The year 2020 has been a time of tremendous change. Old ways of doing things have been turned on their heads, music is no longer a refuge of complacency but an opportunity to connect with something real.
And nowhere is this sentiment more relevant than in the country of Chile, a society in transition with a deep appreciation of music, and the home of Como Asesinar a Felipes (CAF). And with their new release “MMXX”, the band has created a statement that paints a compelling portrait of this change. This is the 9th album from the band composed by 5 unconventional musicians who has taken their music with this new production to another level,
2020 is also the year that CAF took the awards “Album of the Year” and “Best Urban Act” in the Chile’s prestigious Pulsar Awards with their album “Naturaleza Muerta” (2019). It is on the heels of this achievement, and in the midst of serious national unrest, that sets the stage for “MMXX” (PotocoDiscos/Koolarrow Records/PIAS), a new step in a career for which challenge and change is the band’s religion.
The non-conformists have returned, except that in this new album MMXX, the band present their classic sounds from an almost entirely electronic foundation. The same group and the same team, including historic collaborators like Marcos Meza (original keyboardist of the band), Faith No More’s Billy Gould (responsible for the mixing process), Chalo G (sound engineer) and Krtur (graphic designer), while drummer Felipe Metraca steps up to take charge of the production duties. In truth, this is a classic incarnation of CAF, though perhaps seen through a new lens.
And this time there are plenty of hooks. All seven songs in “MMXX” contain a vibe of classic CAF, but the statement is clear and unambiguous, driven by lyrics faithful to the protest song and gritty urban poetry. A notable, and powerful, testimony to the diversity and originality of “MMXX” comes with the additional guest remixes, by an indisputable who’s who list of metal, experimental, Latin, and dub pioneers: Mad Professor, Scientist, Toy Selectah (Booms y Claps), Talking Book, Iggor Cavalera’s Mixhell and Shane Embury from Napalm Death. With no doubt, this is an album that will stand the test of time.
Como Asesinar a Felipes is a band that has run its affairs by following its’ musical heart. Thirteen years of exceptional releases and diverse touring in places like Haiti, Serbia, Spain, Romania, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico and the USA. A band that have distinguished themselves in their native country as a band without compromise, releasing 8 unconventional, but brilliantly arranged albums. Forming in Santiago in 2006, they began and continue as a five-piece ensemble that draws from an eclectic range of hip hop, rock, classical and jazz, interpreted through a signature that is uniquely their own: saturated, technicolor hues of sound painted on a dark psychedelic canvas, against a backdrop of post-Pinochet Chile.
