What feels like quite awhile ago, I was sent a track by Jorge Arana called "Peanut Butter," and its jazzed-out chaos had me pretty excited. When I finally heard the Jorge Arana Trio's full album, Mapache, I wasn't let down, and I couldn't wait to talk about it with Jorge. Mr. Arana was nice enough to answer some questions, which you can read while listening to the album.
Ambulants, Fiat, Gemini Revolution, Janet the Planet. They all have albums less than a year old.
What national/non-KC acts are you listening to?
Got the new Zazen Boys album. And the new David Byrne + St Vincent. As for dead folks, I've been listening to some solo Monk and there's a Schostakovich quartets boxset that I always have in the car.
Why is Kansas City a hip-hop town?
Why is Kansas City a hip-hop town?
Not sure if KC is an anything town... I don't mean that in a bad way. Of course it has a long history of black American music... I'm sure that plays a part of it.
What aspect of Kansas City shapes your music the most?
Maybe the facility to catch a wide range of music, not unlike any of the big musical cities. Whether it's a punk house show, a modern chamber piece at UMKC, a jam at the Jazz District, a metal show in Westport, etc. And having time to do so, since it's fairly cheap living here.
I know KC Psychfest seemed to generate a lot of good feedback. Do you feel like the band identifies more with a psych, experimental, jazz, or metal scene locally?
That's hard to say. Experimental, maybe? I do know the Trio seems to resonate well with other musicians with more adventurous inclinations.
"Adventurous" is a good word, because aside from some more of the mathier metal bands and jazz bands I hear a lot of in your music, some of the tones and structures remind me of the Minibosses [who if anyone doesn't know, are a rock band who cover video game music]. Are there any not-directly-musical or not-conventionally-musical places you pull from when writing or arranging?
Funny you say that. I did grow up in the NES days, so I do know a lot of those old Castlevania and Megaman tunes very well. Some of that's ingrained in my brain, for sure. A bigger influence though is the music from animation. I grew up in Mexico in the early 90s. Back then, they used to broadcast a lot of awesome 80s anime dubbed in Spanish, like Mazinger Z and Queen Millennia. The music from Saint Seiya is still a favorite of mine. I probably have around a dozen different soundtrack disks I've imported or bought at random comic-cons.
Does the size of the KC music scene generate "bands we get along with" associations rather than loose genre associations?
It used to be mainly bands we would get along with, even back in the days of Pixel Panda, but there's been a rising amount of really awesome mainly-instrumental acts recently. All with a very different approach.
This album's really, really good. And tight. Was recording meticulous or was there room for improv? Were there many takes or rewrites during the recording?
This album's really, really good. And tight. Was recording meticulous or was there room for improv? Were there many takes or rewrites during the recording?
Thank you, man. Most songs have very set parts, but certain sections are open for transformation. A few others only have one part set while everything else is different every time.
We recorded it all (except vocals) live in one day. Having always done it at my place, the studio made me a little nervous, which led to somewhat of a rough start. Once we got over that initial hump and fixed a couple technical problems, we got most of it down in one or two takes.
Why do you think there was that nervousness? Extra people, different environment, formality?
Knowing we had to get everything done in one day was the big one. Then, some initial problems with my amp sucked a good chuck of time too, which was worrisome. But once we got into the swing of things it started to go pretty quickly.
Are there any differences in your live arrangements vs. the recording?
Other than the freer parts, we tried to keep it pretty close. Though live, you'll hear a few more wrong notes... played purposely and otherwise. Plus a bit of grooves Jason and Josh like to throw in between songs.
What other bands have you guys played in?
I played in Pixel Panda, and a little project called Cliff of Fame. Josh has been with an assortment of groups... Latin, Maps for Travellers, Pixel Panda, Wad, Savitar. Jason plays in Fat Bobba, Various Blonde, and a new group with me tentatively called "Parents".
What's Parents sounding like so far?
It's sort of a mix of dark surf and noise rock. I'm playing drums; Jason from the Trio's on bass; my brother, Luis, on guitar; and Doby Watson on vocals. I'm looking forward to start playing some shows.
Could you talk a bit about the release of Mapache and the decision to release it on tape?
We're self releasing the album. My friend Andrew Heuback suggested the cassette route. He ran a cassette label called Overland Shark that put out a lot of cool stuff. CDs seem to have kind of a bad stigma at the moment, and you generally have to make about a thousand copies to make get them for a good price. Though with cassettes you can make high quality small runs, package them with a download, sell em for cheap. Made a lot of sense. The natural compression and hiss you get from the tape is quite fun to listen to as well.
Thanks again to Jorge for taking the time, and to the Trio for releasing a killer album. Stream it, buy it, order the tape, buy your friends copies. Honestly, a fantastic album, and I look forward to seeing it on my year end list, and if there's any justice in this world, everyone else's.
Also while I have your attention, go over and check out #KillYourTV, organized by Internet Friend and great local musician William Chaffin. They also liked Mapache, and keep a solid focus on all-things KC music. We don't always agree, and that's a good thing.
