New remix album from the super-fat-bass-laden Latin Funk, 70s influenced disco band
Los Charly’s Orchestra is the London based collective created, produced and lead by Venezuelan producers Juan Laya & Jorge Montiel. Combining a retro and exhilarating modern sound, Los Charly’s Orchestra are characterized by a unique edge that blends the Boogie-Disco sound of the 70s with a seriously Latin perspective. On the eve of the release of new album ‘Los Charlys Orchestra: Remixed’, Nicky Trax checks in for the lowdown…
‘Los Charlys Orchestra: Remixed’ is the new album and features a great cast of International producers casting their magic over the original LCO sound, can you tell us how you selected the remixers and how the project came about?
“The project came up following our constant search for sonic innovation and trying to give a new shape to the Latin thing. Over the years we have met some great musical friends who reciprocally admire our work in the same way we admire theirs, so we thought, what a better way to celebrate this friendship than making a remix album where we can all be part of. Apart from that, I’ve chosen the remixers due to their styles of production and then thinking in the overall picture I wanted to portrait with the compilation. In a way, I wanted to summarise some of my favourite music scenes from around the world in one album. From the experimental Nu Jazz, G funk fusion to Disco, Nu Funk, Afro-Latin, 80’s Synth, Indie Disco, Tuki and LatinHouse this compilation travels across the globe blending the Latin world into other forms. Lastly I tried to chose not only famous names, but also new up and coming producers so we could provide the new one people with an opportunity to express themselves.”
What are your favourite tracks on the album?
“Every single track is important to us, but the remix of Cy Gorman and Ennio Styles drew our attention due to the freshness of it’s sounds. I think the combination of Footwork with the G Funk and Latin is super forward thinking and that was the main point of the project – to come up with a brand new approach to Latin Music, hence this is the track that represents that vision in a more clear way.”
You are pressing a limited edition vinyl album, why is vinyl so important to you, it is so expensive!?!?
“Yeah, vinyl is the most expensive format to manufacture but is also the most precious one due to its unique sound proprieties. These days more people are aware of that and after a few years of digital representation of music, more and more people are shifting to the vinyl format looking for a warmer representation of the tunes they listen to. Apart from that, to me a record is a beautiful object which I love to collect, so hence I give so much importance to it. I think every record label should at least press their best tunes in wax.”
Do you believe ‘LCO:Remixed’ broadens your appeal to a wider audience and takes the Latin sound into the wider music-loving arena?
“Yes for sure, this album opens up the possibilities of touching a much wider scene and takes the Latin sound into a new perspective. It opens a new window of possibilities in terms of sounds and production.”
Latin music is still something of a connoisseurs choice – do you think that albums like yours helps shift the perception in the mainstream?
“Latin music is still quite an specialised area in the western and Asian world indeed, however people like Louie Vega and Gilles Peterson and others have done an amazing job into expanding the Latin legacy to other spheres and our job is to continue from our own Los Charly’s perspective. ‘LCO:Remixed’ takes the Latin spectrum in a direction which is certainly easier to digest than the original material from a Western point of view, but is still a very conceptual project. I do believe though that some of the remixers and music styles portrayed on this compilation will become big and possibly mainstream in the near future as for example the “Tuki House” from Caracas, Venezuela, which is already laying its foundation in the global Latin Pop industry or the infectious Nu Funk sound of Mr Jimi Needles, which is spreading very quickly across the UK.”
Tell us about your music business fans, who has been championing the sound of LCO?
“We had been very lucky to meet some awesome producers along the way, many of them people that we’ve admired since we were kids back in Venezuela. So it’s great not only to meet them today but also to have the opportunity of working/collaborating with them. On our first album, we had the opportunity to work with the guitarist Jose Luis Pardo who is in one of our favourite bands of all times, Los Amigos Invisibles. Since then we’ve had the pleasure to connect with ace dance producer Joey Negro who did some heavy edits for us which are still in huge demand on limited edition vinyl. We have also collaborated with Mr Xantone Blacq and Cafe Del Mar’s former resident Jose Padilla on some of his Balearic groove projects which led to us playing at the Blue Marlin in Ibiza. And of course there’s lots of DJs worldwide like Dimitri from Paris and in the UK, Radio 6’s Craig Charles Funk & Soul show and Patrick Forge.”
LCO are the resident band at Soho’s Floridita in London – do you have any other great live shows coming up
“Yeah Floridita is our home in London, we really love our Saturday bash which also works as our laboratory to develop the live side of our fusion, mashing up all kind of Latin styles from Cha Cha, Boogaloo & Salsa to Funk, Soul, Boogie and beyond. Every Saturday night is a new venture that can take you into any direction. Outside from that, Los Charly’s are schedule to play an Unplugged Special for the Meltdown Festival at the Southbank Centre in a new little venue called Topolzki on Wednesday 18th June. They’ll also be playing at the Tropical Pressure Festival in Cornwall on Friday 18th July.”
How and when were you first infected by?
“Well, I would say that we were first infected primarily in our hometown of Caracas in Venezuela through our families. My father used to collect lots of records and I was exposed to that all the time. Later on there were two iconic clubs that marked my musical life as well as the whole of Caracas. “Bar Too”, which was quite unique for its particular mix of some of the most cutting edge and alternative music you could hear at the time mashed up with some of the heaviest Salsa and Barrio sounds. “The Flower” was the other funky club just around the corner, where the up coming band of the moment ‘Los Amigos Invisibles’ used to hold their regular night. Between those two clubs I savoured so many amazing musical moments to the point I decided that music was what I wanted to do in my life.”
How did you get into making music?
“My very first steps into music making was singing in a Venezuelan Folk band with some of my friends. I then got into the DJ thing and after a few years in London into production, it all complimented each other in the end.
First record you ever bought?
“One of the first very loved tracks I bought was ‘Galaxy’ by War and also ‘K- Jee’ by MFSB, which after a few years I found in a Disco/House format in a little record shop in Soho!”
What’s next on the agenda for LCO?
“At the moment we are recording a new album of original stuff and on the live side of things we are planning to go and do a few gigs around Asia and possibly Australia beginning of 2015.”
If you had to sum up the ‘LCO:Remixed’ album in five words what would it be?
“Sonic Innovation and Latin Fusion.”
And before you leave us, can you pick one track from the album that’s going to be jamming music players in the sunshine and explain why it’s the hot choice?
“I think Pete Herbert’s mighty remix of ‘Merecumbe ‘is my hot choice as it’s one of those super iconic Salsa anthems that’s a cornerstone from the world of Latin music. Originally written in the early 70’s by Johnny Colon, it became one of the heaviest classics in the history of the so called NYC Salsa scene, and so hearing this remix played loud in the clubs makes me travel through the times, thinking about the different visions of musical evolution that had gone through the decades until today.
The ‘Los Charly’s Orchestra: Remixed’ album featuring the International talents of Al Kent (Scotland), Pete Herbert (Bali/UK), Renegades of Jazz (Germany), Cy Gorman & Ennio Styles (Australia), Pocz (Venezuela) and The Horses Sabotage (China) is out this week on Imagenes Recordings.
http://www.loscharlysmusic.com/.
Catch LCO live every Saturday at Floridita, Soho, London, W1.
