As I mentioned in the July 15 Bent Nights, Chicago is now in the midst of a tidal wave of festivals. On the weekend of July 10 alone, there were nine large-scale events going on, excluding block parties and non-musical festivals. One of the new kids on the block was the first Ruido Festival, on July 10-12 in Adams-Medill Park, which focused on Latin alternative popular music.
Of all of the festivals that we've seen so far, this one was clearly a departure though it was co-produced by those nice people behind Riot Fest. This festival seemed aimed at a specific demographic which brought with it a supposed language barrier ( no, I do not know a word of Spanish ). On top of that, though there were some familiar names on the bill ( Café Tacvba, Kinky, Molotov, Zoe ) most of the bookings were unheard of ( at least to my virgin queer ears ).
It still sounded like an adventure to me, and Ruido Festival appealed to my saucy nature. That nature paid off big-time since the aspects that seemed limiting for the festival did not really matter. For starters, though I could not understand the lyrics to most of the music, there was such a varied and exciting mix of sounds and sights that it did not hinder my enjoyment. ( Putting it mildly, I was in ecstasy the entire weekend. ) As a gay African-American man, something that I learned during the March for Marriage Equality ( in Springfield in October 2013 ) came back and hit me right between the eyes: The LGBTQ community has many, many things in common with the Latin community, although we tend not to recognize that. In other words, I felt right at home at this festival.
As for those unfamiliar artists, well, that was the best part since they were all so different and surprising that it was like spending a weekend opening brightly wrapped Christmas presents hour after hour. It would be impossible to write about every thing that I saw and heard, so I will just focus on four artists who left quite the impressions.
1. Compass: Toy Selecta and The Mexican Institute of Sound. This is the culmination of producer/DJs Toy Selecta ( a.k.a. Toy Hernandez ) and Camilo Lara's yearlong project of globetrotting while recording various artists in secret for the just released Compass CD ( Mad Descent Records ). Getting the all-star line up featured on the CD ( including Eugene Hultz, Boy George, Sly and Robbie, Toots and the Maytals, MC Lyte, Phil Manzanara and Eric Bobo, to name a few ) on one stage was clearly not possible, but that did not stop Lara from throwing a wild-ass party, with him fronting a full band with two co-lead vocalists. The heady mix included Latin and Caribbean rhythms, hard rock, abrasive funk, Latin rap and gutbucket soul. With Lara bouncing about in a wide-brimmed hat as the anchor, the Compass set was one of the liveliest and most spectacular I've seen in a year of great music.
2. Silverio. Clearly the wild card on the line-up, Silverio ( aka Julian Lede ) can only be described as a hip-wiggling nut. Inspiring laughs and non-stop booty-shaking in equal measure, he came roaring out onstage barking at the crowd with his distinctive voice ( think of Jabba the Hut after sniffing glue ) while assaulting them with a barrage of deep funk/disco beats from his console.
Silverio is not only a DJ and comedian but also an actor, author, talk-show host and clearly some kind of new species of performance artist. ( He also holds a doctorate in chemical engineering, but never mind... ) It hardly mattered that I did not understand a single thing he said, since the man has a talent for phrasing words in such a way that they sound hilariously rude and vulgar.
3. Zoe. The most pleasant surprise of the festival for me was Grammy winning rock band Zoe, who, for all of the intricacies and finesse in the act's music, always tended to sound a bit too slick on CD. Onstage, that impression got pushed aside when frontman/vocalist Leon Lerrequi emerged from the shadows and mist and promptly delivered a set that was at once hypnotic, enthralling, unpretentiously dramatic and completely intoxicating. Looking like a fallen angel, Lerrequi seemed to reconfigure pop, art rock and torch into something Zoe's recordings hardly suggest. The set may have been the most laid back of the entire festival, but the fans went apeshit, anyway.
4. Descartes A Kant. At the opposite extreme, the women fronting Descartes A Kant fully embraced mayhem with gusto. Their jagged, shrieking art rock took a back seat to the non-stop theatrics that included burlesque, cream pies, balloons, feathers, a hostage stand-off and lots of snarling guitars.
After seeing them, I cannot imagine what it would be like to merely hear one of their recordings, but I suspect that the music is beside the point. This is not a quibble, since we have had so many North American bands who have made a career out of doing The Jerk while insisting it was art ( Devo, Blondie, The B-52s, The Tubes ). What really made Descartes A Kant's set so refreshing was a driving sloppiness that gave it a demented suspense. You couldn't tell what these women were going to do next and you couldn't take your eyes off them.
