Los Crema Paraiso – Un disip en Nueva Yol
Los Crema Paraiso – Un disip en Nueva Yol (2015)
Directed by: Gustavo Bernal
Los Crema Paraiso is the musical moniker of Neil Ochoa (Si Se, Chicha Libre), José Luis Pardo (Los Amigos Invisibles), and Álvaro Benavides (Pedrito Martinez Group). This dynamic trio blends Venezuelan traditional music into jazz, rock, funk, electronica and exotic sounds from all over the world. With influences as diverse as Aldemaro Romero, Noel Petro, Tom Jobim, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Pink Floyd, Freddy Reyna, and The Police, this outfit packs an infectious energy that will make you dance in a way that you never have before.
“We are all Venezuelans that grew up playing different kinds of music but felt challenged to play with our roots and also wanted to bring something else to the way people see music from our native country” says bandmember Jose Luis Pardo. He adds, “our music sounds like a combination of high speed bossa nova with a jazzy modern waltz, and percussive atmospherics with a warmth and sweetness that only a mix of these elements can bring.”
Los Crema Paraiso’s sophomore album, De Pelicula! is coming out on May 5, 2015 on Cutuprá Productions and offers a fine line up of classic Venezuelan songs, rock anthems and original tracks. De Pelicula was recorded between 2012-2014 at Cutuprá Studios, in New York City as well as in Caracas, Venezuela and Bogotá, Colombia. While working on the album, they discovered that Los Crema Paraiso was best represented as a beat-driven band, but without a lead singer, they decided to aim towards a more cinematic approach by syncing the tracks with a mash up of 70’s and 80’s Venezuelan films to project at live shows. This created the title for the album which loosely translates to “worth the watch.”
There are many notable guest musicians who collaborated on this album such as Argenis Brito from Sr. Coconut who sings the Tears for Fears’ cover “Everybody wants to rule the world,” Carol C from Si*Se sings on Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus,” Andrea Echeverri from Aterciopelados sings the Venezuelan traditional folk “Currucha,” and Spanish singer Juan Rivas, wrote the lyrics and sung in the original “La luz se apaga.” Also, Jorge Glem from the renowned Venezuelan masters C4 trio also plays the cuatro on a number of the tracks.
Many of the songs on this album are deep rooted in Venezuelan culture. The track, “Un Disip en Nueva Yol” comes from the name D.I.S.I.P, a strong police force in Venezuela that most people feared and were intimidated by. The group wanted to create an image of these policemen in NY. The track is one you would hear in a police chase scene from a movie mixed with some Venezuelan drums called “culoepuya.” “Varon Domado,” another track off the album, was inspired by an artist called “El cazador Novato” (the rookie hunter) who made spoken word albums on top of Venezuelan folk music, His records were in every Venezuelan home and his stories were mostly about people from the small towns coming to the capital cities and the cultural clash between city and country life. Los Crema Paraiso wanted to adapt this idea to a story about somebody that comes to the city and gets out of the closet. Alberto Ferrera’s speech is featured here. A later track in the album, “Más”, came about as a tribute to the funky region of Zulia, the birthplace of a Venezuelan rhythm known as Gaita.
Jose Luis Pardo enthusiastically concludes, “We feel really confident with the sound we got and the identity of the album. The original idea was always to dig into Venezuelan traditional rhythms and find the sweet spot to mix them with well-known classic pop-rock songs and make fun covers into that style. This record is also about making a good song, original ones, with the sounds that we get when we play together. The Venezuelan heritage is already in our blood so it comes out when it needs to come out. The band started out as a side project since I was mainly touring with my former band, Los Amigos Invisibles and Neil was busy with Chicha Libre, but today this is our main band, no plan B.”
The group plans on touring soon to promote the release and says audiences should expect to move their feet to their party. Add in their unique film projections during their show and you have your own live soundtrack performed right in front of you.
Los Crema Paraiso is:
Álvaro Benavides: Electric Bass
José Luis Pardo: Guitar and Keyboards
Neil Ochoa: Drums and Percussions
Tracklisting:
01- Intro
02- Un Disip en Nueva Yol (José Luis Pardo)
03-El Curruchá feat. Andrea Echeverri (Juan Bautista Plaza)
04-Bello e’ Bola (mira la luna) (José Luis Pardo)
05-Varón Domado feat. Rocco Tarpeyo (M: J. Pardo, L: A. Ferreras)
06-Personal Jesus feat. Carol C (Martin Gore)
07-Más (A. Altone / T. Glazer)
08-To Zing with your girlfriend (Paradise Cream) (J. Pardo/N. Ochoa)
09-Everybody wants to rule the world feat. Argenis Brito (R. Orzabal/I. Stanley /C. Hughes)
10-Tanto que la quise feat. Juan Rivas (M: J. Pardo/N. Ochoa; L: J. Rivas)
11-Cucaracha en baile de gallinas (José Luis Pardo)
12-Sleepwalk (Santo & Johnny Farina)
