XIXA

The first EP will be launched Nov 13th, the album february 2016, so there are no reviews, but find some articles here:

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2015/08/29/chicha-dust-announces-name-change-focus-on-tucson-roots-sound

https://tucson2015.sched.org/event/a5ac020dcdcbfc430cad2696bdf3a012#.Vi1hvRNViko

http://www.thetucsonedge.com/2015/09/01/chica-dust-under-their-new-name-xixa-at-hoco-fest-friday/

l - tba

XIXA – Shift and Shadow

Tucson’s mystic and psychedelic cumbia rock band led by Giant Sand members Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan debuts Friday November 13th with the EP ‘Shift and Shadow’ on Barbès and Glitterhouse Records, anticipating the LP ‘Bloodlines’, due early February 2016.

XIXA are psychedelic, Cumbia but, after all, Rock. The music is rooted in a mystic South American heritage, as well as in their hometown Tucson’s prospering Indie-Scene. Their own, open interpretation of Chicha, the Peruvian Cumbia popular in the Amazon and the ghettoes of Lima, surprisingly reveals a common denominator with the music from Arizona’s desert: an obsession for hard-edge guitars and a strong taste for mixing rock and Latin flavors.

Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan commenced the exploration of Chicha and Cumbia some years ago, in the same time while investigating their own family’s Latin. Touring as part of alt-americana legend Giant Sand’s recent incarnation, they also started playing tunes like ‘Cariñito’ that became an unexpected audience success. Little later they got their hands on Barbès Records’ cult-compilation ‘The Roots of Chicha’. “When people would mob us after the show, wanting to know the name of that one song, it was always the Chicha cover”, so Gabriel Sullivan.

Besides producing records, touring the world with Giant Sand, Sergio Mendoza’s Mambo Orkesta and Calexico or promoting their own projects, Lopez and Sullivan established Chicha Dust, learning and re-arranging as many classic tunes as possible. The project became straightaway one of the highest quoted new artists in Tucson and surroundings, creating first awareness in the national Chicha and Cumbia scene and consequently paving the way for XIXA, adding a strong emphasis on original songwriting. Brian Lopez states: “When we started playing Chicha covers, we learned songs inside and out and at some point that filters into your original music”.

XIXA consists, besides Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan on vocals and guitars, of Jason Urman on the keys, Geoff Hidalgo on bass, Efren Cruz Chavez at the timbales and percussions, as well as Winston Watson on the drums. Their musical backgrounds could not be more diverse: “while Efren was only into Latin music and didn’t know Led Zeppelin, Winston played for Alice Cooper in the 90s”, notes Brian Lopez.

The artwork, videos and general arts supervision is curated and produced by Tucson’s visual artist and fellow Hispanic heritage Daniel Martin Diaz, whose highly acclaimed work embraces the band’s passion for a mystic, almost gothic and surreal imaginary.

The first EP ‘Shift and Shadow’ was entirely mixed and recorded at the band’s own studio Dust and Stone. The EP will be followed by the longplayer ‘Bloodline’ in February 2016, while being released
Upcoming appearances include the prestigious new year’s evening show at Tucson’s Rialto theatre, while New York is about to follow in January, SXSW as well as a first European tour scheduled for late April. - mgmt

http://meccalecca.com/?p=24189 - Mecca Lecca