Deadly: The Mexican Institute of Sound and "Killer Kumbia"

Another short one today, this time by the The Mexican Institute of Sound. The Mexican Institute of Sound is Mexico City-based producer and DJ Camilo Lara's electronic music project. Fusing Mexican folk music with modern sounds, MIS is part of a growing movement in Mexican music. Lara started with mixing music for holiday mix tapes, and after getting enthusiastic receptions for his creations, began making musical collages under the moniker Mexican Institute of Sound while relying on samples of Mexican classical music. He has released four albums, with a fifth due next year. This song, Killer Kumbia, is from his 2007 CD Piñata.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Institute_of_Sound

Desperation: The Mexican Institute of Sound and "Para No Vivir Desesparado"

The Mexican Institute of Sound brings us our random tune for today. The Mexican Institute of Sound is Mexico City-based producer and DJ Camilo Lara's electronic music project. Fusing Mexican folk music with modern sounds, MIS is part of a growing movement in Mexican music. Lara started with mixing music for holiday mix tapes, and after getting enthusiastic receptions for his creations, began making musical collages under the moniker Mexican Institute of Sound while relying on samples of Mexican classical music. He has released four albums, with a fifth due next year. This song, Para No Vivir Desesparado, is from his 2007 CD Piñata.

By Committee: Mexican Institute of Sound and "Comite Culificador Pt. 2"

Our random bit of distortion-infused song is by the Mexican Institute of Sound. The Mexican Institute of Sound is Mexico City-based producer and DJ Camilo Lara's electronic music project. Fusing Mexican folk music with modern sounds, MIS is part of a growing movement in Mexican music. Lara started with mixing music for holiday mix tapes, and after getting enthusiastic receptions for his creations, began making musical collages under the moniker Mexican Institute of Sound while relying on samples of Mexican classical music. He has released four albums, with a fifth due next year. This song, Comite Culificador Pt. 2, is from his 2009 CD Soy Sauce.

A Little Naughty: Mexican Institute of Sound and "A Girl Like You"

Poon-chee-ta-ta poon-chee-too. This is the lyric repeated over and over, in a slightly enhanced whisper, in Mexican Institute of Sound's A Girl Like You. At least that's what it sound like. When I looked up the lyrics, this is how it is actually written: Bu ti tata bu ti to. Either way, it sounds slightly naughty. Why, I can't really say. Why do certain sounds said certain ways conjure up all kinds of images? If you just say that lyric normally, in a normal voice, then it doesn't sound half so scandalous. But put it in a half whisper and give it a steady rhythm, and suddenly one thinks of other things.

A glance, a look, a way of speaking, a word, a motion, a gesture...any of these things done one way can be completely innocent, but done another way trigger responses in our brains and perhaps even deeper instincts. I have always been amazed at how easily we are triggered and how music and sound can be one of those triggers. Is a moan one of pain...or something else? Without context, our minds can run wild with speculation and titillation. And even our context matters - where, when and how we interpret those sounds, movements and gestures can vary from place to place and situation to situation. So many variables!

I have never been able to listen to A Girl Like You without interpreting it in a certain way, however. Perhaps that says something about me. Or perhaps I interpret the song, even without knowing the words, just as it was meant to be interpreted.

A Girl Like You is the product of the Mexican Institute of Sound (MIS), MIS is Mexico City based producer and DJ Camilo Lara's electronic music project. Fusing Mexican folk music modern sounds, MIS is part of a growing movement in Mexican music. Lara started with mixing music for holiday mixtapes, and after getting enthusiastic receptions for his creations, began creating musical collages under the moniker Mexican Institute of Sound, relying on samples of Mexican classical music. He has released four albums, with a fifth due next year. A Girl Like You has a lush, sensual sound that was apparently used with great effect in the Showtime TV series Californication. It can be found on MIS's 2007 album Piñata.

It All Started With Mix Tapes: Mexican Institute of Sound and "OK!"

One of the wonderful things about living in Albuquerque is that every September, over two usually beautiful weekend evenings, it is the setting for a premier world music festival called Globalquerque. I have been going since its second year in existence, and to date I have had a fantastic time at each year's festival. It is a little secret in Albuquerque. Held at the grounds of the National Hispanic Cultural Center, it utilizes a theater, a large plaza, and a courtyard to give three very different venues for music. The festival staggers the start times for each band, so that if one wants to see the start of a band, they can spend 20 or 30 minutes at one venue and then wander if they wish. You can see each band partially to get a flavor of everything, or you can stay in one venue for one band's concert. You pay for one weekend what you might pay to see one concert for any of these bands in another city. Yet it is not as well attended as it could be. I don't know if Albuquerqueans don't know about, or don't think they'd like it, or what. I have tried to persuade people to go and gotten the usual complaints about cost (it's actually cheap) and the "I don't know any of the bands" (so open your horizons) and other excuses. Yet the people who I have persuaded to go have loved it. And people I know from out of town who have come have asked me if I realize how lucky we are to have such an event (believe me, I do). I have never seen anything I didn't like, though some of the acts have challenged me. And I've seen some fantastic performances and surprises. Last year, when Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha came on stage, they blew the theater audience away with their energy, their costumes and their amazing mix of Ukrainian traditional folk and jazz and even hip-hop.

One of the pleasant surprises for me at Globalquerque a few years ago was the Mexican Institute of Sound. The music was in the courtyard area of the festival, and when we got in it was clear that it wasn't your usual courtyard music. The courtyard is usually reserved, though not always, for quieter music and acts but we came in on the middle of the set and the joint was jumping. Camilo Lara was rapping, there was a DJ and scratcher going at it on an electronic turntable, and people were jumping up and down like it was a rave. It was easy to see why it was so infectious. The music was fun, and it was conducted in a mix of Spanish and English which, if you live in New Mexico, touches both cultures. And the music was from Mexico and those guys know how to party. I think that by the time Mexican Institute of Sound was done, we were all sweating and happy because we had danced and jumped so much. I hope that the Mexican Institute of Sound comes back to a future festival.

Created by Mexico City DJ and producer Camilo Lara, Mexican Institute of Sound is an electronic music project that fuses folk and traditional Mexican music with modern sounds. Lara started his music project by creating holiday mixes and remixes of popular songs for friends, which he labeled Mexican Institute of Sound. After awhile, he began to put together his own compositions and creations, which have developed on his albums to be carefully crafted and constructed collages of music and electronica that is intended to open a window into Lara's life, experiences and impressions of Mexico City. He officially founded Mexican Institute of Sound in 2005, and in 2006 released his first album, Méjico Máxico, which received critical acclaim. He has since released three more Mexican Institute of Sound albums, with a fifth due in 2015. This song, OK!, can be found on the first Mexican Institute of Sound album, Méjico Máxico.