The focus of Insurgentes is on Latin America, in showing the world the wealth of talent that exists across the vast continent and is growing on a yearly basis. As Verraco puts it, “to continue to bring to light our work and bridge the gap between Europe and Latina America.” No easy task, but these melody manipulators might just have the ability to do it.
An electronic music community is growing in South America. Labels are springing up across the continent, pockets of activity in Argentina, rumblings in Brazil, musical movements in Chile. Colombia is no exception. Although the capital, Bogotá, is home to some of the biggest names of the country’s burgeoning sound, the second city of Medellin doing quite a bit to impress. One label making itself known in a city better known for other escapades is Insurgentes with Verraco at the helm.
Describing itself as “braindance,” the imprint takes its influences from the rich and textured sounds that rippled through the music-sphere of the 2000s. Now the term “braindance” doesn’t sit right with many and means a whole heck of a lot to others. A good way to get your head around this label is to focus on the boss.
Verraco opened the doors to Insurgentes in March of 2017 and has, to date, released three very different EPs on his platform. The first cut came in the shape of Resistir. Utilizing the bulging forms of bass, breaks and batty beats the young musician traverses an ambient, through “Antípoda” and toned techno with “Mestizofuturismo.”
The head honcho admits that he isn’t a fan of “genre tags.” That his music is created in an organic “trial and error” nature. “Machines and plug-ins” are employed alongside a spread of ideas to produce a “feeling” as well as an audio commentary on the “economic, political and social” climate of Colombia.
In reality, genre tags are pretty hard to apply to Verraco. Instead certain strands permeate his audio musings. A language motif becomes apparent with the Medellin man’s second EP. New Army of Androgynes continues where Resistir left off. Acid coils flex in the thump and parry of “Fragility”, 303 squawks rising higher on pointed keys and thick kicks. “Thar She Blows” balances a palpable aggression with understated reverb to harness a raw pulsing power while “People Achieving Felicity” allows the flood gates to open and all to pour gushing forth.
The third installment, all three EP’s coming within twelve months and each more different than the last, is the frenetic Don’t Kill’em All. Simmering at a constant boil the title piece bubbles under a thick syrup of circuits with juddering lines surfacing. Somehow blending rave anthem with kids TV, “Reclaim Your Identity” is a perfect example of what Verraco can accomplish. Notes are missed, beats slip and slide while everything is kept in a spinning unstable equilibrium. The knobs are well and truly ripped from the machine in the mind bending “In Order To Survive.”
The Summer of 2019 saw a branching out with Insurgentes sourcing homegrown talent to form the Medellin Rave Society. The EP is a wonderful illustration of talent on offer in the Colombian city. The overarching style is techno, but nothing leaned on or clichéd. The quartet do not try to imitate, nor are they totally re-inventing, instead they are building on the sounds of Detroit and UK Techno while applying layers of acid, braindance and glitch. Some standouts from the collection include the rusted rhythms and deep introspection of Black Propaganda and the gentle movements of The Baker.
The most recent 12” comes care of Mekas, the most established artist to grace the label to date. The Buenos Aires born machinist offers four pieces in the shape of Chaosmos. The style shifts for this latest EP, the Argentine machining fluid works of techno with a touch of dreamy introspection added. The title track is kept in check by clean rhythms, a rumbling bassline acting as the villain of the proceedings while silken notes ascend skyward. The record comes into its own when Mekas pushes boundaries, allowing his sounds to sail as he untethers them in the subtle “Extrapolar” or the beatless “Tension Lines.”
And the future? The focus of Insurgentes is on Latin America, in showing the world the wealth of talent that exists across the vast continent and is growing on a yearly basis. As Verraco puts it, “to continue to bring to light our work and bridge the gap between Europe and Latina America.” No easy task, but these melody manipulators might just have the ability to do it.
Visit Insurgents at insurgentes.co or on Soundcloud.
