Meridian Brothers

Clandestino Festival spring edition 4 May Stora Teatern

Hypnotic rhythms. Skeleton guitars. Fairytale saxophones. Beeping Farfisa organs and synths that seems to be directly imported from ancient Sci-Fi films. Meridian Brothers is a tropical / psychedelic group from Colombia. Born in Bogotá in 1998 and based on the musical interests of composer Eblis Alvarez, in the beginning, the project was focused exclusively on cassette recordings and experimentation with alternative ways of playing instruments and electronic media. From a conceptual band where Alvarez played all the instruments, Meridian Brothers evolved into a live combo that meets Maria Valencia (saxophone, clarinet, percussion and synthesizers), Damian Ponce (Percussion), Cesar Quevedo (bass) and Alejandro Forero (electronics and synthesizers).

Apart from its biting humor, the surrealism of Meridian Brothers lyrics come together with disparate personal allusions of vallenato, cumbia, “chucuchucu” (a Colombian way to call some type of dance music) salsa , and in general, many dance music in a very particular style, twisted and ingeniously transformed.

Meridian Brothers has toured in important festivals in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Germany, Denmark and Holland. Currently the band promotes 3 albums released with the bogotan label La Distritofónica, a 7 ” with the New York based label Names you can trust and the album released with the label Soundway Records “Desesperanza “, dedicated exclusively to salsa and tropical music.

 

FROM PREVIOUS REVIEWS:

“…It is truly one of most inventive and singular groups you will hear from Colombia or anywhere, as you can hear on this 7″, and well worth discovering”  Sounds and Colors Magazine, England

“…This mysterious solo project from Eblis Alvarez is one of the more quirky gems I’ve heard recently. Silly, funny, twisted and cheesy in a most charming way. Somewhere between the Penguin Cafe Orchestra and the Residents, with a handful of infectious Latin dance grooves thrown in for good measure, lies the land of the Meridian Brothers VI. Put this on at your next party let the natives go wild. You could do lots worse! – BLG”  Downtown music gallery, New York

Download press kit here