Based on my own research, it takes approximately two minutes to realize the awesomeness of Mexico’s Los Master Plus.
Usually I start by showing my subjects pictures of the group, segue into a Youtube video, then it’s game-over. It’s a harder phenomenon to explain with words. This is experiential stuff. I like to watch my subject’s facial expressions go from “Wtf?” to the joyful realization that something amazing has just entered their “I’ve seen it all” lives.
I was the booking agent for the global dancehall, Tropicalia, in Washington, DC, when I got an email from a friend that had “book these guys” in the subject line with this link among others. Like a good bag of potato chips, I couldn’t just eat one. I went down the rabbit hole and decided to book the band, not knowing who would turn up for the show. The band didn’t even have a proper full-length album out or the promotional support of a label.
In the end it took only a few posters showing the mustached duo and some Youtube posts of the group doing digitized cumbia-inflected covers of Dr. Dre, Kings of Leon, No Doubt, and Daft Punk to sell the show. The results were a wake of joy. I had people coming up to me after the show saying, “I don’t really know what THAT was, but IT was awesome!”
For their third appearance in Washington, DC, Los Master Plus will bring the party to Artisphere on Friday May 16 with DC’s own, Empresarios, and DJ G-Flux, who also produced an original cumbiatronico single for Los Master Plus, “Ritmo Universal” that came out on Electric Cowbell Records in October, 2013, as a vinyl 7-inch.
You don’t really need a reference point to understand the phenomenon that is Los Master Plus. Yes, there are underpinnings of Mexican music: cumbia, norteña, corrido, etc, but theirs is a universal language of fun that encourages humanity to go with it, even if you’re not quite sure what to make of it. Let the cumbia start!
Tell us why we should send YOU to Friday’s show on us—and our friends at Artisphere and Electric Cowbell Records—in the comments below. We’ll choose the 3 most enthusiastic voices on Friday at 9AM for 2 pairs of tickets each (4 total per person) which also comes with a copy of the aforementioned “Ritmo Universal” 7″ for each winner! So…go!
