The best place to find great Latino indie and alt-punk bands on Cinco de Mayo in Austin is at “Drinko de Mayo” at Frontier Bar. With a newly upgraded sound system and an out of the box party reputation, Frontier Bar is developing into quite the new hot spot amongst Austin’s cool and hip(ster) scene. [...]
On Friday, Jan. 6, we concluded our Austin Vida Free Week showcases at the legendary Stubb’s BBQ. This was our rock en español showcase, featuring some of Austin’s long-time local favorites Kalua, Vitera and Maneja Beto. Kalua performed for the first time with a string section to compliment singer Juan Diaz’s mariachi-rock vocals while Maneja [...]
One of the goals I wanted to achieve when my friends and I took over Austin Vida three years ago was to change the way people viewed what a “Latin” band was and/or how Latino musicians were perceived. Sure we pay our respects to grandfather Tejano and love large member, mini-Latin orchestra style salsa bands. [...]
Red 7 is one of the premier hardcore venues, not only in Austin but arguably in the country. It is one of the few clubs that regularly hosts punk, metal and hardcore acts that the kids who wear black t-shirts love. I oughta know because I am a grown-up version of one of those kids. [...]
The first week of January in Austin, Texas is known as “Free Week” to live music lovers. Many of Austin’s independent live music venues and clubs waive their cover charge and present free local showcases throughout the week. For years the showcases were dominated by popular singer-songwriters, indie bands, punk bands, hard rock bands and [...]
Once referred to as “Willie Nelson’s favorite new group,” San Angelo’s Los Lonely Boys may just be many peoples’ favorite group, or one of at least. Their style of blues meets old school rock-and-roll, what they refer to as “Texican,” really gets their fans pumped up. This was apparent at their packed concert at Stubb’s [...]
South by Southwest is without a doubt one of the craziest weeks on the planet. Even better for Latin Alternative and Latin indie fans, it is one of those rare occasions where you can see some of the best musical talent from all over Latin America and Spain in one music festival. This year was [...]
Systema Solar is a Colombian cumbia/funk DJ crew we caught here at South By Southwest in March. Their infectious, bass-heavy cumbia beats make it hard for one to stand still. This month they finally released their much anticipated self-titled album, which we hoped would bring some of the energy from their amazing live show through [...]
The Rio Grande Valley is a regional hotbed for Latino indie talent as bands like Dignan, Vinyl Dharma and In Situ Sound have proven. From what our sources tell us, more talent from South Texas is ready to burst on the scene. The next band to carry that torch for El Valle is a young [...]
Love Star, a Los Angeles-based indie-pop trio, recently made their first Latin Alternative Music Conference appearance. Formerly known as Grito Mutual, the newly renamed Love Star is comprised of Jorge Torres (bass), Will Alves (guitar) and Adriana Fernandez (vocals). Their new Happiness EP is composed of four solid pop songs both in English and Spanish. The [...]
