Locobeach is a New York Venezuelan cumbia pop Latin disco band. It’s not disco in the traditional sense, but it is great dance music. Psychedelic cumbia pop brings surf guitar styling to the music of coastal Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. It’s called “chicha” after the Andean and Amazonian corn beer.
Cumbia is fun to dance to. It’s a little more relaxed than salsa, so you can be really playful. As a contemporary/traditional fusion, the band falls into the Latin alternative framework.
Locobeach is all about losing yourself to maybe find yourself (or someone else) on the dance floor. It’s very Brooklyn.
Locobeach in New York City
Locobeach plays New York Venezuelan cumbia pop at Sleepwalk in East Williamsburg; on Friday, February 2, 2024 at 7pm. From $23. dice.fm 🇻🇪
Locobeach is Fun
If you say the band’s name with a Latin accent, you’ll get the joke, but it takes one to know one.
The band is:
- José Luis Pardo (Cheo Pardo) on guitars and vocals (DJ Afro, Los Amigos Invisibles, Los Crema Paríso)
- Neil Ochoa (Chicha Libre) on congas, percussion, electronics
- Joshua Camp on accordion, keyboards, vocals
- Edward Marshall on bass
- Fernando Valladares on timbales and drums
The band’s work is filled with Latin humor. Their videos are very fun too. They show the influence of Venezuelan contemporary art, especially the work of the world renowned Venezuelan kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez (1923-2019).
The band’s singles “Success on the Dance Floor” (2017) and “The Devil is a Charmer” (2017) are all about dancing. Latin dancing can be about deciding who feels good because you want someone to go home with you tonight. Their music plays to that.
In other words, if you want to find success on the dance floor, be careful what you wish for. Like the song says, “The devil is a charmer. He smiles and dances the samba. You better run baby, run baby, run baby, run.” But whether you run into it or away from it depends on how loco you are.
New York Venues
Their home base in New York City used to be Barbès in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It’s incredible that you can see music at this level in such a tiny underground place in Brooklyn. There used to be a lot of places like that in New York, but they have mostly disappeared.
- Barbès in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
- BAM, Brooklyn Academy of Music in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
- Nublu 151 in East Village, Manhattan.
- Sleepwalk in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
- Sultan Room, Bushwick, Brooklyn.
- World Music Institute
Follow
For more information, visit
locobeachofficial.com
Instagram @locobeachnyc
Bandcamp bandcamp.com