listened to Machinedrum’s “Room(s)” while watching True Grit. Got there and went straight to the Fair Ohs soundcheck. The theater where they played was so beautiful and big, I was I little envious I didn’t got to play there, but I think I would had been too intimidated, I’m not ready for that. At lunch I got to meet Jesús (he organizes the festival and has a label called Acuarela), this sweet girl who took the cover picture of my 7” with El Faro, and this cool guy from Standstill. Joe (Fair Ohs drummer) ordered these little fishes called whiting or something like that. HOLY SHIT, they looked like deep-fried little demons from hell, I don’t think I’ll ever forget about those.

This was my day off, so I got to see most of the bands from the festival and hang out in the backstage, that was fun. Highlights: The Orchids, Elle Belga, Patterns, La Orquesta del Potro Ganador and Fair Ohs, of course. Too bad I didn’t get to see Kites, people told me he terrorized the audience. Almost got lost going back to the hotel at 3am and with no address written down, I suck at directions.

Went to soundcheck very early, I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to my new British friends. There wasn’t a soul on the streets, I was actually worried that no one would go to the show, after all it was on a Sunday at noon. But as soon as they opened doors, the place (a room in a contemporary art museum/space) got packed in a second, even people got left outside. In the top 3 of this tour’s shows. Met this German guy Norman Palm who asked me if I was Mexican, ‘cause he recognized my NRMAL sticker, I thought that was crazy. Turns out his girlfriend is from Monterrey. His show and Toby Goodshank’s were very good, and I particulary enjoyed Phoebe Krautz, she was histerical. Got to share with these guys for a minute going back to the hotel, while riding in the back of the van with the instruments and bags. They are so nice, and they gave me cookies.

I had to take the train back to Madrid that afternoon, so after a long, long wait at the station, and a crappy, sleepless train ride thanks to this old lady talking very loudly on her cellphone, I was back in the capital.

Infinite thanks to Borja and Natalia @ Club Social, Juanjo (Mutt) in BCN, Jesús, Liza, Nohemí, David, Javier and all the Tanned Tin crew in Castellón. And of course, to Matt, Joe, Eddy and Laura, my travel buddies.

Sneak peak of the “La Transformación” music video....

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:58:59 -0500

Sneak peak of the “La Transformación” music video. Coming soon. (via @El__Fat).

Broadcast - Echo’s Answer I covered this song on my shows...

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:20:00 -0500

Broadcast - Echo’s Answer

I covered this song on my shows this past European tour. It’s a beautiful song, I’ll probably record my version later on.

NEW SONG: Algodón Egipcio - La Conducta Original This is a new...

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:03:17 -0500

NEW SONG: Algodón Egipcio - La Conducta Original

This is a new song of mine that I really, really love. It just officially came out on the new Revista Plástica compilation, called Plásticos y Etéreos 2012. You can click on the picture to stream/download the song, or click HERE to check out the entire thing, there’s some amazing music there.

Hope you like the song! Download it and spread it.