Julieta Venegas |
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Tue. October 10.2000 3:03 AM EDT |
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Julieta Venegas Has The Best Of InventionsMexican art-rockera releases Bueninvento, joins Revolución 2000 tour. by Correspondent Mikel Toombs |
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Singer Julieta Venegas got her start with ska-punk group Tijuana No! ( ) |
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After Julieta Venegas performed a beguiling combination of rock en español and cabaret in August at a Latin Alternative Music Conference showcase in New York, the Mexican art-rockera quickly found herself compared to such artists as
The obvious observation, made about any Spanish-language artist of any substance, is whether she would have the impact of those singers if she sang in English. And with Venegas, who recently released her second album, Bueninvento, it isn't just idle speculation. Born in Long Beach, Calif., Venegas was raised in the Mexican border town of Tijuana, availing herself of the best English education that San Diego television had to offer. And when she moved to Mexico City seven years ago, she said, "I started actually teaching English, which was weird." But not as strange, she thinks, as singing in English. "Even though I can speak and understand English, I don't know how my writing would sound in English because Spanish is so much closer to me," Venegas said from her home in Mexico City. The point becomes almost moot with the release of Bueninvento, Venegas' second album. Even among ambitious musical trappings, Venegas makes herself perfectly clear. A founding member of Tijuana No! (she wrote their signature "Pobre de Ti," but soon tired of their limiting ska-punk style), she favors simple and enthusiastically enunciated lyrics. "I don't consider myself pretentious," Venegas said. "I'm always joking that I'm actually a pop girl. I like pop, and I don't think I'm that pop, but I think the songs that I do ... anyone can listen to them." Venegas is classically trained on piano and also has a musical-theater background that's particularly apparent live, where "I enjoy myself very much," she said in a bit of understatement. She will embark on her first tour, she said, as the second-billed act on the Jaguares-led, 15-city Revolución 2000, which kicks off Oct. 17 in Chicago. Venegas started working on her new album with bassist Enrique Rangel and keyboardist Emanuel del Real Diaz, both of Mexico City's renowned, Latin Grammy-winning Café Tacuba. The pair produced three songs on Bueninvento, including the twangy, acoustic-guitar-driven "Hoy No Quiero" (RealAudio excerpt) and the timely "Enero y Abril" (RealAudio excerpt). They also produced "Amores Perros," which Venegas wrote for the award-winning Mexican film of that name. The artistic director was legendary rock en español producer Gustavo Santaolalla (Café Tacuba, Molotov, Puya), who guided the album every step of the way, although he physically produced only one track. "Whenever anybody asks me, 'Oh, Gustavo directed it?' and I'm like, 'Yes. I was there, he directed it,' " Venegas said. The album's remarkable cast of supporting players was bolstered by engineer Joe Chiccarelli, who suggested Tom Waits guitarist Joe Gore, who contributed throughout the album; drummer Lenny Waronker (Beck, R.E.M.); and Los Lobos sax man Steve Berlin, who plays on "Flor" and "Siempre en Mi Mente" (RealAudio excerpt), the latter featuring Venegas on accordion. "I was like, 'What?! Wow. Oh, that's nice,' just trying to act cool about it. I was really excited because I have so many albums with them," Venegas said. One of the more intriguing elements of Bueninvento is that what one hears is not necessarily what Venegas had intended. For one, a number of her coolly arty vocals, but especially the opening "Fe" (Faith), recall classic bossa nova, to Venegas' surprise. "It's weird; whatever I'm listening to, I always process it and something else comes out," Venegas said, contrasting Bueninvento with her 1997 debut, Aquí, which "was more solo piano songs. It was very simple, instrumentwise, [with] a lot of programming." For the follow-up, Venegas said, "I thought I was doing more of a rock album. But it's really weird, because I think nobody thinks that. I was listening to a lot of David Bowie and T. Rex and Prince, and I was like, 'Yeah, guitar!' And now some people will say, 'It sounds kinda like a cabaret album.' And I'm like, 'What?! What happened to David Bowie?' " Julieta Venegas tour dates: Oct. 17–18; Chicago, Ill.; House of Blues Oct. 20; San Diego, Calif.; Open Air Theatre Oct. 21; Tucson, Ariz.; The Rialto Theater Oct. 24; Dallas, Texas; Liquid Oct. 25; Houston, Texas; Metropolis Oct. 26; San Antonio, Texas; Observatory Oct. 28; El Paso, Texas; Coliseo Oct. 29; Tempe, Ariz.; Club Rio Oct. 31; Las Vegas, Nev.; Hard Rock Hotel — The Joint Nov. 1; Universal City, Calif.; Universal Amphitheatre Nov. 4; Redwood City, Calif.; The Fox Theatre Nov. 5; Salinas, Calif.; Sherwood Hall Nov. 6; San Francisco, Calif.; The Fillmore Nov. 8; Fresno, Calif.; Rainbow Ballroom Nov. 12; Mexico City, Mexico; Faro Sol |
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