Brian Storming (Courtesy of Brian Storming Myspace)

Musical talent and creativity often run in the family. J.S. Bach’s father and uncles were accomplished musicians. Prince took his name from the jazz trio in which his father played. Yngwie Malmsteen grew up surrounded by family members with musical gifts.

It’s no surprise, then, that Duncan Toth, singer and composer of orchestral act Brian Storming, would be the son of Los Gatos’ bassist Alfredo Toth.

Further validating the genetic argument, the music of each displays a special affinity for the sounds of psychedelia. Decades after Los Gatos’ glory days, Duncan and Brian Storming have taken things to a more whimsical, pop-infused vista than the harder-edged group Los Gatos did in the 60s and 70s.

First conceived by Toth as an audiovisual project, Brian Storming combines atmospheric sounds with film projections to create an audience experience that is fully immersed in sensory-perceptual fantasy. Influenced by the ‘Sergeant Pepper’ era of bands like the Beatles, the imaginations of the likes of Tim Burton and Lewis Carrol, and early orchestral movements from Disney and Hollywood, Brian Storming catapults the listener into a blurry, rippling, and enchanting state of mind.

In 2003, the band appeared live at Creamfields festival, returning again the following year, and have since toured tirelessly throughout Argentina over the last decade. The recording of their first album, ‘The Fantastic Voyages of Brian Storming’, began in 2002 and was completed as a 10-track LP released in October 2005.

Quickly gaining recognition as a unique ensemble of sound, sight, and imagination, Brian Storming was selected to open three shows for Coldplay in February 2007, at the Gran Rex Theatre. In November of the same year, they were chosen to open for Björk in a string of Buenos Aires shows.

The band has been noted for its do-it-yourself ethic and organically independent position in Argentina’s shifting musical scenes. With lyrics sung in sleepy, whisper-soft English, Brian Storming’s sound awakens an impressive range of sensations: wondrous, experimental, and vulnerable motifs of innocence flirt with the mildly terrifying and pensive numbers recalled from Disney films such as ‘Fantasia’.

Occasionally criticised for choosing to sing in English, Toth responded in a 2010 interview with Página 12: “Singing in English is an ingredient of the atmosphere that we create, with film, music, or literary references such as Lewis Carrol, Jules Verne, and Edgar Allen Poe…It is a choice: every band and every artist makes a decision when creating something that has to consider what came before it.”

Despite pressure to enter into the castellano tradition of Argentine rock, Toth has acknowledged Brian Storming’s debt to bands such as Almendra while continuing to pursue their own peculiar, magical vision.

Following an EP in 2008 (‘Brian Storming Avec L’enchanting Device’), the band began work on its most ornately textured and visually evocative release to date: 2010’s ‘Brian Storming and the Illustrated Guide to Fantasie’.

Over 12 tracks, ‘The Illustrated Guide to Fantasie’ sparkles and shimmers with a modernised big band aura, particularly suited for a live setting.  With incredible skill and sonic detail, Brian Storming manages to sound both studied in its inspirations and shrewd in their expression of an avant-garde aesthetic. They are as steeped in 20th century orchestral beauty as they are in the punchy accoutrements of contemporary pop music—definitely worth checking out.

Genre: Orchestral Fantasy

Dates Active: 2002-Present

Famous For: Incorporating film and music into a visionary performing act

Most Famous Song: Stupid Little Drummer Boy

In their own words: “The idea is simple: to continue making records for a very long time.”

Best Lyric: “We’ll be the wheels of never-ending dream/so let the unexpected ride begin” (‘1920’)

Best to listen to: Never on drugs…

Lisandro Aristimuño on stage (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

After being nominated for multiple awards on two of the four albums he has released, it is no surprise that people are talking about Lisandro Aristimuño.

Best known for a unique blend of Patagonian folklore rhythms and modern electronic music, he might easily be likened to the British act Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly – especially on songs like ‘Es todo lo que tengo y es todo lo que hay’.

The musician describes his instruments as “voice, guitar and computer,” but in reality there is a lot more to his music than that. His sound is complex but intricate. It’s calm, but at the right time he will introduce a trumpet, a violin or a cello, adding multiple layers. The huge variety of instruments creates an interesting plurality, often letting you forget that there is only one man behind all of the noise.

Aristimuño was born into a family of creativity. Son of a theatre director and an actress, he was raised in an artistic atmosphere. Growing up in Rio Negro, northern Patagonia, he was immersed in the sound of the traditional folklore of the region, played at home by his parents.

This influence can be heard particularly in the rhythm of his own music, and comes together seamlessly with the more modern element of electronic music. For the most part, his lyrics betray his birth place, talking of simple beauty and nature. The song ‘Agua’, for example, retains modernity through an electronic beat, while the lyrics recall traditional folklore, talking of the artist’s hometown.

When he was 14 years old, Aristimuño began composing and playing music. He joined a local band, Marca Registrada, and in 2001, he moved to Buenos Aires, taking these early compositions with him.

Moving to the capital Aristimuño discovered electro music, and here, along with influences such as Peter Gabriel, Genesis, the Beatles, Bob Marley and Queen, the hybrid between modern and traditional emerged in his music.

The albums he released further down the line were heavily influenced by his new life in Buenos Aires, notably his second album, ‘Ese asunto de la ventana’.

In 2004, his debut album ‘Azules turqueozas’ won huge critical acclaim, entering the ‘Top 50 Albums of the Year’ list in both Rolling Stone magazine and Argentine equivalent Los Inrockuptibles.

The album was nominated for a Carlos Gardel prize that year, and received great reviews in news magazine Veintitrés and Revista G7, among others.

‘Ese asunto de la ventana,’ released the following year, featured once again on Rolling Stone’s ‘Top 50 Albums of the Year’ list, and was nominated ‘Record of the Year’ by the daily newspaper La Nación.

Aristimuño’s popularity and success grew exponentially and, after an acoustic tour of Spain in 2006 and the release of a third album in 2007, he decided it was time to give back to independent music.

Since 2008, Aristimuño has had his own show on independent radio station La Tribu, promoting new Argentine artists. Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine in 2011, he stated the show is his way to “give back to music what music has given to me.” He actively supports independent musicians by personally going to the shows of up and coming bands and buying a handful of their CDs.

For the last few years, he has been an advocate for independence and self-management in music. When he performed at Ciudad Cultural Konex, for example, he picked a few artists whose music he wanted to produce. Covering the production himself meant that tickets for the concert didn’t have to pay for it, so they could be super cheap; $40 for a mini festival.

2010 was a successful year. His most recent album, ‘Las crónicas del viento’, won the 2010 Carlos Gardel prize, and a performance at the Teatro Coliseo confirmed him an important figure in Argentine contemporary music.

Rio Negro remains an important place and, every two years, Aristimuño travels home to spend time with family and old friends. While changes in his life may have created new influences – for example, the city’s strong presence in his second album – the fundamental element of Patagonian folklore has always remained.

While it does so, Leandro Aristimuño stands out as a unique bridge between the rural and traditional culture of the south, and the fast-paced, lively atmosphere of the capital. And it is this rare combination that continues to make Aristimuño’s sound so popular and successful.

Genre: Electro-folk hybrid

Dates active: 2001-present

In their own words: “What I sing is how I really am. Sensitivity is the only thing that the system can’t grasp, and I think it’s important to talk about love. You have to show yourself as fragile, especially in these times.”

Most famous song: ‘Me hice cargo de tu luz’

Best lyrics: “I saw you leaving naked on the sea / I am the air in your glance.”

Famous for: Incorporating Patagonian traditional elements with modern electronic music.

Best to listen to: Sitting on a balcony watching the world go by

The brainchild of iconic singer Miguel Paralta, the Argentine group Los Abuelos de la Nada (The grandfathers of nothing’) have become synonymous with the reinvention of Argentine rock.

Formed in 1968, and spanning a 20-year period of band reformations, they might equally hold claim to being the most protean of Argentina’s musical acts.

Los abuelos de la nada

Peralta might have emerged from humble beginnings, but his eccentric persona and creative vision would secure him a loyal following. Frequenting the bohemian haunts of Barrio Norte in the late 60s, he caught wind of newly launched music label Mandioca. Having won over its director, Ben Molar, he sealed a record deal for the Abuelos before they had even been founded, and set out to recruit his band members from the cult hippy hang-out of Plaza Francia.

Peralta, along with guitarrist Claudio Gabis, bassist Alberto Lara, drummer Héctor Lorenzo, and pianist Eduardo Fanacoa comprised the first quintet to go by the name ‘Los Abuelos de la nada’.

With their distinctive medley of Argentine folk-rock and psychedelia – the Abuelos carved out a new aesthetic for Argentine music. Committed to social protest and freedom of expression, their experimental music made them a key player in the regnant countercultural imagination.

But the Abuelos were much more than mere dissenters. Peralta was a fervent reader of  poetry, most notably the writing of Arthur Rimbaud, Friedrich Hölderin and Leopoldo Marechal, and his finely-tuned poetic ear is manifest in the band’s sophisticated, irreverent and erotic lyrics.

The Abuelos made significant inroads in the Argentine music scene when they released their first single, ‘Diana Davaga’, in 1968. The simple, sonorous lyrics and folkloric resonances of ‘Oye niño’ and ‘Mariposas de madera’ are characteristic of the early period.

As a new decade beckoned, the Abuelos adopted a bluesy outfit with the single ‘En la estación’. It was the first song to feature Norberto “Pappo” Napolitano as lead singer, and the percussion instrumentals and ballad-like lyrics gave it a sultry flavour. Napolitano left the group shortly thereafter to form his own number, ‘Pappo’s Blues’.

Unimpressed by the turn the band had taken, Peralta abdicated his lead role and moved to Europe, a climate more conducive to his eccentric lifestyle. In his absence, Los Abuelos de la Nada was put on hold for the most part of a decade.

Summoned by guitarist Geraldo Lopéz, he returned to Argentina in 1980 and, far from capitalising on earlier successes, the band underwent a dramatic reinvention, heralding a golden era for Argentine rock.

New members assembled with Andrés Calamaro on keyboard, saxophonist Daniel Melingo, drummer Polo Corbella and guitarist Gustavo Bazterrica.

Los Abuelos de la Nada swiftly reclaimed their fan base and became the golden child of independent producers. Fusing rock with funk, salsa and reggae, their musical hybrid was emblematic of the cultural renovation of the time.

The singles released in 1982, including ‘Guindilla ardiente’, are testimony to their lead singer’s poetic inventiveness. The album ‘Vasos y besos’ was released the following year. Featuring their iconic protest song, ‘Mil horas’, it marked the apogee of the Abuelos success, and secured a following that packed out Luna Park stadium on three occasions.

But it was not all smooth sailing. As the group expanded, internal disputes became commonplace, especially between Peralta and the band’s producer Charly García. Biographer Juanjo Carmona cited “too much glamour and success” as the cause of the problems.

Courted by the music scene, the group slowly dispersed to pursue their own individual projects. Calamaro set out to produce a solo album and Melingo put his energies into a new group named Los Twist.

Whilst the Abuelos following might have diminished, it opened up a door for Peralta to pursue a solo career once again. His 1984 album, ‘Buen día, día’, was the fruit of a decade of musical experimentation. A hymn to the bountiful nature of experience it cast him as a kind of South American Walt Whitman.

The band, later renamed ‘Miguel Abuelo en Banda’, finally separated in 1988 following Peralta’s early death from AIDS. “Miguel was the poet, in capital letters,” Calamaro later quipped, “popular, sophisticated, streetwise, irreverent, and intimate.”

It is testimony to the enduring power of his lyrics that the legendary folk singer Mercedes Sosa performed his song, ‘Himno de mi Corazón’, at the presidential inauguration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2007.

Genre: New Wave Rock

Dates Active: 1967-1988

Famous for: Reviving the Argentine rock scene, and inflecting it with psychedelic, folkloric and reggae beats.

Most Famous Song: Costumbres Argentinas

Best Lyrics: “Te anden en tropel por todo el cuerpo / y se junten en tu corazón” (They walk in droves over you’re body / and come together in your heart)

In their own words: “Make no mistake, when you knew Miguel well, you’ll realise that he was life itself.” (Calamaro)

Best to listen to: When you’re on a road trip out to the pampas.

Michael Mike Band with their own brand of rap (Michael Mike press image)

If you’re someone who gets cranky when anyone besides the internet knows more about underground music than you, Michael Mike should already be on your playlist.

The Buenos Aires-based electro rock group is too obscure to even appear on Wikipedia, and its videos are suitably weird.

Along with an inescapable disco vibe, the band prides itself on experimenting with its own brand of rap. Back in 2008, band member Cuca de la Ley told Argentina’s Rolling Stone magazine that he was “embarrassed” by the rap his contemporaries were putting out.

“We want good national rap,” he said. “Latino rap usually copies the Yankees, with the backwards cap and all. For me, right now, the best rapper is Jay Z.”

True, rap is not necessarily what comes to a foreigner’s mind when listening to Michael Mike. Their most popular track, ‘A Bailar Horror’ (‘A Horror Dance’) from their second album ‘Ama Tu Ritmo’ (‘Love Your Rhythm’) does have more speaking than singing at times, but the pop / indie backdrop is more reminiscent of Vampire Weekend than of 50 Cent.

The trippy, kaleidoscope music video showing old movies also looks like production costs ran up to about $10, a far cry from buying even bottle of Crystal for a typical rap video.

In a U-turn from ‘A Bailar Horror’, the group took on a dramatic electro dance beat in the song ‘Lo Que A Vos El Amor’ (‘Whatever You Love’).

What makes this sound dance-worthy? Just ask the people in the video. A sultry lady in red begins a solo interpretive dance in the courtyard of an apartment complex, to the intrigue of who we can only guess are her neighbours. Soon, curiosity gets the best of them and, of course, in typical music video fashion, a full-on sexy dance party ensues.

Despite sounding like a one-man show, Michael Mike consists of six band members, each with fraternity-like nicknames: Tomás Justo, Big M (or, the “Black Lodge), Cuca De La Ley, Jean D’eon, Zeca and Andy Wildcat.

There are three songwriters among the sextet, which likely accounts for the band’s ability to skip across rhythms and genres and back again without breaking a sweat.

The band have released three albums to date and consider their third recording, ‘Nena o Neno’, their “best and most complete”.

Genre: Disco, electro, pop, rap

Dates Active: 2005-present

In their own words: “We wrote many of the songs in our adolescence. I wrote ‘The Platform’ and ‘Latin Love’ with my brother Augustine when he was 15 years old.”

Most famous song: ‘A Bailar Horror’

Best Lyric: “And I cannot escape this dream, I cannot escape. But I hear the music.”

Famous for: They’re still working on it

Best to listen to: When you’re around an annoying music fanatic or feel like starting a sexy dance party of your own.

Most Argentines don’t know who José Alberto Iglesias is. But mention his pseudonym – Tanguito – and eyes light up.

Considered one of the fathers of Argentine rock, Tanguito is one of the great names behind the Rock en Español movement.

Tanguito performing

Born in 1945 in Caseros, a northwestern suburb of Buenos Aires, the musical master flunked out of school. Despite his efforts in apprenticeships such as gardening, Tanguito was made for the guitar.

By the age of 17, he became a mainstay at dances in the neighbourhoods of Mataderos and Flores. There, Iglesias picked up his nickname, because he danced rock ‘n roll style in a zone filled with tango lovers.

In 1963, Tanguito became the singer of a group called Los Dukes and made his recording debut. He left the band after a suggestion that he should make a solo album for RCA, but the plan fell through.

After his time in the suburbs, Tanguito headed to the big city and started spending a lot of time at the Recoleta establishment La Cueva. Located at Av. Pueyrredón 1723, the venue came to be known as the birthplace of Argentine rock.

Tanguito and his group of bohemians also used to frequent La Perla del Once, a late-night dinner or breakfast joint. In their washroom, the rock legend penned his first popular song – ‘La Balsa’ – while his friend Litto Nebbia added musical elements.

Tanguito also went by another name: Ramses VII. He was fascinated by the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II and was enchanted by chords with dominant sevenths.

And so, it was Ramses VII who wrote some of the first popular Spanish rock songs in Argentina – specifically ‘La Balsa’, ‘Amor de Primavera’ and ‘Natural’ – according to the name attached.

The man became a rising star as the co-writer of ‘La Balsa’, which became famous when the band Los Gatos sang it. He recorded a single in 1968, which slumped because of poor marketing, although several Argentine artists were covering his songs, like ‘Amor de Primavera’ during the same year.

Until this point, Tanguito was using marijuana and pills like many of his peers. In mid-1968, however, he took to injecting amphetamines.

In 1970, he agreed to do a record with the label Mandioca. After a few skipped sessions, he finally showed up and recorded his only solo album, which was received with critical praise.

Despite his role as one of Argentina’s great musicians, Tanguito spiralled out of the musical sphere and into addiction and mental illness during his final years.

By the end of 1970, he’d caught the attention of police and was arrested several times before being sent to prison in 1971. After being charged with leading a drug gang and being diagnosed as criminally insane, he was sent to the José T. Borda Neuropsychiatric Hospital. There, he was subjected to insulin shock and electroshock therapy for his addictions.

Rather than recover, his mental health deteriorated and, in May 1972, he was sent to Penitentiary Unit 13 of the same hospital – a unit for for criminal psychopaths.

At dawn on the 19th May 1972, he escaped from the hospital. Although he reached the Pacífico train and hoped to get to his parents home in Caseros, he did not make it: at 10:50am, the legend fell on the tracks and was hit by an oncoming train.

Despite the tragic end to his life, Tanguito’s legacy lives on in his music. His songs continue to be covered, and there are movies and shows about his life. As the magazine ‘La Bella Gente’ once said: “Tanguito managed here, possibly for the first time, to take all the drive, the authenticity and the feeling that is used to sing in the streets of Buenos Aires.”

Genre: Argentine rock

Dates active: 1962-1972

Famous for: Being one of the pioneers of Argentine rock

In his own words: “All of a sudden you’re in a place with a guitar, as I was. There are 20 people, in a group or not – but they are there. I never said the group was mine, and only now do I learn that.”

Most famous song: ‘La Balsa’ or ‘Amor de Primavera’, both of which were popularised by other bands covering them.

Best lyric: “I have to get a lot of wood / I have to get it, from anywhere / And when my raft is ready / to be leaving the madness / with my raft I will go to wreck.” – La Balsa

Best to listen to: On weekend afternoons when your roommates are taking a siesta and you’re sipping mate / When you want something to chill your spine, but keep your mind occupied.