Roberto Lange, a.k.a. Helado Negro, creates music inspired by all kinds of other music he listened to while growing up. Music that fits nicely into genres, like salsa, rave, rap and R&B. His music, however, doesn’t fit into any one category.
His tunes are an amalgamation of electronic waves, soothing Spanish lyrics, static and rhythmic beats. There isn’t a beginning, climax or end to his songs. They could go on forever.
Some are calling this Latino Indie, even if he doesn’t agree.
“We’re not purposely avoiding the clichés in the music, we’re just not aligning ourselves with them,” says Helado Negro. “We’re Latinos because we’re Latinos. That’s the commonality.”
In 1994, a powerful sound filled with electricity came from El Paso, Texas. The music came from At the Drive-In, a band made up of Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Omar Rodríguez-López, Paul Hinojos, Tony Hajjar, and Keeley Davis. Their sound was pure punk rock, and they were captivating. Although the band’s life span would be an off-and-on kind of thing for years to come, another prolific entity came out of it: Mars Volta. The group was captivating thanks to Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López, two fro-y-haired Latinos that commanded rock n’ roll. Now, the guys are back!
Seven years after Mars Volta disbanded, they are working on new material and, OMG.
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Over the weekend, Bixler-Zavala responded to a fan who said: “I dream of you guys giving TMV a new chapter.” Mars Volta lead singer Bixler-Zavala told them “It’s happening.”
Bixler-Zavala elaborated by saying their reunion isn’t anything new, and that they’ve been working on music for a while.
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In a tweet (which have been deleted), Bixler-Zavala said that the band is re-releasing some old material and working on new stuff as well.
“What it’s NOT going to be is your ‘fav member lineup’ playing their ‘classic records’ in full etc,” Bixler-Zavala tweeted, according to Consequence of Sound. “Maybe we’ll play old shit, who knows how we feel. Just remember our past campaigns never relied on playing requests or going fully backwards …it’s new shit, new people, left turns, tangent inconsistencies, mazapan dreams and churro wishes. I will say this though, when ORL played me a grip of new shit I fucking cried. Like Claire Daines in Romeo & Juliet cried. Yeah it was fucking weird. It’s in its infancy right now. No deadlines, no ball tripping, no drama, just 2 grown ass men using essential oils and bold new perfumes shooting ideas and scooting their ass across the fucking lawn trying to get rid of these worms.”
Needless to say, fans are super psyched about the new projects in the works.
That basically translates to, holy shit and we agree.
Fans are in a perpetual gasp since the news broke about the band getting back together.
Honestly, yeah. That is every Mars Volta fan across the world. How did this happen? When was the decision made? There are so many questions that are not being answered and the people demand answers.
it has been a really hard and weird two and a half years so this is some of the most welcomed news.
This couldn’t have come at a better time. We need this! Not only do we need this, the world needs this. There is so much negative news right now as government strips citizens of rights and wars rage. It is nice to know that something good is happening.
Fans are not holding back on their unbridled excitement.
What a wonderful time to be alive. Thank you Mars Volta for giving us something to look forward to right now.
Some people are afraid and we are low key curious about why and can’t wait to find out.
Whatever Mars Volta is planning, you know it’s going to be good. Even if you get a little scared, just breathe and know it is all going to be okay.
This year, cable TV network Adult Swim partnered with 52 different acts to release one free song a week. It’s the first bit of new music from the Florida native since his 2016 breakthrough album, “Private Energy,” which featured the anthemic single “Young, Latin and Proud.”
We love everything about this electro-chill track! And, hopefully, this release is an indication that more new music is on its way.
Helado Negro also recently performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, and there were no synths or drum machines to be found:
