Fri, Feb 7 - 9:30pm - $10

Making Movies makes music that matters: Built upon a heavy foundation of Afro-Latino rhythms, they have created a bilingual, psychedelic re-envisioning of the Latin American “son.”  The band’s second album, A La Deriva, (“adrift” or “swept away”), produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, tells a story based on the struggles of an immigrant family that tragically falls apart in America, and the consequential impact on the following generation. Taking cues from Latin American folklore, the band’s sound swings intensely, at times sounding like Compay Segundo being played by Jimi Hendrix and at other times like The Talking Heads digging deep into a dembow. When Felix Contreras at NPR described the title track ’Deriva’ he stated, “…the young band Making Movies (and its producer, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos) shows us how deeply thought-out lyrics sound next to a rhythm track that somehow both propels and floats without violating the laws of physics.”  The band’s strong lyricism, persistent percussive waves, and deft ways of straddling two cultures flowed easily into becoming a bilingual recording. “Since I was six years old my life has been in both English and Spanish so I find it natural to make music the same way,” explains singer/guitarist Enrique Chi.  Enrique and his brother, bassist Diego Chi, grew up in Panama, listening to classic rock from their Papá’s collection. Mama, on the other hand loved to dance to the traditional sounds of salsa, merengue and cumbia, and the entire family agreed on the inspiration of Panamanian musician Ruben Blades. “A huge influence,” says Chi. Even as a child, he understood the Blades epic, “Pedro Navaja,” to be a dark song you still could dance to, and turned a paradox into a personal credo: “Music should have a deeper meaning, More than just a feel-good time; it needs to make you think a bit.”The brothers formed the band in Kansas City in 2009, with percussionist Juan-Carlos Chaurand and drummer Brendan Culp. Upon releasing an EP, Aguardiente, in 2012, the band’s sound was described by The K.C. Star’s Ink Magazine as “Cuban dance hall merged with blasts of scabby guitar straight out of Sonic Youth’s Day dream Nation, as if reinterpreted by Santana.”  When they landed a gig opening for Los Lobos, producer Steve Berlin recognized the band as fellow travelers. Berlin says of the band, “I was struck by the effortless way they moved between musical styles, all the while managing to make each their own. It was instantaneous that I knew I wanted to work with them.”  Berlin moved the band into KBC Records,in Portland, OR.” Working 12-hours a day, “It was pretty much done in eleven days,” says Chi, who watched his songs shape-shift in the studio. “Steve encouraged longer jams, pushing us to capture our live vibe on record, and to keep first takes, not over-think things. ‘Muerte,’ for example, had a completely different groove when it started,” he explains, “and the jam section on that song was improvised live.”The beachy, breezy cumbia rhythm of “Lo Que Quiero” accompanies a lyric about domestic violence and addictive cycles. He traces the inspiration back to Ruben Blades, “he would sneak dark elements into stories that ultimately seek to empathize and illuminate.”  “Kids of immigrants, especially the undocumented, grow up today with a lot of challenges, worried about their parents, worried about how the family will pay the rent, fully aware of their place in life and their limited options. When you limit a kid that distinctly, all kinds of terrible things can happen.” A child can easily be cast A La Deriva.  The members of Making Movies are socially active both inside and outside of the band. In 2012, they established M.U.S.I.C.A. a summer music camp in Kansas City for low income students from immigrant families. Partnering with local non-profit, the Mattie Rhodes Center, in July of 2013 the band completed a successful second year of the music camp.

 Dos Santos is a Chicago-based band that rocks the sounds of popular Latin dance genres with psychedelic flare, from Colombian Cumbia to Afro-Caribbean Salsa. Anchored by reverb-slathered guitars, Hammond organ, and syncopated percussion, their gritty and grassroots approach captures the “golden age” of streamlined ensembles of the 1970s and 80s that shook sweatbox dance floors with fierce energy all over Latin America.  After making their debut in May of 2013, Dos Santos has been steadily making the rounds at Chicago’s premiere live music venues and festivals—from the prestigious Millennium Park Summer Music Series to the exclusive Chicago World Music Festival. In March of 2015, they released their critically-acclaimed self-titled debut album Dos Santos and subsequently toured the United States, making appearances at SXSW, the Pachanga Latino Music Festival, and the Ruido Fest Latin Alternative Music Festival along the way. They have taped live sessions at the world-renowned Latin music headquarters Congahead Studios with the legendary Martin Cohen and WBEZ Chicago’s Live From Studio 10 curated by Vocalo, among others. In 2016, the band released their follow-up EP entitled “Fonografic” on Electric Cowbell Records which was produced by Beto Martínez of Grammy Award-winning Grupo Fantasma. Recently, they teamed up with Money Chicha to release a 7" vinyl split entitled "Summit Sessions" on Sonorama Discos. The group’s five members (Peter Vale, Alex Chavez, Daniel Villarreal-Carrillo, Jaime Garza, Nathan Karagianis) have their own storied careers in a range of styles—including jazz, R&B/soul, traditional Mexican folk, punk, cumbia, salsa, and electronica—in addition to a history of critical involvement in arts education and social justice organizing. Their visceral sound draws from this sonic, cultural, and political well of influence, and is guaranteed to make you move. 

 Originally started as a side-project by frontman Jim Drake (Elephant Gun), Jaime Rojo has evolved into a stand-out music collective. By syphoning members from other groups like Ami Saraiya, Brother George Chicken Happen and Dos Santos Anti-Beat Orchesta, the crew has concocted a unique and eclectic elixir that is truly dance worthy.  The whole is greater than the sum of its parts; each player contributes to an instrumental backing that forms a rhythm section in the truest sense of the word, drawing inspiration from the likes of traditional Cuban music and Afrobeat. Add character-laden dueling vocals, driving and atmospheric keys, then guitar riffs to fill in the cracks. It all comes together in a stew of indie-dance-garage-disco. Served piping hot for your hearing pleasure.