Send "Chikita Violenta " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Chikita Violenta is a uniquely North American band. The Mexico City foursome has spent the past several years cutting its teeth in that capital's indie rock scene, furnishing a catalog that's fundamentally at odds with what its local audience asks of its own: pop songs sung in Spanish. Instead, Chikita Violenta sing in English like the 1990s American indie rock bands on which they were weaned-- Built to Spill, Pavement, Modest Mouse, Tortoise. In addition, they've opted to record extensively in Toronto with producer Dave Newfeld of Broken Social Scene fame. It makes for interesting moves: while the ultra-saturated tones and widescreen scale that made Newfeld synonymous with BSS play a noticeable role in Chikita Violenta's psych-pop transmissions, TRE3S, their third long-player (released by the Canadian supergroup's Arts & Crafts imprint), finds them continuing to home in on shapes and textures of their own.A good place to begin is the end. In the first warbled seconds of closer "My Connection", indecipherable studio chatter is punctuated with a clear invitation: "Hey, come on in." Light, hand-woven guitar melodies sprawl in 38 directions at once. People continue to laugh and hoot and holler in the background. A sunny all-member chorus quickly comes into focus. "My connection just fades away/ My connection just fades away/ Thanks for coming/ Now just walk away." Its sentiment isn't at all in line with the welcoming way they sing it, but that opening gesture is one with the rest of the indie rock anthemry to be found here. But deeper inside a song like "My Connection", you can hear a sense of rapport that clearly allows them to link up in really thrilling ways at times. Opener "Roni" pairs polluted, Ponderosa-thick riffs with gentler acoustic lines to heady effect, its aired out chorus almost lofty as the ones featured in duo "All I Need's a Little More" and "Tired". Those two in particular lean heavily on Broken Social Scene-established dynamics and sonics, though the schizophrenic pieces of the former glue together really nicely with the help of the sing-a-long at its center. It's a bit of a trade-off. While Chikita Violenta have no problems huddling together to fashion an outsized vocal hook, much of the detail in their sometimes stunning interplay can get lost in froth of those same vocals. Though it's difficult to find a pulse in the grind of "The Pause" or meandering "Siren" for example, all of the moving acoustic parts of "España" can be found on full display. It's a march that gathers a lot of steam and a lot of tension without ever falling prey to its production values or weighty ambitions. They sound like themselves....full text |
| Qromag |
| Admittedly, the first thing that most indie music fans will first notice or remember about Chikita Violenta is that they're Mexican. Despite protests to the contrary, alternative music is a rich world, Anglo-American-dominated style of music, and not just because of the preference for the English language - how many indie bands are among the countless numbers of Indian English-speakers? But once you're past the curious fact of Chikita's nationality, does their new TRE3S hold up on its own merits? Yes it does, as while their third record can feel a little confused at times, it has an interesting and enjoyable mix of fuzzy expanse, rhythmic underpinnings, garage-pop catch and more. First brought to the wider world by Canadian producer Dave Newfeld (Broken Social Scene, Los Campesinos!), the fuzzy, higher elements on many of the pieces do have a Canadian tinge, but it also means that such elements are done right, such as the growing "All I Need's a Little More". However, Chikita also employ a rhythmic underpinning to keep their pieces from floating off into the upper echelons of the atmosphere; slightly rough, there's a lo-fi-ish garage feel, but it comes at the sound from an entirely different direction than your run-of-the-mill Brooklyn garage-rock outfit, ghostly but also substantial in "The Pause". There are times when the differing sounds don't fit together so well, like the wandering instrumental "Holiday" or mixed up beats and samples "The Monster (Was Last Seen Approaching the Power Plant)" - the band is better when there's singing (all in English, just in case you were worried...)....full text |
| Avclub |
| On its third album overall and first for Toronto’s Arts And Crafts label, Mexico City quartet Chikita Violenta recalls what was so initially alluring about Broken Social Scene: TRE3S is filled with heavily affected, panoramically epic lo-fi pop. Vocals swoon, guitars climb over one another messily, drums fade in and out of the picture, pastoral bridges abound, and catchiness prevails. This isn’t an accident, of course. You Forgot It In People producer (and BSS member) David Newfeld is on board, as are a few other labelmates, but the band’s own noise-pop personality ultimately shines through. The thudding drumming, sludgy axe-wielding, and darkly tinted psychedelia of the opener, “Roni,” resolve in undeniable melody. “All I Need’s A Little More” is made of dozens of interlocking parts that surge lightly and crash heavily in turn, conjuring The Books as an alt-rock act, or Trail Of Dead making happy music. “Tired” is ebullient despite the name, and “Holiday” is a breezy, wordless song colored by a Western shuffle and duh-duh-duhs. The band loses some momentum in the middle, where the heavy use of effects grows tedious and the textures don’t become actual songs, but Chikita Violenta recovers well before the closer, “My Connection,” which turns the show over to soaring guitars and a full-band sing-along: “Thanks for coming, now just walk away.” Of course, ending on such a high note means fans will be begging for a return....full text |
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