Concert Preview: Fall Club Crawl, Saturday, October 6

It’s that time of year again! Only the best and biggest music festival to hit Tucson twice a year, Fall Club Crawl is right around the corner. This music explosion, which is put on by the Tucson Weekly, takes over downtown Tucson and brings a slew of musical talent.


Many popular acts this year include The Swim, Mostly Bears, Luca, They Might Be Giants and The Okmoniks. However, among the many bands performing at Fall Crawl, there are some amongst the others with Mexican and Latin American influences.

The Tucson-based Spirit Familia exhibits a fusion of Afro-beat, Reggae and Latin in their music and performed at Spring Club Crawl last year. Their song, “Cumbia de los Muertos” can only be described as a collision of Reggae beat and Latin flair. However, another song, “Apestoso,” seems to be heavily laden with aspects of Latin flair alone and no Afro-beat or Reggae. Spirit Familia displays their eclectic style through song “Soul Power,” which is mostly Afro-beat, and kicks off with exclamations of “Funky, funky!” from band members.

To hear these tracks and more from Spirit Familia to prepare for this weekend’s Fall Club Crawl, check out their myspace page here. Check them out at 8 p.m. at the Desert Toyota/KRQ Stage on Saturday night.

Also, check out their performance at The Hut on August 18 last year in this YouTube video courtesy of user cmmanos.



Another Mexican-influence band to hit Fall Club Crawl this year and veterans of last year’s Club Crawl is The Jons.

Originating from Nogales, AZ, the six-member band started its career touring Mexico and the U.S. to spread their New Wave/pop-rock style.

The Jons’s song “Mirage” kicks off with Mariachi-like horns and up-tempo drums. Track “All I Ever Think About” is a loud conglomeration of drums and snappy guitar licks. To hear these songs and others, check out their myspace page here.

To experience this loud, upbeat band live, check them out at 12 a.m. at the Desert Toyota/KRQ Stage on Saturday night (or Sunday morning).

Also, check out their performance at Club Crawl last year in this YouTube video courtesy of user thejons.

Musician Profile: Gustavo Santaolalla

For music aficionados, a soundtrack to a movie often makes the movie what it is. Gustavo Santaolalla has taken his lifelong musical career in the direction of composing mind-blowing soundtracks for equally mind-blowing movies.

Gustavo, born and raised in Argentina, made his first break in the movie soundtrack world when he composed the soundtrack for 2001’s Mexican film ‘Amores Perros’ or, ‘Love’s a Bitch’ for director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. ‘Amores Perros’ depicts the relationships that are spawned from a Mexico City car crash. A sample of Gustavo’s original music for the film can be seen in the following trailer from liberatedfilms.com.




The music Gustavo composed for ‘Amores Perros’ catapulted him into his career of composing more outstanding soundtracks for compelling films.

Gustavo went on to work for Inarritu again when he composed the soundtrack for 2003’s ’21 Grams’ starring Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro.

Success from ’21 Grams’ led Gustavo to compose the soundtrack to 2004’s ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ which depicts the young life of Ernesto Che Guevara. The soundtrack won Gustavo the British Academy BAFTA Award.

Following ‘The Motorcycle Diaries,’ Gustavo proceeded to compose the soundtrack for ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and won a Golden Globe Award for the song he composed titled “A Love That Will Never Grow Old.”

Inarritu asked the talented Gustavo to compose another soundtrack for him, 2006’s ‘Babel.’

Although Gustavo is known more for other films, composing the soundtrack for Mexican film ‘Amores Perros’ paved the way for Gustavo’s career and garnered him the gratification he deserved as a musician.

Listen to clips of Gustavo Santaolalla’s composed scores for his various films here.

To experience Gustavo live, check out the following YouTube clip from a live performance in Kazimierz, Poland from subscriber paw888.

Artist Spotlight and Review: Rodrigo y Gabriela

You don’t have to sing to captivate an audience. More and more music artists are exhibiting this concept in their work in the realm of experimental and ambient, such as Sigur Ros, yet many artists don’t dedicate an entire album to just instrumental and no vocal elements. That being said, those artists who do feature only instrumental elements in their works hardly ever use only one instrument.

Rodrigo y Gabriela are a Dublin-based duo that are Mexican born and specialize in the acoustic guitar. These two keep it simple by commanding a stage with just an acoustic guitar in both of their hands, perched atop wooden stools. Neither Rodrigo Sanchez or Gabriela Quintero sing in their high-intensity acoustic songs, but that doesn’t seem to take anything away from the musical quality.

The sound that is heard from Rodrigo y Gabriela would be the effect of throwing Metallica and flamenco guitar into a blender. The double acoustic guitars do not produce a calm sound as they typically would, yet instead are intricate, fast-paced and intense.

The band describes themselves as acoustic, folk and metal, even though there are no electric guitars, drums or bass being used. However, the sound that is produced is reminiscent of a metal band, such as Metallica or Megadeath.

Rodrigo y Gabriela’s track “Tamacun” is a fast, heart-pounding song that is a whirlwind of Rodrigo and Gabriela’s quick fingers and intricate guitar work. Knocking on the wooden acoustic produces the effect of drums.

The track “Diablo Rojo” certainly plays out like its name. The song has a dubious sound to it, and is also fast-paced.

“Stairway to Heaven” is slightly more slow-paced than other tracks, and builds in and out within itself through the song.

Here is a live performance of “Stairway to Heaven” provided by youtube.com The intensity of Rodrigo and Gabriela’s fierce finger work on the guitar can be seen through this video.




Rodrigo y Gabriela have been gaining popularity and have been on MTV’s Total Request Live and have performed on various other shows. Here is a live performance of “Diablo Rojo” on the David Letterman show provided by youtube.com.




Rodrigo y Gabriela had to cancel the rest of their tour dates because Gabriela is suffering from exhaustion. Those dates include included September 7 at the Rialto here in Tucson and September 8 at the Marquee Theater in Tempe. For more tour dates that are not affected by this break, check out their myspace page.

Master of All Things Great: Salvador Duran

People like Salvador Duran can seriously make a town what it is. Tucson just wouldn’t be Tucson without him. A Mexican-born flamenco guitarist, Duran is a ridiculously talented musician with a soothing set of pipes and the breathtaking ability to truly captivate an audience. Yet aside from his onstage skills, Duran is also a painter and is featured in the warehouse arts district on Toole Avenue.

Duran is almost otherworldly with his onstage presence, and I had the privilege to experience the magic of his talent at the Tucson Weekly’s Club Crawl in late April. Packed inside of a tiny bar, all eyes were on Duran. From the huge line outside of The District, it was apparent to me that not only does Duran have a following, he has a following of all different age groups and all different musical tastes.

Duran also mesmerizes the likes of equally talented and revered musicians. Iron and Wine and another Tucson local band, Calexico, toured with Duran and he joins the two amazing bands on the title track of their joint album.

To catch up with this outstanding musician and artist, listen to his tunes on his myspace page or check out his unique art in his gallery on Toole Avenue by Solar Culture. He happens to be extremely friendly and enjoys talking to people about his work.

This video, provided by YouTube, is a snippet from his tour with Calexico and Iron and Wine in Munich.