Discos Rolas

Grupo Jejeje

Grupo Jejeje Rebajadas Por Sonido Dueñez

Discos Rolas

***Discos Rolas presents Gabriel Dueñez aka Sonido Dueñez’s rebajada mix Grupo Jejeje’s debut eponymous album. Dueñez (born 1947) began DJing as a sonidero at age 13 and is the creator of Monterrey, Mexico’s unique cumbia sound. He is a well-known collector of vallenata, Colombian cumbia, and sonidero records. Dueñez invented cumbia rebajada—dramatically slowed down cumbia—by accident when his turntable’s motor malfunctioned and pitched down the records. After his fans asked for more “rebajadas,” Dueñez modified his turntable to slow down the records and began making rebajada compilations on cassette. Despite being a pioneer of the genre, Dueñez humbly continues to make his rebajada cassettes from home and sell tapes from his stand on the Bridge del Papa over the Río Santa Catarina in Monterrey.Dueñez has releases on Peerless label’s gold and platinum compilation LPs and is featured in Mirjam Wirz’ Ojos Suaves, Amanda Watkins’ Cholombianos, Vice’s “The Evolution of Cumbia Music in Monterrey,” and elsewhere.At Discos Rolas’ invitation, Dueñez made his first trip to the United States to perform at the label launch and Grupo Jejeje release party and participate in an artist conversation with Grupo Jejeje in Los Angeles. Dueñez created the first rebajada of an entire album. 2020 release.

Grupo Jejeje

s/t

Discos Rolas

***Deep in Cyber Aztlán, Grupo Jejeje emerged in 2014 out of a shared fascination with the darker sonic undercurrents within cumbia. Mexican-American producer Turbo Sonidero, alongside Persian-British producer Arrabalero are Grupo Jejeje aka Los Místicos de la Kumbia digging deep into the cumbia universe in search of esoteric sounds from short-lived labels, synth-driven melodies from Puebla, and loop- and sample-based kumbias editadas from San Luis Potosi.Grupo Jejeje’s music filters these sounds through their own unique immigrant experiences. While Turbo Sonidero grew up as a Mexican-American in San José’s Latino East Side in the shadow of technophilic Silicon Valley, Arrabalero came of age in London surrounded by classical and popular Persian music. In Cyber Aztlán, a reimagination of the mythical Aztec ancestral land, Grupo Jejeje soundtracks cosmic encounters between Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Meso-American cultures. After years of sharing song sketches and collaborating online, Turbo Sonidero and Arrabalero met in person in Oaxaca and Tepotzlán to work on and finalize their music together in 2018.In July 2018, Grupo Jejeje and Discos Rolas traveled to Mexico City and met with legendary artist Jamie Ruelas. Beginning in the early 1980s, Ruelas revolutionized flyer art and logos for the Mexico’s largest and most important sound systems—Polymarchs, La Changa among others. His hand-drawn imagery of space travel, sexy cyborgs, and massive sound systems defines the visual aesthetic of Mexico’s sound system culture. It is an honor to collaborate with Jaime Ruelas on the album artwork of our first release. 2019 release.

Grupo Kual?

Amor Regresa Ya

Discos Rolas

***Kual Group? Dinastia Pedraza 7" vinyl record of their mega-hit "Amor Regresa Ya" and their cover of "Kañita de Azucar" by Afrosound. Cover art by Jaime Ruelas. 2020 release.

Grupo Kual?

Konexiones

Discos Rolas

***Grupo Kual?'s Konexiones features collaborations with Lila Downs, Akil Amar, Aurelio Pedraza y Su Acordeón Sabanero, Toromata, Sexta Core, Sonido Gallo Negro, Sonido La Changa, Mike Rodriguez y el Combo Loco, Grupo Que Nota, and Digital Charanga. 2022 release.

Grupo Sonador

El Paso Del Gigante

Discos Rolas

***Discos Rolas presents Puebla's Grupo Soñador for the first time on vinyl. Founded in 1998 by brothers Beto and Richie Tlahuetl in Cholula, Puebla, the group released one self-titled album as Noche Latina before renaming themselves. Grupo Soñador is renowned for pioneering cumbia in Puebla with their keyboard and synth-heavy regional take on cumbia sonidera (cumbia sound system). Grupo Soñador pushes the sound of cumbia sonidera, a style created by DJs in Mexico City who dramatically slowed down records from Colombia, Peru, and elsewhere in South America and dubbed them with personalized greetings (shout-outs). Cumbia from Puebla tends to draw more from cumbia styles from Ecuador and Peru—more keyboards and synths, less accordion—than Colombia, which the best reference for Mexico City.Grupo Soñador gained regional, national, and international recognition with their second album Camino al Cielo (2000) featuring their first sonidero hits “Cumbia de la Cerveza,” “Camino al Cielo” and “La Cumbia de las Botellas.” In 2001 Grupo Soñador's El Paso del Gigante exploded into the sonidero universe, propelling them on their tour in the United States where they played to sold-out crowds of thousands. They continue to compose, perform, and tour and the band now includes Beto's two daughters. 2021 release.

Jonny Chingas

Jonny Chingas

Discos Rolas

***A double cassette mixed by Ganas from the archive of Gary Garay. In homage to the late great Jonny Chingas. Design by Gary Garay. 2022 release.

Super Combo Los Deyvi's

El Pirópo / Sueños De Mi Guitarra

Discos Rolas

***From Puebla, Mexico, Super Combo Los Deyvi's perform "El Pirópo," and "Sueños de mi Guitarra," two reverb-heavy, guitar-driven cumbias with synthy flutes, keyboard, and echo-y bass. Pressed on limited yellow vinyl. 2024 release.

Turbo Sonidero

Lowrider Kumbias

Discos Rolas

***Dedicated to ESSJ and all the East Sides/Varrios in California and the barrios cumbiamberos in San Luis Potosí, Mexico City, and Puebla. Also, to my primo Chuche Salgado from LCG. Thank you to my parents Esther Zepeda Dominguez and Ramon Zepeda for all their sacrifices. S/O to El Rancho Verde and Las Casitas Apartments.Hua Hsu writes in the New Yorker, “Lowrider culture dates to the nineteen-forties, when young Mexican Americans in Los Angeles began lowering their cars to cruise in style. Starting in the sixties and seventies, the sound for these slow, styled-out crawls through the city was the oldie, whether it was the blissful harmonies of soul music or doo-wop. "Lowrider Kumbias” is the San Jose producer Turbo Sonidero’s contemporary tribute to the music he heard while growing up. Just as his forebears tinkered with the hydraulics of their classic American cars, he retrofits classics like Gene Chandler’s “Duke of Earl” or Brenton Wood’s “Baby You Got It” with modern parts, in this case electro-Cumbia riddims. His work is cross-generational take on pride, what it means to have soul, and what it means to bounce." 2022 release.

Turbo Sonidero & Sonido Duenez

Lowrider Kumbias Rebajada Por Sonido Dueñez

Discos Rolas

***The pioneer of cumbia rebajada himself Sonido Dueñez transforms Turbo Sonidero's Lowrider Kumbias into slow & low rebajadas. From East Side San Jose to Monterrey! 2023 release.