BLASST 132: C. Diaz

TRACKLIST

1. Björk - "Big Time Sensuality"

2. Ataque de Caspa - "Viaje a Egipto"

3. PJ Harvey - "Is This Desire?"

4. Cocteau Twins - "Cherry-Coloured Funk"

5. CCFX - "The One To Wait"

SHOW NOTES

We made it! Welcome back to another weekly entry of Blistering Listens and Strange Sounds, thank you so much for listening as always.

Today's guest is the artist, filmmaker, archivist, and dog lover, C. Diaz. C. is an RGV native, but has spent quite some time out in the world pursuing the threads of their creative energy. This journey has led them through the ever-twisting and turning paths of cinema, from live video mixing for bands in Austin to discovering their love of direct animation at Mono No Aware in NYC, and finally to awakening their talents as a colorist at a post-production house in LA -- all the while making films of their own using various media. 

As we discuss in the episode, this journey has ultimately been one of self-discovery for C. Throughout the 2.5 hours of this show we look back at their path through the world of cinema, and talk about how each leg of the journey, each kind and helpful soul along the way, has helped shape them into the artist they are today.

Speaking of the present day, C. has been a great collaborator of mine for nearly two years now. In early 2021, we started working on an idea that would eventually become ENTRE Film Center & Regional Archive, the biggest project either of us has undertaken in a long time. We go in-depth about it in this video:

In the middle of 2021, while ENTRE was still taking shape as a concept, we both worked with fellow artists and friends Natalia Rocafuerte and Josue Ramirez to organize, curate, and host MIRAAA Media Fest, a festival encouraging RGV artists to explore non-traditional storytelling and media through collaboration and experimentation, in late August of that year. You can still watch the stream here (it eventually went virtual due to a surge in COVID cases via the Delta variant).

Beyond being an excellent collaborator, C. has also become a great friend, and I'm really glad I was able to bring them on the show. Below are a few links C. sent over including their website, substack, and other projects and inspirations! Episode is below them.

Věra Chytilová

Mono No Aware

AMIA

Ana Mendieta

Belladonna of Sadness

PST LA/LA

Echo Park Film Center

MIRAAA

This week in experimental

Collapsed Timelines in Felicitous Space

Crossing Over (C's Substack)

Academia.edu

Are.na

C. on IG

Website

BLASST 131: HiMarcus

TRACKLIST

1. Dijon - "Rodeo Clown"
2. Ravyn Lenae - "Skin Tight (feat. Steve Lacy)"
3. Blood Orange - "Dark & Handsome"
4. Vegyn - "So Much Time - So Little Time (ft. John Glacier)”
5. Radiohead - "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"
6. Kero Kero Bonito - "Time Today"

NOTES 

Something I've observed over the last decade or so is that the roles of "artist" and "marketer" have essentially merged. As a direct result of the advent of social media, most folks trying to lead a successful career as an artist also have to find a way to promote their art. We can go into the details of this phenomenon another time, but perhaps one benevolent byproduct is that this is the perfect environment for auteurs. Artists who wish to carefully craft every aspect of their work have never had it easier, honestly. 

Enter HiMarcus, the nom de plume of Marcus Narro, one such auteur. His can of earworms debut LP, Dirtbag, was released last September to an RGV that frankly did not see it coming. With its polished production, memorable songwriting, and strong stylistic vision, the album - and Marcus himself - wasted no time in making a lasting impression on the music scene. 

On today's episode, we talk about how he got into music, where he pulls inspiration, his album's rollout and everything that went into it, and of course, some of his favorite music as well. Tune in below.

 

 

 

BLASST 130: B11CE

TRACKLIST

1. J Dilla - “Workinonit”

2. Kanye West - “Two Words”

3. B11CE - “Vicky”

4. Rustie - “After Light”

5. B11CE - “Slo-Mo Rodeo”

6. Pequeño Baile - “Que Cunta La Tele De Nosotros: La Zona 2ndre”

7. B11CE - “Pointillist”

8. B11CE - “UniSun”

9. B11CE - “Where It Ends & U Begin”

10. B11CE - “Pretty Sick”

NOTES

It occurs to me that I should probably not be writing these at the crack of midnight (maybe it'll help the writing be better) but nonetheless, here we are again with another episode. Today's guest is a musician, producer, and multimedia artist I've had my eye on for the last few months, B11CE, the nom de plume of one Adrian Barrientes from Brownsville, TX. 

As you will hear in the show, Adrian's musical journey has taken him across the country and across various genres, eventually landing upon his current project, which seems to find him at his most realized in a creative sense. From one gander through his IG, one can be exposed to a spread of different art and media delving into both the absurd and experimental, which I think is a fitting representation for B11CE's creative approach. He first appeared on my radar when he released the deluxe edition of his most recent LP, Nalgaz Dulcez, the stunning artwork for which is posted below.

(Art by Michelle Spearmint)

What I found particularly remarkable about this album push was that Adrian was doing all of the work himself. He posted photos on his instagram of the whole production process, and I was thoroughly impressed to see someone in the RGV putting that much time into their merch game. It doesn't hurt that the album itself is trippy work of art, pairing fever-dream production with booty-shaking jubilation. It's very easy to find yourself listening to the last track before you know it. Some standouts for me are "Pointillist", "Ble$$M32DETH", "Sustame", and "Playt1m3". 

During our conversation we also mention the music video Adrian shot for one of his early singles, "Vicky", throughout various laundromats in the LA. Check it out above, or tune into the episode (at last) below.

It was a great pleasure to speak with Adrian, and I look forward to seeing more work from in the near future. If you enjoyed the episode, drop me a tip via my page on Mixcloud! BLASST is a labor of love and completely funded out of my pocket, so any support y'all can give would be massively helpful.

Thanks again for tuning in, and see y'all in a couple weeks. Next guest: HiMarcus.

- AS

BLASST 129: Bekah Hinojosa

TRACKLIST

1. Boris - "Furi"

2. Alice Cooper - "Clones (We're All)

3. Black Sabbath - "War Pigs"

4. ABBA - "Fernando"

5. Lita Ford - "Kiss Me Deadly"

We're not on Apple Podcasts anymore, I'll get into it next episode. You can find all of our episodes (including new ones) on MIXCLOUD. You'll find today's episode embedded at the bottom of this post.

NOTES

Alright y'all. Let's get the obvious out of the way first. Yes, BLASST is back, after a little over a year off the air. Nothing happened to prompt the move, I just felt burnt out after keeping the show going through 2020, which was a really hard year to do literally anything with your life. So, when 2021 rolled around, I figured it would be a good time to focus on me for a change. Surprise, surprise, it helped! I got my routine back, worked on a couple fun projects with friends (MIRAAA & ENTRE), and most importantly, survived another year in the pandemic. 

It wasn't until 2022 rolled around that I started to feel like there's a real chunk of life breathing through the RGV again. It'd been happening long before that, but it wasn't until a couple of months ago that I sensed a consistency in it, longevity. All of a sudden we were awash in a sea of new faces doing great things. Cool things, even. People that I feel deserve a platform of some kind. And so, BLASST has returned. I wanna talk to these folks, learn their stories, and learn a bit about their music taste while I'm at it. Which brings me to today's guest: Bekah Hinojosa!

Bekah is an environmental activist from Brownsville, TX. She's been organizing for a really long time, at least a decade, and most recently has been putting in a lot of time with anti-LNG (liquid natural gas) and anti-SpaceX movements. Well just last month, following the appearance of some graffiti underneath that atrocious 'BTX' mural in Brownsville, she was arrested and put in jail for 26 hours. After her arrest, the mayor of Brownsville posted her mugshot on his official facebook account, thanking the police for acting on an act of "vandalism". See the original post (he edited it the next day) below:

I wanted to speak with Bekah as soon as I heard about this happening. Not only is this a gross abuse of power on the part of the mayor of Brownsville, but it also reflects poorly on the infrastructure of support that SpaceX has essentially bought for itself in South Texas. Mayor Mendez is defending this mural (which continues to be poorly received by people across the Valley, not just Brownsville) as a gesture of blind loyalty to SpaceX. I believe the kids today define what Mayor Mendez is doing for SpaceX as "dick-riding".

That being said, Bekah is super cool, and I'm very thankful to have been able to speak with her about her experience. As you will hear in the show, she currently has a donation page setup to help cover her legal costs as well as a petition to get the misdemeanor charges dropped. Links to both below:

Bekah's Petition

Donate to Bekah

On top of being fun, our chat explores why this abuse of power is problematic and what it means for the rest of the Valley as SpaceX reaches further into the RGV for roots of power. She also picked some damn good songs, so tune in and enjoy!

*Editor's Note: I chose Boris to open this show because the recurring theme in this episode is rock n' roll, and it just doesn't get more rock n' roll than Boris.

See y'all in two weeks. (fingers crossed) 

AS