Not everyone has a high opinion Latin music (which, honestly, shame on you if that’s the case) but personal preferences aside, it’s just a simple fact that producer-guitarist Adrian Quesada, engineer-guitarist Beto Martinez, bassist Greg Gonzalez, and singer Alex Marrero are some of the hardest working purveyors of the genre. A decade after Grupo Fantasma won for Best Latin Rock, Alternative, or Urban Album, these badasses are ready to Brownout once again.
Following up the tribute records Brown Sabbath and Fear of A Brown Planet, this local nine-piece is not only back with their first set of originals in eight years, but they’ve teamed up with the one and only Steve Berlin of Los Lobos to produce it. Berlin Sessions includes eleven “official” tracks and two “bonus” footnotes that obscure the lines between ’60s psychedelia, ’70s hard blues rock, ’80s funk, and heck, even some Spaghetti western scores for good measure. Brownout brings their boisterous brand of Latin-inspired licks to Studio 1A next Wednesday at 7PM for KUTX After Hours with Jody Denberg. They’ll also be playing two shows at 3Ten next weekend, coinciding with the release of Berlin Sessions. For today though you can cut the lights on the work week with a new, sultry, Spanish-language single off Berlin Sessions – “Naín”!
–Jack Anderson
