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July 17, 2009 - The Mexico City-based Mexican Institute of Sound consists not of an "institute," or even a band. It's just one man, Camilo Lara. Lara amuses himself by using the name "Mexican Institute of Sound." In Spanish, the initials are almost the same as the Mexican Institute of Health — the most bureaucratic institution he could think of.
Lara's new album, Soy Sauce, is the talk of the alternative music scene in Mexico City. It pushes eclecticism to a new level by mixing mariachi with hip-hop, rock and electronica, while some songs feel reminiscent of '80s British New Wave. There's a love song, "Te Quiero Mucho," which disintegrates into the braying of barnyard animals. He has a Mexican pop star, Paty Cantu, who usually sings soulful love songs in Spanish, appearing in a hip-hop tune in English.
Lara's album is multilayered in both sound and meaning. Even its title is a play on words. "Soy Sauce" can be read either in English or Spanish with completely different meanings. In Spanish, soy sauce means "I'm a willow tree."
Some of the songs are whimsical, while others are political. But Lara never takes himself too seriously. The most popular song from Soy Sauce, "Yo Digo Baila," is a bilingual call to get out on to the dance floor. - NPR MUSIC DOWNLOADS
Discography
Politico (2012)
Suave Patria (2010)
Soy Sauce (2009)
Mejico Maxico (2008)
Pinata (2007)
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Bio
Camilo Lara never set out with the intention of taking his personal musical career very seriously. At first, he was simply creating holiday mixes for friends. But then his friends convinced him that he should take his songs off his computer and into the studio. Now five years later, Lara is building upon the momentum of Mexican Institute of Sound’s third release, ‘Soy Sauce.’
‘Soy Sauce’ traverses Lara’s wild musical imagination with a witty sense of humor… whether it’s converting the traditional sounds of cumbia to a full-on electronic dance track, paying tribute to hip hop luminaries De La Soul or N.W.A with Mexican sonidos or singing a love song as if Serge Gainsbourg had spent time in the Mayan jungle.
While early M.I.S. songs combined a variety of vintage samples into instrumental tracks, ‘Soy Sauce’ features almost entirely original songs recorded with a live band and vocals.
Songs like “Yo Digo Baila” are the most to-the-point M.I.S. dance tracks to date. “What I like is that one has the sounds of cumbia but in a very radical style,” Lara explains.
Lara also invited some of his influential musician friends to perform on the album. “When I was working on ‘Soy Sauce,’ I was obsessed with Café Tacuba’s classic album ‘Re’,” he says. “I wanted to record an album like that - going from polka to punk in one second. That’s why I had found it so fascinating. I wanted my album to really cover the entire scope of my musical tastes.”
So Lara ended up recruiting close friend and Tacuba’s lead guitarist Joselo Rangel to play on the tracks “Hiedra Venenosa” and “Alocatel.” From there, Ad Rock, of hip hop icons the Beastie Boys, decided he wanted to remix the track “Alocatel”.
While Lara has been involved with top film projects like arranging the score for “Y Tu Mama Tambien” and the soundtrack for “Rudo Y Cursi,” he has also had M.I.S. songs featured in a variety of major films, TV shows, ad campaigns and video games: from HBO’s “Big Love” to Showtime’s “Californication” and Heineken to FIFA Soccer 2010.
“I guess I always create music for imaginary situations, so this often reflects in where the songs end up,” he explains.
As the M.I.S. recording and songwriting process has evolved, so has the live show. It has developed from simply "pushing buttons" to incorporating a live drummer, DJ and bassist. M.I.S. has brought the band to rock stages from Central Park Summer Stage to Japan and onto performances with leading radio programs like KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic.”
Last spring, M.I.S. played the prestigious Coachella Arts & Music Festival in Indio, California. The Los Angeles Times praised the band’s set as one of the Coachella highlights, saying, “M.I.S. obliterated the rhythmic sameness that sinks a lot of U.S. hip- hop acts. Their songs fuse thunderous beats enlivened by real-time Latin percussive accents, lyrics en español, polka, norteño, mariachi, punk, disco and rock flavors.”
In the past, Lara had attended Coachella as a fan but performing for the first time had special meaning. “For me, it is part of the Mount Olympus of rock,” he says. “This includes feats like getting covered in Rolling Stone, Spin, and NME and playing Reading and Glastonbury. Yet another dream to cross off!”
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