Resistance Funk | Cadence Recordings

CHICANO BATMAN’S INVISIBLE PEOPLE OUT NOW

May 12, 2020 by Cadence Recordings

#PlayAtHome, ATO Records, Blank Slate, Chicano Batman, Invisible People, Pink Elephant, Psychedelic Funk, Resistance Funk

APPEARED ON

VICE NEWS TONIGHT’S RECEIVER

WATCH NEW VIDEO “BLANK SLATE”

WATCH THE BAND’S PERFORMANCE ON

THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT #PLAYATHOME SERIES

“The eclectic, party-starting Southern California band make their most accessible record, with big hooks and definitive statements to match.” – PITCHFORK

“retro-tinged resistance funk” – ROLLING STONE

“supremely groovy” – FADER

“beautiful mix of love songs, psychedelia to political consciousness” – NPR Music

“progressive lyrics with hard-hitting synth-funk beats” – V MAN

“a cross of Tame Impala and Neon Indian…shape their tropicalia-bent indie rock into a glossier pop-style.” – CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND

“perfect musical accompaniment for summer cruisin'” – AV CLUB

(Toronto, ON – May 12, 2020) – LA’s beloved psych-soul four-piece Chicano Batman recently released their highly-anticipated new album Invisible People via ATO Records. Pitchfork calls it their “most accessible record” while NPR Music says it’s “an incredible leap forward,” and AllMusic praises the way the 12-song collection “twists and morphs with the elegance of a lava lamp.”

Listen and share Invisible People here: http://smarturl.it/invisiblepeople

Last night, Chicano Batman appeared on Vice News Tonight’s Receiver where they spoke with Dexter Thomas about their “uniquely-of-the-moment record” (LA Times) and answered fan questions.

Watch HERE.

The four-piece also debuted their music video for “Blank Slate,” filmed at Hollywood’s legendary Barefoot Studios. The visual sees Chicano Batman’s Bardo Martinez grooving around the studio that was home to Stevie Wonder, interspersed with empty shots of the City of Angels.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC9wLUO0KLk

“Blank Slate is a progressive musical aesthetic for the band,” bassist Eduardo Arenas says. “The music video superimposes forward-moving streetscapes over our studio performance which say less about who the band is but where we are headed. The video offers a glimpse into our band chemistry and shows the ambitious crafting of a future sound.”

Additionally, director George Mays says “the guys told me they envisioned a dark and slightly futuristic art video that represents the idea of moving on from the past and creating a new path forward. They were doing so with their music and in their personal lives, so we edited live footage with shots from around their native LA that we felt captured the artistic movement.”

To celebrate their record release, Chicano Batman performed “Color my life” for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s #playathome series.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f17-vhZ20jw

For the album, the band worked with Shawn Everett, the GRAMMY-winning mixing engineer known for his work with Alabama Shakes, The War on Drugs, Kacey Musgraves, and Julian Casablancas. With production by Leon Michels (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields & The Expressions) and Everett steering the record’s direction, the band’s lush sound has become a more pointed, densely layered soundscape. Invisible People is an illuminating and encapsulating listen, one that hasn’t lost the essence that put Chicano Batman on the map and makes a stirring point about the times we’re living in

ABOUT CHICANO BATMAN:
Like all the most iconic music born from the West Coast, Chicano Batman’s Invisible People offers an instant escape into the beautifully strange world they inhabit. Throughout their fourth album, vocalist/keyboardist Bardo Martinez, guitarist Carlos Arévalo, bassist Eduardo Arenas, and drummer Gabriel Villa channel the kinetic spirit of their city into a wildly shapeshifting sound, ultimately finding an unstoppable joy in following their most outrageous instincts. Produced by Leon Michels (The Carters, A$AP Rocky, Lee Fields & the Expressions) and mixed by Shawn Everett (Vampire Weekend, Alabama Shakes, Beck), Invisible People taps into the unbridled creativity Chicano Batman previously brought to their 2009 self-titled debut, 2014’s Cycles Of Existential Rhyme, and 2017’s Freedom Is Free (their first release since signing to ATO Records). But as evidenced on songs like lead single “Color My Life” and on the album’s emotionally raw title track (whose lyrics examine race as a scientific fallacy), Invisible People embodies elements of everything from krautrock to hip-hop-all while capturing the powerful energy the band’s shown in touring with artists like Alabama Shakes, Portugal The Man, and Jack White. The result is Chicano Batman’s most imaginative body of work yet, a collection of songs that could only come from their own idiosyncratic minds.