Centavrvs's Popular Music Videos
About Centavrvs
Hometown
Mexico City, Mexico
Born
November 20, 2011
Genre
Rock y Alternativo
Centavrvs is among the most popular indie bands from Mexico City; their membership emerged from three other bands in 2011. Their name was chosen for its cultural symbolism -- it refers to Pancho Villa's nickname, "El Centauro del Norte," the constellation Alfa Centauri, and the centennial anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. Their sound is a sometimes seamless, sometimes jagged weave of electronica, Mexican pop, rancheras, boleros, cumbias, indie rock, funk, and on occasion, vintage salsa. They have defined their music in their own descriptive genre "Electrónica Regional Mexicana."
In 2010, Demián Gálvez and DJ Rayo (aka Rayo), from the experimental jazz band Los Dorados, wanted to create a centennial tribute to the Mexican Revolution. To that end they recorded four songs and posted them to MySpace. Given the runaway popularity of that posting -- first among musicians and soon after among critics and music fans -- they were invited by a producer of a Mexican jazz festival to play a one-hour set. They recruited Alán Santos (Timmy & the Monsters) and Paco Martínez (Neon Walrus) for assistance, thus the quartet's "official" birthdate is November 20, 2011. This quartet forms the band's permanent membership though they often collaborate with horns and strings.
In 2012, they played the Arte Careyes Festival. That experience proved influential on the recording of their first EP, Pacífico. By that time, they had formulated a more concrete sonic ideal: to reinterpret the essence of Mexican folk music through dance culture. They followed the recording a few months later with Aniv de la Rev: Corridos Mexicanos that reinterpreted the corridos of the Mexican Revolution in the band's emergent musical fusion language. In 2013, Carmen Ruíz (Natalia Lafourcade, Torreblanca), joined in time for the Vive Latino Festival that Centavrvs not only played, but curated. Their first recording with Ruiz was the single and video for "Por Eso," that included the participation of Denise Gutiérrez from Hello Seahorse. They also contributed the single "Fumemos un Cigarrillo" to the soundtrack of Carlos Cuarón's film Besos de Azúcar in collaboration with Carla Morrison. In the middle of 2014, the group issued the pre-release single "La Noche y Un Huracán," followed by the title track of their debut full-length Sombras de Oro. The album was produced by Toy Selectah who captured Centavrvs' meld of corrido, cumbia, rock, pop, salsa, and, for this outing, trip-hop. Airplay was instant, and followed by a series of videos. The album was greeted with universal acclaim on both sides of the Mexican border and was nominated for a 2015 Latin Grammy in the United States. Centavrvs hit the road, playing clubs and festivals across Mexico and the U.S., including SXSW and Coachella. Ruíz departed the band's ranks amicably after the grueling tour. After a break, Centavrvs re-entered the studio in 2016 with Argentine producer Tweety Gonzalez (Fito Paez, Soda Stereo). The pre-release video single "El Punto Final" came later in the year, just before their sophomore album Somos Uno in March of 2018 -- with horn arrangements by King Rey David Alejandre, a Veracruz trombonist who played with Willie Colón's legendary salsa band. The recording drew rave reviews and band profiles from National Public Radio, Rolling Stone, and many other sources. ~ Thom Jurek
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