Not to make any comparisons, but the first time I met Nacho, singer, guitarist and chief agitator of the genre-free band Arboles Libres, I immediately thought of Nacho Vegas. Obviously the name made the first connection, but then armed only with a guitar and a harmonica, there was something strangely fresh about what until that moment I believed was a folk singer-song writer.
Two years later my friend Alejandro Angee is playing with his band Minimal at Transit Lounge in downtown Miami. I run into Nacho and after a few minutes of disparate and banal small talk I begin to tell everyone within earshot that "this guy is a Spanish Bob Dylan, a more melodic Latin American Leonard Cohen". Nacho laughs of course- "no man, wait till you hear what we do now" he says somewhat mischievously.
The night progressed and me and a group of 5 friends are downing Jameson shots and Sierra Nevadas like drunk twenty somethings with nothing better to do: the backyard of Transit Lounge is packed with indie music scenesters, Brickell kids wanting to escape the "boom boom" of the bars on 10th St and a few fiftysomethings who may or may not be the parents or music teachers of the excellent musicians on stage. After Alejandro's set is over, I high five him for an always "too cool" set. I mention to him briefly that I ran into "that dude Nacho who played in that fundraiser we did a few years ago" and Alejandro who is basically my wikipedia on all things Miami indie scene says: "oh yeah, wait till you hear what they do now".
I'm already hyped up. "Well what the hell do they do?" I ask Jose who ignoring me answers- "nothing man, they serve drinks, that's all they do" -as he looks at the two bartenders passing around Jack and Coke, his eyes transfused into either their lower backs or the bottle openers hanging from their black shorts. "What?" I say befuddled by his ignorant indifference "You have no idea what your about to experience" I brag, restrained only by my sudden realization that, 1) I've perhaps drank too many Sierra's and am at that point where everything excites me too much or makes me too sad and 2) I have no idea what Arboles Libres sounds like either.
Here's the thing, if you were to judge by the company that the three members of Arboles Libres keep, you would think that these guys are drug-infused-take-it-or-leave-it rock stars. There are model skinny girls in model skinny tights, guys with mustaches so voluminous that it defies description and they all circumvent them like they were planning something bad, very bad and that bad (meaning badass) was about to explode on stage.
I took my place near the front of the crowd when it was time for them to come. The backyard of Transit where the outside stage is located, began to resemble a pentecostal gathering as people bunched up, tightening open spaces, trying to get a close glimpse, on the far right of the stage, a group of girls, who were not part of the Arboles Libres pose waited for their boyfriends to bring them drinks, refusing to lose their space. I found friends standing a handful of people behind me still taking shots and looking at the bartenders. "Forget them, I'm ready to rock" I thought, unusually euphoric.
What came out of those two guitars and that hard hitting drum set can only be described as "sweet acidic melody". Bodies began to drag, seduced first by the ferocious riffs and hard hitting base of the drummer. "Mars Volta" I thought immediately, no comparisons needed: a minute into the first song the entire floor had transformed itself once again: bodies shaking, shimmering, convulsing, moshing, dancing, I could swear I saw a guy praying. Immediately I was regressed almost a time when I first discovered rock and roll in its strangest, rawest, most visceral and beautiful form.
Hey old Nacho, no need to go back to that old harmonica, "wait till you hear what you do now"
Here's a video from Arboles Libres, which is the way you should always see them:
And here's a video of MINIMAL, Alejandro Angee's phenomenal band:
All art in this post belongs exclusively to Arboles Libres.
-NUTA
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