Photo by Emily Marcovecchio
The duo of Carolina Faruolo (ex-Los Bitchos) and Danny Lee Blackwell (Night Beats) release debut album Monte Carlo out today on Suicide Squeeze. The pair invent their own private escape to Latin rhythms, colorful vistas and smoky revelries, which encompass the tropicalia of Os Mutantes, the scrappy songwriting of Cleaners From Venus and the trippy production of Lee “Scratch” Perry.
Carolina Faruolo and Danny Lee Blackwell had been friends and mutual admirers of each other’s musical projects for years, though with Faruolo residing in the UK and Blackwell residing in Texas, their interactions were limited. Yet as was so often the case for many of us during the shelter-in-place stretches of 2020, geographic proximity wound up being a non-issue as our socializations became almost exclusively online endeavors. In this era of isolation and uncertainty, Faruolo and Blackwell invented their own private escape to Latin rhythms, colorful vistas, and smoky revelries under the project name of Abraxas. Combining their shared love of Wendy Renee, Los Destellos, doo-wop and R&B, they crafted their debut album Monte Carlo by bouncing ideas across the Atlantic.
The band shared three videos for Anatolian psych-funk inspired single “Göbekli Tepe,” “Mañana,” the perfect soundtrack to feverish nights in dancehalls, sipping on caipirinhas and cumbia-inspired song “Sunrise State (of Mind).” Watch the new videos below.
Watch “Göbekli Tepe” video here
Watch “Sunrise State (Of Mind)” video
Praise for Abraxas
“playful and downright catchy as hell”
– Austin Town Hall
“hazy, trancy soundscape”
– Flood
“As magnificent as its namesake, Monte Carlo takes you on a globetrotting trek across a dozen originals, for a mountainous, dissociative experience like you’re peaking on some high-powered stuff”
– KUTX
“All of the tunes are undeniably chicha, but there’s just so much more going on here, so much more imagination, and the results are definitely mind-expanding”
– MOJO Magazine
“a whirlpool of darkness and dream”
– Raven Sings the Blues
“charms us with mesmerizing guitar melodies and otherworldly vocals”
– Remezcla
“She was a member of Los Bitchos, he is Night Beats’ main guy. They share a love for tropical sounds, cumbia, Middle Eastern psych and funk grooves…the music of Abraxas is every bit as cool, soothing and danceable as you are now picturing”
– Shindig Magazine
“grooves amid a psychedelic swirl of reverb and hypnotic guitar licks”
– Treblezine
“This is an infectious, groove-laden record…”
– UNCUT Magazine
