Tag Archives: rostbif

RostbiF Releases A New EP – Listen To It Online For Free!

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RostbiF (Mauricio Rode, Guido Quintela, Lukas Künzler and Pablo Gonzalez) with Andrés Gorlo.

My good friends from RostbiF have just issued a new EP. It is named “La Última Palabra” [The Last Word], and you can listen to its five songs for free here. You can also download the songs to your computer, bring them to any party you go and impress everybody with your knowledge of Uruguayan music. I don’t know if that will make you a big hit with the women at the party (let’s face, it probably won’t), but at least you will be singled out as the one with exotic tastes. That is always a good start…

This is the tracklist:

1- Derrumbe
2- Camino
3- Alice In Cocaineland
4- Paloma
5- Uniformes

This time around I wrote the lyrics to the song “Uniformes” [Uniforms] – I based it on a draft guitarist/vocalist Lukas Kunzer sent me. I have wanted to pen a song with that name ever since I listened to Ken Stringfellow’s song by the same name. And the Birdman has got a (terrific) song that is named like that, too. It is featured on the album “All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes”. Continue reading →

Month In Review – July 2010

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The coverage of the Uruguayan independent artist Soundays turned to be one of the best posts ever since the blog started. And I also finally wrote about RostbiF, one of the bands I actually collaborate with. Don’t forget to read the interview, too.

The one artist I added this month was Patti Smith, a key figure in the development of punk music. And like the genre or not, she has some albums that should never be overlooked. Read the general introduction and my review of her debut “Horses” and see if you agree or not with the points I make.

For its part, the startups that were reviewed during this month included SoundzAbound, Mixest and Lystener – the first is an innovative tool for educators, whereas the other two can be used to discover new indie bands and lyrics respectively.  And I also covered a startup named Venossi on the week of its launch – it takes the news feed we all are familiarized with thanks to Facebook, and applies it to the recommendation and discovery of new music. And Kilian Valkhof from Lystener and Barry Starlin from Soundzabound also sat for an interview.

Finally, I was as happy as punch the day I walked into the Uruguayan National Library to discover that some charitable soul had placed “Once” on prominent display. Like a proud father, I tool a zillion pictures. And like any proud father, I got unbearable and wrote a post with the best pictures for you to take a lot at them. I haven’t been flamed yet, so I guess I didn’t get that unbearable…

RostbiF (Uruguayan Unsigned Artist) – Part 2: The Music

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As I am sure you read in the first part of this article, RostbiF is a hard rock band that hails from Nueva Helvecia (an inland Uruguayan town). The guys cite AC/DC, Deep Purple and ZZ Top as their main references and musical heroes, and their sound is an effective amalgamation of what these bands have played since their inception.

RostbiF Playing Live: Lukas Künzler, Pablo Gonzalez, Mauricio Rode & Guido Quintela

RostbiF Playing Live: Lukas Künzler, Pablo Gonzalez, Mauricio Rode & Guido Quintela

The band comprises Lukas Künzler (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Pablo Gonzalez (lead guitar), Mauricio Rode (bass) and Guido Quintela (drums).

I am actually acquainted with the guys since Guido e-mailed me about a year ago asking for some lyrics. I did like the fact that they were aiming for compositions that had a certain social content, and I was keen to try something different to the traditional romantic themes I have always used to favor. Thus, “Rebellion Winds” and “These Eyes” were conceived.

One thing that comes across when you listen to their music is how much they are enjoying themselves. They are no virtuosos, they know it, and that is not the point to begin with. They make up for it with a lot of stamina and passion: Guido hits the bass drum as he if were kicking a plancha in the mouth, the bass has true bursts of vigor (specially when it gets some space as on “Rebellion Winds”, their finest composition so far) and the two guitars act as the main offensive line of the band. Granted, nobody would mistake the interplay between Lukas and Pablo as the one that characterized Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, but they are clearly in the same wavelength. Plus, when singing Lukas sounds like a chain smoker who hasn’t had a cigarette in three weeks. Take all that together and the result is the soundtrack for throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at the police during a riot. No wonder I have never attended one of their gigs personally. The last thing I want is someone smashing a bottle willy-nilly in my head. Continue reading →

RostbiF (Uruguayan Unsigned Artist) – Part 1: Profile & Interview

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It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to the Uruguayan unsigned artist of this week: RostbiF. They are one of the bands I collaborate with, and I can tell you that they are passionate believers in the power of music.

This is their PureVolume profile.

Below you will find the first part of the article, in which they introduce themselves and answer some questions. My own analysis of their music is included here.

RostbiF Are Lukas Künzler, Pablo Gonzalez, Mauricio Rode & Guido Quintela

RostbiF Are Lukas Künzler, Pablo Gonzalez, Mauricio Rode & Guido Quintela

Band Information

Name: RostbiF

Genre: Hard rock

Band Members:
Lukas Künzler (Voice and rhythm guitar)
Pablo Gonzalez (guitar)
Mauricio Rode (Bass)
Guido Quintela (Drums)

Been Together Since: Juny 2009

Some Questions

Where does the name of your band come from?

It comes from playing with words and translating them from Spanish into German, but it has no real meaning. The first idea was “rost”, which means “oxid” in German, but we found it to short so we played a little bit with it and the result was RostbiF.

Is it possible to define or categorize your music? If you had to try, how would you do it?

Our music is a kind of mixture from different hard rock styles, it is based on bands like AC/DC, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin… just simple hard rock.

In which ways could your music be deemed as innovative within the Uruguayan scene?  Is that a concern for you?

We think there is no real innovation in our music, we play hard rock the traditional way, that is the music we like to listen to. There is a difference from other Uruguayan bands in the influences, and the type of music we play, but there is nothing new or innovative in it at all.

In which sense being in Uruguay gives you an edge over musicians in other parts of the world? And how does it hinder you? Continue reading →

Month In Review – May 2010

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One of the most eclectic months since I started the blog, in May I covered many events like the passing of Lena Horne, the emergence of Greyson Chance and the latest instrument being developed by Roger Linn – all while providing coverage on artists I had already introduced you to. Albums reviewed included Tom Petty’s “Full Moon Fever” and “Into The Great Wide Open”, whereas I also reviewed “The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3” and Richard Thompson’s “Mirror Blue”.

What’s more, The Kinks were (finally!) added to the roll of artists featured on MusicKO

The startups I reviewed this month were SongVote, Radar Music Videos, G2, Lyreach and BuyWidget. And I managed to interview James Fontana from SongVote, and the two founders of a startup I had covered in April: Earwurm.

Finally, I am very pleased with the way the coverage of Uruguayan musicians has evolved. In addition to reviewing Sordromo’s “Salvando La Distancia” I posted a classic audio clip (Jorge Nasser beating some radio hosts that got too cheeky), and I covered a new unsigned artist: Retrocedonia. Best of all, one of the bands I collaborate with shot its first video. The band is RostbiF, and the song is “En Una Lágrima”.

En Una Lágrima (RostbiF) – Video Clip

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I’d like to share with you the first video clip created by one of the Uruguayan bands I collaborate with, RostbiF. The guys hail from Nueva Helvecia (an inland town) and this particular song has one of the very first lyrics in Spanish that I ever wrote. It is called “En Una Lágrima” [In A Tear].

I also penned two other lyrics for them – “Rebellion Winds” and “These Eyes”. You can listen to all of these songs in full on their PureVolume profile.

This is the video clip for “En Una Lágrima”. I have attached the lyrics below along with a translation into English.

Of course, look for a full profile and an interview with the band on MusicKO soon! Continue reading →