Forceful and full of cinematic drama, the new single from Brent Amaker and the Rodeo is a powerful way to round off your week of videos. Tinged with Mexican influences, ‘Murdered in the Streets’ features driving, insistent percussion, Spanish backing vocals, horns, strings and blasts of Latin energy. Amaker’s distinctive voice is the highlight, characterful, deep and resonant.
‘Murdered in the Streets’ appears on brand new album, “Vaquero”, which was recorded over several trips to Mexico and blends Amaker’s familiar Western sounds with authentic mariachi backing. The album was born out of Amaker’s longtime friendships with Mexican musicians, including Miguel Servin, a veteran on the Mexican music scene, who owns his own studio. Servin invited Amaker down to make a Rodeo record; Amaker’s response: “Can you get me mariachi? If I’m gonna record a record in Mexico City, it’s gotta be a Mexican record.” Servin did it the old-fashioned way – he went to Plaza Garibaldi, a bar where mariachi groups perform regularly and then hand out business cards around the tables, looking for gigs and new places to play.
“Vaquero” is named after the Mexican word for ‘cowboy’, the original kind that dates back to the 1500s. For Amaker, in the context of the current political climate and anti-immigrant feeling in the US, it was important that the record was mostly made in Mexico with Mexican producers, engineers, studio staff, and musicians. That international cooperation was a big part of its international flavour. Back in the States, the mixing was completed by Mexican-American Rodeo guitarist Johnny Nails, and the band did some overdubs. Amaker says: “It’s a very specific thing the Rodeo does, and the little treatments here and there is what gives it its sound,” he notes; the Rodeo’s drummer, for instance, performed on the tracks and contributed his “typical shuffle thing that he does.” The result is distinctive and superbly crafted – check it out.
