We’re heading to Texas, y’all!
On Friday, De Los will host an official showcase at the 2024 South by Southwest Music Festival, which draws hundreds of thousands of music fans to downtown Austin every year to see bands and artists from across the globe play in an intimate setting.
While SXSW does feature today’s biggest stars — Peso Pluma, the Black Keys and Big Boi are slated to perform this year — the festival has developed a reputation of being the place to check out tomorrow’s favorite artists before they blow up.
That element of discovery was the guiding principle behind curating the De Los showcase. The lineup includes up-and-coming artists making waves in the world of Latin music, from musica Mexicana to urbano.
If you’re in Austin for SXSW, join us at La Factoria — located at 22 E. 6th St., Austin — for a night of musica de aquí, de allá y de los dos lados.
Here’s who’s performing:
Polo González
In recent years, musica Mexicana has shed its one-size-fits-all “regional” label and become a global powerhouse with several subgenres. This transformation occurred thanks to a new wave of millennial and Gen Z artists on both sides of the border who have built massive audiences on social media.
Polo González fits the profile. Born in Jalisco, Mexico, and raised in Denver, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter went viral in 2021 with “Sencillo Soy,” a corrido tumbado about humble beginnings that’s full of bravado; as of this writing, the music video has more than 65 million views on YouTube. González has since released two albums and has collaborated with the likes of Peso Pluma and Óscar Maydon.
Los Aptos
Los Aptos began in 2020 as a sad sierreño group out of Fort Wayne, Ind., that put out emotionally vulnerable guitar ballads about love and loss. Their single “Enamorado,” a tender ode about succumbing to your one true love, drew the attention of fans and labels alike.
Since then, the 20-something trio of Juan Ortega, Johnny Rivera and Daniel Vaides have evolved Los Aptos into an act that fuses traditional Mexican music with dreamy bedroom pop, rock and even jazz. 2023 was a big year for the band: They guest performed during VPS Music labelmate DannyLux’s Coachella set, released “Descifrar” (their fourth LP) and played at Lollapalooza.
Pink Pablo
It’s easier to describe Pink Pablo by his vibe — a unique brand of frenetic YOLO-ism — than by the many genres he dabbles in: urbano, pop punk, dance and indie rock.
Pink Pablo is the stage persona of Juan Pablo Rivera, a producer-singer-songwriter from Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, who dropped out of graduate school (he was pursuing a master’s degree in clinical psychology at Columbia University ) to focus full-time on making music. In October 2023, Rivera self-released “road 2 neverland,” a six-track EP that only slightly lets its foot off the gas pedal until the final song.
Bodine
Born in Amsterdam and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Bodine Koehler Peña is a former model turned musician who combines sultry vocals with equally sensual beats. Her 2022 LP, “Celos,” was an impressive debut that featured collaborations with urbano artists Fuego and Chicocurlyhead.
Her latest single, “No Me Quiera Más Na’,” is a Latin-infused club anthem about fickle men who are nonetheless difficult to quit. The music video, released in late February, doubles as an homage to Iris Chacón, the legendary singer and actress who was affectionately dubbed “La Bomba de Puerto Rico.”
Las Tiarras
It wouldn’t be a proper SXSW showcase without some homegrown talent.
Las Tiarras is an Austin-based family band composed of sisters Tiffany, Tori and Sophia Baltierra, who blend rock, psychedelic cumbia, reggae and soul to create their own brand of feminist Chicana music. Their latest single is a funky standout cover of the Cuban classic “La Negra Tomasa,” a 1937 composition by Guillermo Rodriguez Fiffe that has been interpreted by everyone from Buena Vista Social Club to rock en español legends Caifanes.
Nohemy
As with the other artists performing at the De Los showcase, trying to categorize Nohemy into one genre feels reductive. Though she is mostly associated with urbano, her 2023 album “Nohaus,” made with German producer The Crvv, saw her comfortably venture into house music. “Loca,” the album’s second track, is nearly three minutes of sheer fist-pumping goodness. Hailing from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Nohemy is also an accomplished songwriter (she’s collaborated with Mexican pop diva Paulina Rubio).
This story originally appeared on LA Times
