Biography
Los Blenders, a Mexican garage rock outfit, fuse the raw aggression of punk-tinged garage with surf music’s echoing twang, psychedelia’s hallucinatory layers, and the crisp modern thrust associated with groups like the Strokes. Their earliest tracks radiated the exuberant, unrefined vigor of youth, yet growing experience gradually tempered that chaos into something richer and more compelling. By their third album, the 2020 release Mazunte 2016, the quartet had mastered the balance of contemporary garage rock’s blazing intensity and measured control.
Fronted by vocalist and guitarist Alejandro Archundia, the band began performing in 2007 but waited until 2011 to issue their first recording, the six-song Oye EP. Its gritty garage sound, saturated in reverb, was followed the next year by the single “Ah Oh.” Word of their rowdy concerts quickly spread, attracting a devoted audience of garage enthusiasts and anyone seeking a soundtrack for letting go. Two subsequent singles revealed emerging influences: surf textures on the heavily reverberant “Yumbinha” and punk drive on “Meta y Dinero.” With the 2015 album Chavos Bien, Los Blenders had crystallized their loose, high-spirited garage style, and listeners took notice. Crowds swelled, a late-2016 KEXP session in Seattle aired, a Corona spot with will.i.am featured the group, and an early-2017 Coachella appearance followed.
Over these years the musicians gained greater confidence, a development reflected in the more assured craftsmanship of their 2017 album Ha Sido, which paired rambunctious garage-punk attitude with newfound professionalism. Continued roadwork led into sessions for the third album, now with bassist Osmar Espinosa, drummer José Manuel Martínez, and guitarist Patricio González alongside Archundia. The players expanded their palette by folding post-punk and psychedelic elements into an increasingly mature sound. Recording wrapped in March 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic intensified; the band chose to delay release, and the Devil in the Woods label later acquired the finished work. Issued in September 2020, Mazunte 2016 stands as the group’s most sophisticated and melodic statement, uniting every facet of their sound with seamless cohesion.
Fronted by vocalist and guitarist Alejandro Archundia, the band began performing in 2007 but waited until 2011 to issue their first recording, the six-song Oye EP. Its gritty garage sound, saturated in reverb, was followed the next year by the single “Ah Oh.” Word of their rowdy concerts quickly spread, attracting a devoted audience of garage enthusiasts and anyone seeking a soundtrack for letting go. Two subsequent singles revealed emerging influences: surf textures on the heavily reverberant “Yumbinha” and punk drive on “Meta y Dinero.” With the 2015 album Chavos Bien, Los Blenders had crystallized their loose, high-spirited garage style, and listeners took notice. Crowds swelled, a late-2016 KEXP session in Seattle aired, a Corona spot with will.i.am featured the group, and an early-2017 Coachella appearance followed.
Over these years the musicians gained greater confidence, a development reflected in the more assured craftsmanship of their 2017 album Ha Sido, which paired rambunctious garage-punk attitude with newfound professionalism. Continued roadwork led into sessions for the third album, now with bassist Osmar Espinosa, drummer José Manuel Martínez, and guitarist Patricio González alongside Archundia. The players expanded their palette by folding post-punk and psychedelic elements into an increasingly mature sound. Recording wrapped in March 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic intensified; the band chose to delay release, and the Devil in the Woods label later acquired the finished work. Issued in September 2020, Mazunte 2016 stands as the group’s most sophisticated and melodic statement, uniting every facet of their sound with seamless cohesion.
Albums
Singles
