«…showcases Ani’s powerful, sultry vocal chops while her band swings and rolls with a rare fusion of jazz, rock, and flamenco. The music explodes with passion and sincerity.» – Cortney Harding, Bust Magazine
Cordero’s new album, De Dónde Eres is in stores now and garnering great press from the likes of Billboard, Chicago’s Daily Herald and Global Rhythm Magazine. Their second album on Bloodshot Records is their first to contain exclusively Spanish songs, written by Ani Cordero on her mother’s guitar after an unfortunate string of personal crises. Cordero recorded the album in Brooklyn between tours and other performances; in 2008 they toured with Dengue Fever in February and March before heading out on a series of midwestern dates that included the prestigious Chicago World Music Festival. On the heels of their performance at Bloodshot Records’ CMJ Party and a West Coast tour, Cordero will headline the Rock En Espanol Festival in Boston on Friday, December 12th.
The first single, «Ruleta rusa» is out, with a beautiful video shot entirely in the forest – it has already enjoyed an exclusive premiere on Myspace Latino, and is now getting aired in outlets across the country. Watch it here: http://www.vimeo.com/1429884. The album is gaining traction on the radio, currently it is charting in both the latino and world music charts in CMJ Weekly.
While Ani and husband Chris Verene (formerly of The Rock*A*Teens) are best known for their critically acclaimed, tension-laden independent rock, with De Dónde Eres, the band has taken a side-route away from the anxious and angular sounds of En Este Momento or Lamb Lost in the City. De Dónde Eres finds Cordero further exploring the rhythmic intricacies of Latin music while turning down the guitar amps for a much more quiet and inward set of songs. Ani’s ever-nimble guitar patterns are threaded around Latin percussion, pulsing bass notes and bright horn lines as the band wrings a both-sides-of-the-border mystery out of gentle melodies that pay tribute to forebears such as Nick Drake, Belle and Sebastian, and Os Mutantes.
Thematically, De Dónde Eres runs the gamut of emotions. While many songs–such as the ruminative «Guardasecretos»–find Cordero exploring the internal experience, album starter «Quique» is an immediate call to the dance floor, shot through with equal servings of melancholy and exuberant hopefulness. «La Yegua» («The Mare») is a powerful statement of women’s independence, staking out a place somewhere between «brave», «wild» and «fierce», while «Ruleta Rusa» («Russian Roulette») castigates the greed of the profit-driven corporations and governments.
Cordero’s music is clearly a product of its creative and cultural diaspora. An indie rock band with Latin roots, Cordero is led by a woman of Puerto Rican descent who calls Brooklyn her home, but still finds a kinship with many other places–Tucson, Atlanta, and other points on the map where she has lived or performed. The album title translates as «where are you from?» Indeed, «Where is she from?» has been the primary question from audiences and press alike. Ten years on stage responding to that same question has led the band to answer randomly, sometimes teasingly naming places like Atlanta, which while partly truth, is rarely exotic enough to satisfy the person asking.
Ultimately, De Dónde Eres stands as a battle-scarred–yet uplifting–document of heartache and joy on a scale both universal and intimately personal, displaying an independent multicultural rock outfit at the top of its powers.
