Biography
Centavrvs ranks among Mexico City’s leading independent acts, with its four core members having previously played in three separate groups before the project formally assembled during 2011. The moniker draws together several layers of Mexican cultural resonance, evoking Pancho Villa’s moniker “El Centauro del Norte,” the Alfa Centauri star system, and the hundred-year mark of the Mexican Revolution. Their music fuses electronica, Mexican pop, rancheras, boleros, cumbias, indie rock, funk, and occasional vintage salsa into a texture that shifts between fluid and abrupt; the musicians themselves coined the term “Electrónica Regional Mexicana” to describe this hybrid.
Demián Gálvez and DJ Rayo, both formerly of the experimental jazz outfit Los Dorados, began the endeavor in 2010 by cutting four tracks as a centennial homage to the Mexican Revolution and uploading them to MySpace. The songs spread rapidly first among fellow musicians and then among reviewers and listeners, prompting an invitation from a Mexican jazz festival organizer to prepare a sixty-minute performance. To complete the lineup Gálvez and Rayo enlisted Alán Santos of Timmy & the Monsters and Paco Martínez of Neon Walrus, establishing November 20, 2011 as the quartet’s official formation date. Although these four remain the permanent members, the group regularly augments its sound with additional horn and string players.
A 2012 appearance at the Arte Careyes Festival shaped the approach taken on their debut EP, Pacífico, whose guiding concept crystallized around reframing the core elements of Mexican folk traditions through contemporary dance-music frameworks. Shortly afterward they released Aniv de la Rev: Corridos Mexicanos, applying that same fusion vocabulary to revolutionary-era corridos. Carmen Ruíz, previously associated with Natalia Lafourcade and Torreblanca, joined in 2013 in time to participate in both the performance and curation of the Vive Latino Festival. Their first collaboration yielded the single and video “Por Eso,” which featured Denise Gutiérrez of Hello Seahorse. The band also contributed the track “Fumemos un Cigarrillo” to the soundtrack of Carlos Cuarón’s film Besos de Azúcar, working alongside Carla Morrison.
Midway through 2014 they issued the advance single “La Noche y Un Huracán,” followed by the title song of their first full-length album, Sombras de Oro. Toy Selectah produced the record, which incorporated corrido, cumbia, rock, pop, and salsa while adding trip-hop textures on this project. Immediate radio play and a sequence of videos ensued; the album earned widespread praise on both sides of the Mexican border and received a 2015 Latin Grammy nomination in the United States. Centavrvs toured extensively through clubs and festivals in Mexico and the U.S., including SXSW and Coachella. Ruíz left the group amicably once the demanding schedule concluded.
Following a hiatus the remaining members returned to the studio in 2016 with Argentine producer Tweety Gonzalez, whose prior credits include work with Fito Paez and Soda Stereo. The pre-release video single “El Punto Final” appeared later that year, preceding the March 2018 release of their second album, Somos Uno. Horn arrangements were supplied by Veracruz trombonist King Rey David Alejandre, a veteran of Willie Colón’s renowned salsa ensemble. The record prompted enthusiastic coverage and profiles from National Public Radio, Rolling Stone, and additional outlets.
Demián Gálvez and DJ Rayo, both formerly of the experimental jazz outfit Los Dorados, began the endeavor in 2010 by cutting four tracks as a centennial homage to the Mexican Revolution and uploading them to MySpace. The songs spread rapidly first among fellow musicians and then among reviewers and listeners, prompting an invitation from a Mexican jazz festival organizer to prepare a sixty-minute performance. To complete the lineup Gálvez and Rayo enlisted Alán Santos of Timmy & the Monsters and Paco Martínez of Neon Walrus, establishing November 20, 2011 as the quartet’s official formation date. Although these four remain the permanent members, the group regularly augments its sound with additional horn and string players.
A 2012 appearance at the Arte Careyes Festival shaped the approach taken on their debut EP, Pacífico, whose guiding concept crystallized around reframing the core elements of Mexican folk traditions through contemporary dance-music frameworks. Shortly afterward they released Aniv de la Rev: Corridos Mexicanos, applying that same fusion vocabulary to revolutionary-era corridos. Carmen Ruíz, previously associated with Natalia Lafourcade and Torreblanca, joined in 2013 in time to participate in both the performance and curation of the Vive Latino Festival. Their first collaboration yielded the single and video “Por Eso,” which featured Denise Gutiérrez of Hello Seahorse. The band also contributed the track “Fumemos un Cigarrillo” to the soundtrack of Carlos Cuarón’s film Besos de Azúcar, working alongside Carla Morrison.
Midway through 2014 they issued the advance single “La Noche y Un Huracán,” followed by the title song of their first full-length album, Sombras de Oro. Toy Selectah produced the record, which incorporated corrido, cumbia, rock, pop, and salsa while adding trip-hop textures on this project. Immediate radio play and a sequence of videos ensued; the album earned widespread praise on both sides of the Mexican border and received a 2015 Latin Grammy nomination in the United States. Centavrvs toured extensively through clubs and festivals in Mexico and the U.S., including SXSW and Coachella. Ruíz left the group amicably once the demanding schedule concluded.
Following a hiatus the remaining members returned to the studio in 2016 with Argentine producer Tweety Gonzalez, whose prior credits include work with Fito Paez and Soda Stereo. The pre-release video single “El Punto Final” appeared later that year, preceding the March 2018 release of their second album, Somos Uno. Horn arrangements were supplied by Veracruz trombonist King Rey David Alejandre, a veteran of Willie Colón’s renowned salsa ensemble. The record prompted enthusiastic coverage and profiles from National Public Radio, Rolling Stone, and additional outlets.
Albums
Singles
