BANDA DE TURISTAS Release U.S. Debut Set To Open For Coldplay

Posted by: CorrienteLatina  Posted: 02-04-2010 Print Article Email to a friend RSS Twitter Facebook

Just as Banda de Turistas have released their U.S. debut album, ‘Magical Radiophonic Heart,’ the group has been invited to open for Coldplay at Buenos Aires’ 60,000-capacity River Plate stadium. The Argentine retro rock band will also showcase at SXSW 2010 in Austin next month.

Banda de Turistas won the “LAMC Artist Discovery Award” at last summer’s 10th Annual Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York City. With previous winners like Kinky and Pacha Massive, the group was awarded the special distinction following their U.S. debut performance at Lower East Side hotspot, the Mercury Lounge. Jon Pareles of the New York Times praised the band’s Mercury set, saying they “harked back to mid-1960s garage rock and psychedelic.”

Forming in 2006, Banda de Turistas quickly turned heads across their hometown of Buenos Aires despite the band members’ young age of 18. The retro rock group soon caught the ear of local rock icon Babasonicos frontman Adrian Dargelos and the vocalist praised them as one of his favorite new acts. Pulp’s legendary vocalist Jarvis Cocker even expressed his support for the band before they released their debut EP, asking them to open several shows in Buenos Aires.

Banda de Turistas is part of a generation of musicians in Buenos Aires that grew out of a scene that was transformed following a major club fire in 2005. “We met in high school and we originally had two bands,” says drummer Guido Colzani. “One was called Berline, it was more instrumental, ambient and krautrock-influenced. The other was called Palmeta, it was more conventional, simple pop songs. So we ended up making a fusion between the two.”

Rolling Stone Argentina ended up hailing the group as 2008’s “Best New Artist” and MTV Latin America named Banda de Turistas as one of South America’s “Best Artists” of the year. They took their sound to the road, quickly developing fanbases across Chile and then Mexico, with a performance at the influential Vive Latino festival in 2009.

“We like to create songs that we enjoy listening to – plain and simple,” explains guitarist Luis Balcarce. “We keep the music fresh. For us, the concept of ‘pop’ is important – music that is accessible, digestible and likeable. And that, mixed with psychedelia, which is something more ethereal, hopefully helps develop a truly original sound.”

Nacional’s new album combines a variety of tracks from Banda de Turistas’ two previous full-length releases in Argentina, ‘Magico Corazon Radiofonico’ (mixed by Mario Caldato Jr., known for his work with Beastie Boys and Manu Chao) and their most recent, ‘El Retorno’ (mixed by Peter Mew, Abbey Road Studio's longtime engineers).

With ‘El Retorno,’ the band submerged itself in ultra psychedelic sounds, from underground disco to avant-garde, which is particularly evident in the album’s keyboard textures. “The idea was to create a sound out there; with German oscillator sequencers, analog polyphonic synthesizers and a variety of filters that gave the sound plenty of character,” says keyboardist Patricio Troncoso.

On both albums, ‘Magico Corazon Radiofonico’ and ‘El Retorno,’ the primary vocalist and lyricist is bassist Bruno Albano. With a mysterious imagination, Bruno’s songs follow the stories of strange characters. “Some are more profound and others are daring and realistic,” Balcarce says. Banda de Turistas have a contrasting songwriting approach with Albano and vocalist/guitarist Tomas Putruele, whose songs are much more direct. “Tomas arranges his songs with much more simple word structures and much more accessible concepts in general,” Albano says.

“We like that our music can be stimulating for a variety of people,” Balcarce says. “For example, if you read a book quickly without much context, you can understand it to a certain point. If you dedicate more time and learn more background, hopefully you will notice more things and get more out of the art. But the important thing is that everyone gets something out of it. That’s how we feel about our songs.”

For more information about Banda de Turistas and 'Magical Radiophonic Heart', please contact
Paul Dryden or Jennifer Sarkissian at Nacional Records – 818.763.1397