Expandingyour musicalhorizons
by Sandra A. Treviño | trad. Víctor Flores
If you’re a music lover, you’ve likely noticed the variety of music collectives available to choose from. However, in case you haven’t had the time or inclination to do some research, we’re here to help. From the eclectic to the original sounds that define Chicago, we will be sharing information about the music collectives that keep this city on its toes. With that in mind, we spoke to Christian Vera for some insight on what his collective, Soulphonetics, is all about and what you can expect at their events.
Vera, 30, originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, grew up in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. As a kid of the 80s growing up in a Mexican household, the first thing he remembers (and giggles about) when asked about his musical influences, are the family parties he would attend where he was forced to dance with all his girl cousins, since he was the only male around.
“We would dance to anything…from Los Rieleros del Norte to La Sonora Dinamita. Of course, Michael Jackson would get in there as well and we’d practice our moonwalks, then some break dancing,” he said.
His love of music grew while in high school eventually leading him to organize house parties. These parties proved essential to his now current success with Soulphonetics because of the diversity of music his DJ friends would play.
“In one room you’d hear underground hip hop then end up in another room dancing to house,” he explained. He also incorporated live performances and reminisces about events he shared with bands like Uno De Mas, who introduced him to the rock en español community. As his parties grew so did his love for music and he began hitting some of the city’s concert venues looking for new sounds. …
His determination allowed him to meet people like Dave Chavez , James Caswell and Cordell Johnson, who organized events at places like Kinetic Playground and HotHouse, both pinnacle venues for Chicago’s alternative music community.
“I knew Dave from the neighborhood and he would invite me to check out all sorts of bands that I’d never heard of,” Vera said. “They were playing Afro-beat, Latin jazz, Brazilian… most of it non-mainstream. It was a little bit of everything. This definitely opened up my horizons with music.”
His search for more of these sounds led him to join Soulphonetics, a collective of producers and DJs who “work diligently to push the soulful sounds of house, jazz and all forms of Afro-Latin rhythms into the fabric of social consciousness.”
Vera considers DJ collectives an important part of any music community because they are usually first to share a new track from an artist you like or from someone you didn’t even know you liked. He encourages everyone to join their monthly dance parties which currently take place the last Saturday of the month at Taxim in Wicker Park.
“Our goal is to push good music. We strive to play things you’ve never heard that make you want to hear more,” he said. “It’s like when a magician does a new trick that nobody has ever done, but once you see it everyone wants to know how it happened. We try to keep things fresh, always taking that next step.”
He also extends this invite to join other Chicago DJ collective events, citing as examples (((SONORAMA))), Foreign Exchange (FEx) and The People’s Collective.
*Taxim is located at 1558 N. Milwaukee. Keep updated to all Soulphonetics events on Twitter @soulphonetics …
