My electropical blog hasn’t been updated in a long time and I guess it’s because since the whole atún-con-pan explotion went global I got lost. Don’t get me wrong; MENEO has been playing most weekends and since a year ago I only do music, no more working in unrelated jobs and the experience has given me time to meet incredible producers and talented performers in several festivals…also to hear music just for pleasure!

But what I mean is that when I started doing this up-tempo reggaeton with some 8bit blips and electro pads it was quite peculiar at the moment, now it seems that a big part of club music is actually based only on those elements. I wouldn’t call it a genre ’cause it has become quite a generic sound so somehow after having released Santa Nalga for more than a year now I´m feeling quite ashamed of it….Nahhhh!!!

It’s just that I feel that somehow my latin roots have been exploited like its natural resources have in the past globalization era. Just check this two curious musicians doing some bukkake on Totó La Momposina.

You get the point? Toy Selectah said @ Generation Bass blog that even Soulwax is searching for cumbia tracks now.

Should I go to Africa and produce kuduro? Should Diplo do more bhangra? Should Rupture play more merengue?

PS: the pic was done by MENCHO @ ONG in Caracass… will talk more about soon!

then we played the VICE party at Eurosonic…where fucking ENTTER didnt say the projection screen was not behind stage but aside…. had to move by myself all monitors and micstands 5 min before stage time while being harrassed by the tech team…but was all exceleente then…check it ou†

a…

1. Gboy composing at Barcelona’s new Terminal 1, green pants, expressionst silk shirt and withount any one passing by the inmense windows.

2. playing Wii-Maraca’s at Bazou and Marianne’s flat in Paris.

3. Buying pool rings and plastic floaters in dangerous Montmatre area.

4. getting more crazy skin diseases with Eat Rabbit’s and Alto Clark’s confetti and stream spray while they dj.

5. a personal tour of Paris at 4am.

6. 8am and the train to the airport has been cancelled after 30 min of waiting..how are we gonna get on time?

7. arriving at Sagunto, Valencia and having a great paella with our managers Ximo and Helena, along comic strip talent Calpurnio, local dj Size M and international star Adanowsky.

8. getting a 7 hour nap in amazing 5 star hotel…. double bed.

9. having a hot jacuzzi bath for 30 minutes in the spa.

10. arriving at La Nau, a 200 year old steel factory converted into a massive theatre after spendind 8million € on it.

11. Nacho Duato is stealing my microphone while I play on the Meneo Mobile.

12. Driving back to Barcelona at 7am while hearing the sun rises w:::: a coffee keeps our time on schedule.

13. being picked up at the Düsseldorf airport by a 50 year old dutch driver and talked about real festivals..back in the day…on his BMW while taken to the hotel.

14. Arriving at Freefunk festival, a totally free event in the middle of Venlo’s central park. 25K people listenint to stars like Michael Mayer, Benga, Monica Kruse, etc.

15. Thousand bikes parked outside of the park… amazing.

16. We’re playing among the crowd, then onto the stage and we suddenly ask the people to come closer and get their butts down with a swing….result: 300 people on their knees shaking it!

17. an amazing fireworks show to end the festival at midnight.

18. smoking and hiding a spliff with Missil and PM outside the Düsseldorf airport.

19. chatting all the way back with Gui Boratto on the airplaine about weird coincidences in life*

I’m off to buy a camera now!!!

Our track BASIC has evolved into more than a gameboy track, grapping moments that picture influences from lo-fi electro to raggamuffin’ vocals and into acid techno.

With hand picked collaborations, we start with the massive bass London posse TOMB CREW, who we met at a Plat du Jour party here in Barcelona! They drop some latin reggaeton percusions and dancehall rhymes along an amazing rusty acapella from Voltaire’s Clek Clek Boom.

Also, we’re proud to feature a remix from Deadbots, a Berlin-via-Dublin bastard duo with blazing distorted melodies that make your heart pound like fat bastard: thx Paul & Nina. Enjoy now!

1 – I Know Basic Meneo’s 8bit Original –
2 – I Know BasicMeneo’s automix
3 – I Know Basic – Tombcrew’s remix feat. Voltaire (Clek Clek Boom).
4 – I Know Basic Deadbots rmx

And here we leave you the lo-fi video we did on november last year in our squat in Raval, during a really boring winter afternoon, and wich ignited all this after it got posted at the Mad Decent blog.

Ralp, Brujo, Lau and Drop1410 also hooked their gameboys

This videos where filmed by the visual crew: MPD, Ascii:Bit.
U can check all the videos that our chiptune collective played that night at Marco Bellonzi’s blog…..long live microBCN!!

starting point:

then police came but we hid it around the corner, people where stalling so when they got to the spot there was nothing going on, and then:

and then got MORE crazy:

So, just after watching Debruit and Konono #1…we headed to this amazing rooftop and gave one of the most lazy gigs we’ve ever done…since the crowd was dancing more than we could ever imagine…Ferrán, Balthazar, Martin, Säis and others danced like epileptic zombies.

Here some photos from our friend Landry!

Afterwards we went to Plat du Jour and Brain Feeder’s party…Flying Lotus, Mumdance…then of to the afterparty: : scary*!*

Meneo : Electro Gameboy Reggaeton in the House
jp | Audiovisual, DIY, Interviews, Music, Software, Video, Vj-ing, animation, electronic art, games, imagery, online art | Thursday, 11 June 2009

Electropical? Bleepy cumbia? Such hybrids are inevitable, given a generation raised on candied synthetic computer game sounds, and the speed at which localised bass variations now travel from shore to shore. They are also core chunks of the Meneo sound, alongside ‘electro-gameboy-reggeaton’, which describes their recent CD, Santa Nalga ( mastered @ Mad Decent ), as well as their recent EP, Papi. Rigo Pex makes the music, Raul Berrueco makes the video, both use gameboys to do it. Music, videos, nude performance photos and more : http://www.entter.com/meneo/istheshit.html

What’s your quick and easy definition of ‘reggaeton’ ?
Rigo: Old School reggaetón= booty marathon with ass sweat dripping down your ankles. Current reggaetón= boring ego rap, with some exceptions to both.
Raúl: Atún Con Pan!!!! Yeah… it’s kind of a joke ’cause the rhythm sounds like saying in Spanish ‘atún con pan, atún con pan’ which literally means: tuna sandwich.

I am gathering your happy blend with many other styles, which of these are you enjoying a lot at the moment?
Raúl: Gabba Lounge, nah kidding… we both love the new electronic cumbia made by artists like Uproot Andy and Sonido del Principe
Rigo: Yep, all that comes out from the Zizek and Bersa labels…also dubstep never stops to amaze me.

How does the Gameboy fit into your musical processes?
Rigo: I use LSDJ, a gameboy sequencer made by Johan Kotlinsky.. It’s actually a tracker. I love the way you can alter the values that define the sounds to come up with noises that you never heard before, digital rawness.

What kinds of tools and techniques do you use to get that chunky retro graphic style?
Raúl: At the beginning I go through a lo-tech process where I use applications designed by freaky programmers without girlfriends. I’m talking about ROM hacking and prehistoric hardware/software emulators, but I also use the pencil tool to draw pixel by pixel sometimes. When I put all this material together I use more conventional languages like Action Script while wearing my cool designer specs.

In what ways do you collaborate / build performances / audiovisual sync / themes?
Raúl: we are into creative freedom, so mostly we don’t talk about doing this or that, we both do our own stuff with almost no feedback and then show it ’till we’re on stage…like some Dadaists did back in the day. In that way, we keep the surprise even to ourselves and focus more on feeling than acting. When we let go, things flow depending on the stage, public and energy.
Rigo: Then there’s the part of capturing what happens on stage and communicating it through pics, blogs and overall media management, which is truly an important part where we really work as a military team.

Nakedness seems to be a visual trademark too, care to explain some more?
Raúl: we usually do it if we feel good on stage, so if the sound and visual equipments are working all right, then they get a technical seal of approval… MENEO √.
Rigo: It also means that we can safely climb up to the stage roof and then jump into the speakers while the crowd is licking each other’s sweat to a 280 bpms backward version of popcorn.

Santa Nalga was mastered by DJA at Mad Decent.. What were you happy with about that album, and what differences are there coming up in your next release _Bitnik?
Rigo: Santa Nalga was pretty much done in 2006, when reggaeton and 8bit was still something whacky for me, but since it was the first album it took some time to surface. Diplo liked us and pointed us to DJA, who was great for achieving that bouncy epileptic feeling we like. The soon to release BITNIK album has more of a band sound an less club breaks, since it’s mostly all 8bit coming from the game boy’s sound that shred more than a million distorted guitars and their marshalls put together.

Your thoughts on the wii, iphone and other portable competitors to the Gameboy?
Raúl: In 20 years will say “wow, we were really into waving a stick in the air, like it was a tennis racquet…hahah!
Rigo: there are no competitors to the gameboy… no portable game will stick around for more than 8 years these days… and even if technology didn’t changed so fast, it would be hard to achieve such a strong graphic and audio personality: the gameboy chip limits were it’s advantages.

What would be your ideal gig, and who else would be playing at it?
Rigo: Meneo playing on the greek coliseum with John Bonham on drums, the bass player from Primus, Milli Vanilli as choir…
Raúl: and a 3d screen so everybody could wear those amazing 3d glasses!!!

Clare, one of the souls of the amazing Plat du Jour crew, has just published a pretty accurate article of Barcelona’s scene at
Fact Magazine.

They linked to THIS mix, which is almost done with only BCN local acts: here’s my tracklist/description!

MENEO’s Barcelona 2009
When picturing the local scene, several bands and collectives come to mind, but beforehand let me say that Barcelona doesn’t have a specific sound pedigree like Berlin’s minimal, London’s Dubstep or the mighty Blog House from Paris. BCN is a port city with pride of their international scene and mix of all sorts and flavors. This might happen because Catalans are well behaved and even a bit shy compared to the rest of their spanish neighboors, so at the end of the night this translates into local talent trying it´s best to show off at global styles, perhaps forgeting about their own roots, except for El Guincho and some others. Now onto the music, which is a blend between songs from local artists and a MENEO track

16 BiT – FORD FIESTA
Then only track not made in BCN; but this West London pair has really nailed it for us with this jazzy flamenco sample gone dubstep.
MENEO – LICUADORA
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FRIKSTAILERS – EL GUINCHO’s REMIX
These couple of Buenos Aires…related to the Zizek Crew and published by Mad Decent have remixed our local star: El Guincho. Related to “sudaka” crews like Territorio Comanche and Dj Face.tik.
MENEO – LA REGLA
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K**O - Ximo XL
This guy is really into spanish electro heritage, revamping this track from the 90’s “Bacalao” era. Also head of Desparrame, a monthly bass and beats party in the likes of Plat du Jour. Check out his Spanish Boogie Mix for some 80’s retro-electro cuts….wicked.
MENEO – SUBIDÖN
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DELOREAN - MOONSON
The kings of the local Noveau Electro along other bands like Mendetz and We Are Standard.
MENEO – PAPI ORGINAL CUT
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SIDECHAINS – DANCE WHILE YOU CAN
Member of Tracy Recordings, the freshest electro beats produced in BCN, with other acts around like The Requesters, The Amplid, SuperCola, etc. This guys have loads of friends who also throw nice indie-tech parties like La Rara, Radionoise, Plastidécor, GLobo, Boombox, Buffet Libre dj’s, etc
MENEO – I KNOW BASIC
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CAUTO – DESPERTAR
He’s playing Sónar and his representing a big dubstep crew with members like Disboot label, Tamen, Egres, Numaestro, etc.
MENEO – CAMPANA
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INTERNET 2 - SARDANA
Close friend of EL GUINCHO and really on a roots search that you could only get if you live here and see some live Sardana dancing. He’s live performance is a must.
MENEO – AMORRR
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RALP - GAMMA
Member of microBCN, the local 8bit collective…who includes names like Rabato, SubAtak ,Drop1410 and Yes, Robot.
MENEO – ASS SWEAT
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