Quantic in Brighton

25ThC checked out some Colombian awesomeness on the South Coast:

Quantic, aka Will Holland, must never sleep. He seems to release at least one or two new quality albums from his base in Colombia every year with a myriad of hugely talented musicians and then promotes and tours them to critical acclaim.

For his latest album, Ondatrópica, Will has teamed up with Colombian musician Mario Galeano with a plan; “to re-interpret the tropical musical heritage of Colombia with new approaches in composition, arrangement and production in a classic and mythical setting.” The album was recorded over three weeks in January 2012 at the famous Discos Fuentes studios in Medellín where Will and Mario were joined by Colombian legends including big-hitting saxophonist Michi Sarmiento, multi-instrumentalist Fruko and accordion-playing don and singer Anibal Velasquez, as well as a new wave of Colombian and South American musicians such as Chilean MC Ana Tijoux and El Chongo, a young percussionist and beatboxer from the city of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast.

On stage Will and Mario were joined by the other Colombian legends to perform many tracks from the album. The knowledgeable Brighton crowd didn’t take very long to get into the swing of things and danced non-stop throughout the set which, like the album, was a mixture of well known and classic Colombian styles. Cumbia porro, gaita and champete clashed head-on with boogaloo, ska, hip hop, dub and funk.

The highlights of the evening were unexpected cumbia covers of Rod Stewart’s Do You Think I’m Sexy and Black Sabbath’s Iron Man.

Overall then, it was a great vibe, with lots of dancing and smiling faces, and yet again another winning album and collaboration by Quantic who at the moment can do no wrong.

 

 

Review by 25ThC