Bloodline

Description

FROM THE DESERT TO CUMBIA, XIXA’S FIRST ALBUM ‘BLOODLINE’ INVENTS A NEW LINEAGE: Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan are two of Tucson’s most recognizable musicians. Both are members of the mythical Giant Sand, Howe Gelb’s band, and have collaborated with artists from all walks of life - from Calexico to KT Tunstall - as arrangers, producers, and sidemen. A first EP, Shift and Shadow, released this fall, has introduced them to a new audience that seems to appreciate their cumbia as much as their tribute to the Meat Puppets. Their first album, Bloodline (out in February), evokes the baroque magic of the desert and a certain Mexican mysticism while retaining a marked taste for Latin parties where cumbia and melodrama both have their place. The sound is raw, but the compositions are often sophisticated and steeped in a touch of nostalgia for the analog productions of the 70s. Bloodline is part of a new wave of American artists who draw inspiration both from their own genealogy and from an invented one. Musicians of Latin origin are particularly fascinated by South American roots, but their approach is not fundamentally different from that of a Beirut or a Vampire Weekend. Whether it is Chicha, Balkan music or African music, these artists invent a new identity for themselves by borrowing references from elsewhere. Bloodline is a foundational album. The first in a long lineage.