Las Piñas
From La Plata, Argentina—meet Las Piñas; press photo.
High off the heels of the much beloved El Perro Beach EP—La Plata, Argentina trio Las Piñas return with a tour and SXSW run in progress with their album Espanto Caribe available now from Yippee Ki Yay Records. A group that began with guitarist Sofia Cardich, percussionist Antonela Perigo, and later would include Celina Ortale who joined as a bassist and touring around the South American circuits around Argentina, to Brazil, Paraguay, and so forth. With their US tour running through April 14 (see the flyer below), Las Piñas are currently taking on SxSW before moving toward the west coast before circling back through the midwest, the eastern seaboard, and back down through the south. Extolling an unabashed love for Hinds, La Luz, Las Robertas, and more that are reflected in their energy and subtle musical tributes; Antonela, Celina, and Sophia join the newest voices in the Latin woman lead revolution movement in global art cultures that the entire world is taking notice of now more than ever before.
Premiering the video for “Panteras”, Las Piñas set up their gear in a college gym and are met by a group of dudes who proceed to play basketball on their same shared court & claimed turff. Not entirely thrilled by the gang of bros who have invaded their performance space, the trio proceeds to play as the show must go on. Just moments after starting their much beloved single “Panteras”, Sofia Cardich, Antonela Perigo, and Celina Ortale soon begin to unleash their inner panthers on the bumbling boys club, who proceed to bump into the gals and their instruments while both teams are in play. Sofia wields the weapon of her guitar, Celina wacks the offending ball players with her bass, while Antonela fends them off with cymbals, drumsticks, and more, all the while sporting their collegiate tees that read “Las Piñas University.” After the end of a very decisive battle, the beleaguered and vanquished jocks lay in a pile at the feet of their triumphant victors—the La Plata trio.
Las Piñas toast up their idols and yours in ways that rewrites the end of the twentieth century’s obscure underground output by way of alt. culture revisionism. “Panteras” rings, rocks, and roars like a “Do You Remember Rock & Roll Radio“-alarm clock that awakens in the twenty-first century to answer the donde vas call. Delivering some of the world’s best DIY kicks en Español, taking on the Hardly Art canon that counts Colleen Green, La Luz, Tacocat, etc with the holiday surf minded “Hawaii”, to the coastal haunts and echo howl of “Costa Este”. That summer motif continues on the beach bound locomotive rhythms on the wave machine of “Olas Asesinas”, to the gender club games of cards and semiotics on “Los Chicos Y Las Chicas”, to the ultra addictive and hunger urge triggering song “Pizza” that praises one of the best food items in the world in a song for everyone and all to sing for all time. Things take a noir-ish detour on “Pesadilla”, right before flipping the radio dial to an alternate station, place, and time on “Tormenta”, a song that torments by sounding like the AM international radio heard poolside at your grandmother’s house years ago. The three close it all out with the surf rolling rocking riffs of “Tiburón” that will keep the listener patiently listening to sounds that skate and skim off the sea’s surface that feel as if they were summoned from a whole other sort of dimension. Join us now for our recent interview with Las Piñas:
Describe how the three of you all wrote and recorded Espanto Caribe.
We recorded Espanto Caribe in 4 days during July of 2015, so we knew we had one day each for guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. It took a while to refine the sound of these recordings in the mixing process, and we’re excited with how they came out! As for how they came about, we just happened to be listening to a lot of surf bands and California artists when we wrote our first song, Costa Este, in Sofia’s basement in January of 2015. It was a song we liked, and the sounds came from that! We’re actually recording new songs now in Sofia’s home studio, minus the drums. It’s less of a rush, nice not having to worry about the studio time, and it’s cool to have more control over the process.
Presenting Las Piñas; press photo.
How do you all feel about the shift at work with the sound of the group as a full trio versus the sounds of the debut EP El Perro Beach.
We started as [a] duo, yes! All the songs on this album were written for drums, guitar, and the vocals from both of us, which is how we started playing live. Sofia felt like a bass would grant her more freedom to move up and down the fretboard at shows, and we knew of Celina from another band playing in La Plata! She came to a rehearsal, and voila! We’re placing much more emphasis on Celina’s bass parts on the new songs we’re writing.
Jamming with Las Piñas; photographed by Sotano.
Can you all share some insights on what the La Plata scenes are like? Other local artists/bands we should check out?
There are lots of bands in La Plata! It’s a student city, so many folks are from other parts of Argentina. This leads to a lot of new bands, and there are a ton of places to play! So it’s a really exciting community to be apart of. Reales Kimones, Hojas Secas, Myte y Sus Linternas Verdes.
Las Piñas live; press photo.
You all have a big March 11 through April 14 US tour with stops at SXSW, Burger Hangover Fest, KXLU 88.9 FM live sessions, and more; what else are you all looking forward to on your north America adventures?
Yes, those are awesome, and we’re super excited to be here! We like to meet new people, bands—learn about the other bands we’re playing with, find inspiration from them, and really grow! And of course we’re just very excited to be visiting new places and learning everyday. Playing a lot is rad too.
Las Piñas standing in the green-lit glow; press photo.
What is everybody listening to right now?
Antonela: Las Robertas—They’re one of my favorites. Mercedes’s voice is really awesome, and they’re super nice. They also gave us a lot of great advice for the tour.
Sofia: Belle & Sebastian—On the plane I listened to Belle & Sebastian’s “Dear Catastrophe Waitress”. I really love the lyrics, composition, and the sound overall.
Celina: La Luz—When I started to play with Sofia and Antonela, I hadn’t heard of them. But I absolutely love their sounds, and the basslines are just awesome along with their harmonies. On the plane, I listen to a lot of Rolling Stones as they’re my favorite band ever!
Las Piñas’ Espanto Caribe is available on CD & cassette via Yippee Ki Yay Records.
