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Listen
to Cordero on NPR's "The Next Big Thing"
Go
to the Cordero website! >>
Cordero
just released "En este momento" on Bloodshot
Records. More intoxicating Latin rhythms for your bilingual pleasure!
Check out a mp3 and order at the bottom of this page. Also, learn
more at Bloodshot
Records.
 Somos
Cordero!
The
question that started it all was: "Why can't a Latina start
a bilingual band that has Latin dance rhythms and an indie-rock
heart?" In 1999 Ani Cordero answered the question by founding
the five-piece band Cordero. Ani's vision saw an alternative rock/Latin
rock band that could stay true to her roots yet thrive in a New
York scene known for bands like Interpol
and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. With three years together, a debut album,
a live album, and many months of touring under the band's belt,
Cordero now
prepares for its second CD release, Somos Cordero, set for national
release March 9, 2004, under Daemon Records/Koch Distribution.
Cordero's
bilingual garage-rock infused Latin sound personifies the founder's
life. A Georgia-bred Puerto Rican, Ani Cordero didn't have an
easy time being one of very few Latinos in Atlanta. She didn't
have the support of a large Latin community, nor had most of her
school friends even heard of Puerto Rico. At the age of 14, Ani
felt like an outsider -- and it wasn't long before she was swept
away by the unique and rebellious punk rock local scene. "My
mom and dad were so cool. I had guys come over with mohawks and
polka dot cars and they never judged them. There was a real punk
rock community, and I belonged," recalls Ani. At that time
she also discovered she had a passion for drums. With money she
earned from babysitting jobs that same year, she bought her first
drum set and began playing in punk bands around town.
At
the age of 17, Ani began to move into indie-rock and joined many
bands
as a drummer. Four years of college went by while maintaining
a national touring and recording schedule. This included a tour
with Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker, another Georgia female-rocker.
The most successful band of this phase of Ani's life was Number
One Family Mover. Signed to Pearl Jam producer Brendan O'Brien's
label, the band was dropped after one album due to the record
label's doubts about how to sell such a band that was "less
rock than experimental." Disappointed, Ani moved on and found
a gig touring as the drummer of Man or Astroman's female "clone"
band Gamma Clones, where she was given the name "Tweety Tone,
and wore silver pants made of the most horrible plastic,"
Ani remembers with laughter. She was ready for a change of scene,
and decided to give herself a "sabbatical" in Tucson,
AZ, where she taught herself to play guitar and worked on recording
her own compositions with the help of newfound friends Howe Gelb
of Giant Sand and Joey Burns of Calexico. The result was Cordero's
first album Deserter, which was never officially released but
made available on Cordero's website
With such accomplishments at a young age, it was tough for Ani
to sit back
and wait for something to happen with Deserter. By July of 1999,
after six
months in Tucson, she moved one last time to Brooklyn, New York,
where she
set out to put her own band together. Ani hooked up with Chris
Verene, former Atlanta Rock*A*Teens' drummer/artist (art exhibitions
at The Whitney Museum and a book by Twin Palms Publishers), guitarist
Lynn Wright and bassist/violinist
Jonathan Petrow both Bee & Flower members, and keyboardist/lapsteel
guitarist F.A. Blasco of Blasco Ballroom. It was late
1999 and Ani Cordero was the frontwoman of a band that bore her
name,
Cordero. It was time to bring together all of the band's experience
to fuse Ani's bilingual lyrics and Latin music background with
the band's mostly indie/punk/southern rock influences. The band's
self-produced debut CD, Lamb Lost in the City, was released in
October of 2002 by Amy Ray's
(Indigo Girls) Georgia based indie label Daemon Records.
Beloved
by national and New York press, Cordero kicked off its first year
with features in New Yorker, Billboard Magazine, Village Voice
and Time Out
New York. The album sold over 3,000 copies during its first few
months and
was played on roughly 400 radio stations in the U.S. and Europe.
Cordero
was invited to open for the legendary Los Lobos on part of their
U.S. tour.
Fans dubbed the band, "Los Lobos Junior!" Cordero has
also performed with
and toured with Neil Halsted, Smokey & Miho, Indigo Girls,
Jesse Malin,
Howe Gelb, and Trailer Bride in over 140 live concerts supporting
"Lamb."
In September 2003 Cordero released a live (enhanced CD) album
titled
Cordero En Vivo! (Digital Club Network) featuring 11 tracks from
a concert
in June 2003 at Arlene's Grocery, NY, with a Quicktime video of
"Vamos
Nenas," performed that night. Ani's talents can also be seen
as a singing
drummer for Artemis Records' Josh Joplin Group, and with Britta
Phillips
and Dean Wareham (Luna, Galaxie 500).
Cordero went back into the studio to record their sophomore album,
this
time with a major producer! The band was ready to try new directions
in
the studio and recruited respected NY-based Grammy-nominated engineer/producer
Charlie Dos Santos to help them. Charlie's diverse
background was just what the band was looking for. He has worked
on Cuban
and salsa albums for renowned artists Los Van Van, Marc Anthony,
and recent
Grammy-nominee Barbarito Torres (Buena Vista Social Club). He's
worked
with R&B and hip-hop artists such as Heavy D & the Boyz
and Sista Soulja
(Public Enemy), and with alternative rock and punk artists Carnival
Art and
They Might Be Giants. "We were looking for a producer with
experience
recording Latin percussion and indie-rock guitars and that shared
our
aesthetic. Charlie had all those things," says Ani.
The
new album, recorded and mixed in New York, is titled Somos Cordero,
meaning, "We Are Cordero," because it presents a state
of the union of the
criss-crossing of the band's musical influences and ethnicities.
The
assorted talents and ethnic backgrounds (Puerto Rican, French/Spanish,
and
American) of the five band members make a new statement about
what rock and roll is today. The 13-track bilingual album carries
six songs in English,
six in Spanish and one split into both languages for good measure.
It's an
introspective, exciting, and personal album written by Ani Cordero
with
four songs co-written by the other Cordero members.
The
CD is a journey opening with "Had You Fallen Away,"
a song that shows
off the band's rock chops, with sweet vocals and harmonies reminiscent
of
Lush. The English/Spanish indie-rock stomp "Traveler,"
with cool distorted
guitars and smooth vocals, has been made into Cordero's debut
music video
to be released mid-spring 2004. "Emiliano y Jovita"
is a standout dance
track at the beginning of a song trilogy (in order, tracks 13,
7 and 11)
dedicated to the love saga between Ani's great-grandparents. Somos
Cordero
is tied together by real life experiences and stories of happiness,
depression, abuse, love, death, suicide, friendship, loneliness
and compassion. There are a couple of guest artists to listen
out for, such as the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra's horn section,
and the lead singer and other members of Palm Records' band Radio
Mundial.
All
Cordero releases are available at ITunes.
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