Blending the elements of her heritage together, Jessica Fichot has put a unique spin on a jazzy throwback sound. The multi-lingual chanteuse is known for singing in her native Mandarin and French, as well as English and Spanish. 

The music itself carries a distinct French cabaret sound akin to the greats like Edith Piaf, Josephine Baker and more. Accompanied by a clarinet, sax, guitar and stand up bass, Fichot sings while switching between the accordion and the toy piano. 

On her newest EP, Dear Shanghai, the LA by way of Paris performer offers up swing-era sound with lyrics sung completely in Mandarin. Crafted as a tribute and celebration of her mother's hometown, Dear Shanghai is charming and playful, with the occasional sultry, lovelorn torch song thrown in.

You can see Fichot perform this Friday, August 6 at Monterey Court (505 W. Miracle Mile). The show starts at 7 p.m. and runs until about 10 p.m. Tickets will be sold at the door the day of the show for $15 or for $10 online, in advance via the Monterey Court website.

There are probably a few reasons people were so excited to see Unknown Mortal Orchestra play Club Congress on Monday, August 3. Since the band's ultra-DIY incarnation via a single song release on Bandcamp five years ago, the trippy indie pop group has found steady rotation in cool places with cool people. Their latest release, Multi-Love, brings some solid funk roots into the mix, adding an obvious dance element to the band's jamminess.

So when they took the stage, yeah, I was pretty excited. Kicking off with "Like Acid Rain" from the new album, the band wasn't immediately engaging. There seemed to be a lack of connection between the four-piece outright, but the following "From the Sun" got the crowd going with a more familiar song. Despite the lyrics, which chant "isolation, it can put a gun in your hand," the song pushed the crowd with loud, driving bass. Frontman Ruban Nielson's artful guitar solos were engaging—both impressive to watch and hear as a departure from the album cut.


That push led into a funked up rendition of "How Can You Luv Me," which hints to the band's transformation overall. However, it wasn't until the drawn out drum solo at the end that the show really seemed to begin. The ebbing and swelling frenetic, improved beats clearly drove the energy in the room way up. Just watching Riley Geare go totally insane on his kit was enough to kickstart the crowd so by the time the song shifted to the Prince-like "Ur Life One Night," pretty much the entire audience was moving—and with good reason.

Playing a healthy blend of songs from their three albums, longtime fans and new kids stayed engaged through "The World is Crowded," "So Good at Being in Trouble," "Swim and Sleep (Like a Shark)," and more. While technically stunning, it felt like UMO remained somewhat disjointed still—almost as if each member was in their own project that somehow magically coalesced into a cohesive outfit. It wasn't that anything sounded off, just that there was a distinct lack of chemistry and interaction among the band. I don't expect people to ham it up (or even be friends) on stage, but a casual glance would be cool.

All of that aside, each individual performance stood out enough to overlook it. "Stage or Screen" drove through with another strong percussive presence with a brief piano interlude. It was that kind of interlude where everyone knew what was coming next—that same song that earned UMO many of their fans to begin with: "FFunny FFriends." The perfectly entertaining and spot-on rendition ended with a ragtimey piano breakdown that garnered an unsolicited audience clap along.

The song slowly melted into another song that also seemed like the next logical step and what, I guessed, would be the show's closing track. "Multi-Love" recorded is an entirely addicting song that seems to form its own genre from several others cobbled together. I've probably listened to it over a hundred times in the past month or so, and clearly I wasn't alone because scads of outliers and barflys flooded back into the main room the second it began. Live, the song is just as good, if not better, embellished by Nielson's subtle snapping and more.

True, it was actually the finishing track, but the crowd cheered for an encore as they are wont to do, and the band obliged as they are wont to do. Out of the few bonus encore songs, "Can't Keep Checking My Phone" stood out with an indie-funk-pop bass line that seemed to be pulled from an of Montreal album with heavy moments of futuristic à la '80s synth that would suddenly shift to moments of stripped down straightforward rock. 

If anything, UMO live clarified the band's allure, despite the somewhat distant stage presence. By their third album, the band has managed to meld genres into an indistinguishable slurry of smooth dance tracks. It feels psychedelic, it feels poppy, it feels funky. It's rock and roll, and it's electronic. It's something from every decade in the past 100 years. You know what? I'll be honest. I don't know what kind of music UMO plays anymore, but it's really good.

Between recording some of my favorite locally made records released this year at his studio Midtown Island and fronting the pioneering Tucson rock group The Resonars, Matt Rendon's also got a little something else up his sleeve. Rendon's new project, called The Butterscotch Cathedral, is a high-concept full psych experiment that, from the first listen, actually teleports you to the UK in the mid-to-late '60s, rather than simply appropriating the sound.

National music blog Brooklyn Vegan released the first track from The Butterscotch Cathedral, drawing ties to both The Who and Beach Boys instantly. Truthfully, from that first song, it seems like the project and forthcoming album could comfortably nestle its way into Piper-era Pink Floyd or even The Beatles circa Sgt. Pepper as well. See for yourself:


Although we're going to have to wait until October to snag a copy of The Butterscotch Cathedral's self-titled debut, which will be released via Trouble in Mind (Jacco Gardner, Mikal Cronin, Del Shannon, etc.), Rendon also released a promo video for the project. Hopefully both "Flood of Mendoza" and that acid trip of a promo will hold us all over until then, but I doubt it. Anyway, without further ado:

The upcoming El Tambó is going to be a multinational lovefest, featuring music by Chicago-based Dos Santos and New York’s Karikatura. Both are virgins to the Tucson scene, so come show them how the desert shakes it.

As cumbia and other Afro-Latin American, transglobal genres inspire a new sense of infatuation in the U.S., both bands knew this was the right time to get sucked into the Southwest. Being friendly with El Tambó creator, Logan “Dirtyverbs” Phillips, sparked talks to make their Old Pueblo debut at this special session of El Tambó presents...

Phillips will be spinning his usual goodness, too, of course.

I chatted with Alex Chavez, guitarist and singer of Dos Santos, and Ryan Acquaotta, Karikatura’s vocalist and percussionist, about what they’re going to be bringing to the Hotel Congress patio the evening of Wednesday, July 22. Music starts at 8 p.m. and admission is free. 

DOS SANTOS


Alex Chavez is really enjoying living through what he calls the curious return of cumbia. These days, bands and DJs in every corner of the country are headed that direction, but the OG golden age of cumbia happened in the 1950s and '60s. "Before salsa became salsa in the 70s, the one kind of Latin American style that you saw take hold in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina...was cumbia," he says. "It was the backbone of Latin America."

In their respective home towns, the guys grew up listening to different versions of cumbia, and other Afro-Latin genres, so when Chavez and fellow band mates (Irekani Ferreyra, guitar and vocals; Peter "Maestro" Vale, congas and bongos; Daniel Villarreal-Carillo, drums; and Jaime Garza, bass) picked up their instruments and started making noise, adopting a cumbia-esque sound organically came to be.

Here's a taste of Dos Santos' background: Puerto Rico, Mexico, Panamá, the borderlands of Texas. Their Afro-Carribean, pan-Latin cumbia style filled a void in the Chicago live music world.

"Chicago is home to one of the largest populations of Latinos...the second largest of Mexicanos outside of East LA, but there wasn't this scene for live music similar to what we were playing, which I found interesting," he says. "There was Latin alternative stuff, a lot of Mexican roots, Puerto Rican, so a light bulb went off and we said 'let's follow this.'"

He describes Dos Santos music as the summoning of cumbia legends like Rigo Tovar and Xavier Passos. "In Mexico, you have everything from regional Monterrey to cumbia rebajada. In the '60s and '70s, along the border, people like Tovar and Passos playing this very working-class, blue collard cumbia...we draw inspiration from that," he says. In fact, in many countries, cumbia is known as "the music of the people" because of its origin in humble neighborhoods. 

Tucson filmmaker Alex Italics (profiled by the Weekly back in February) has made a new video for They Might Be Giants. It appears he annoyed a few people in the process, as you can see if you watch "I Am Invisible."

Although many metal bands came after Black Sabbath, it kind of seems like everyone knows they won't be able to do it better. That means you can either try to carve out your own metal niche—words like doom and sludge come to mind—or you can do what many metal fans do and go the cover band route. 

Take, for instance, Brown Sabbath. The all-Latino cover band takes your favorite Black Sabbath songs and adds new flair with a horn section and bongos that turns the hard rocking classic jams into something much more funky and danceable.

Then, there's the dudes that will be hitting the Club Congress (311 E. Congress St.) stage on Saturday, July 11. Mac Sabbath is, you could say, a uniquely American take on Sabbath. Blending the worlds of McDonalds and the iconic metal band, you get a bunch of weird costumes straight out of a McDonaldland acid trip nightmare and punny songs like "Frying Pan" and "Pair-a-Buns." It's definitely going to be a spectacle, to say the very least. 


You can check out this drive thru, super sized treatment of Black Sabbath on Saturday with doors at 7 p.m. and local act Sugar Stains opening up the show. It's a 21 and over event (sorry, no Satanic Happy Meals at this show). Tickets can be found online in advance for $15, along with more information, on the Club Congress website.

Besides, if you absolutely hate it (and I doubt you even could), you can simply pull through to Hotel Congress' next window, as it were, and dance all night to the Saturdaze resident DJs Bob Felix, JALPH, Andrew Shuta and Sid the Kid in the courtyard for free.

Probably the best part about a contemporary art museum is its inherently inclusionary nature. You want to stack some shellacked pieces of compost in a clever way? Sure. You want to paint a big black dot on a white canvas? Go for it. You're considering transforming the museum into a dumpster pool? Deal.

Well, in keeping with that tenet, Tucson's Museum of Contemporary Art is getting a little gritty and a lot loud for a punk-imbued double feature on Saturday, July 11.

First up, Tucson-born artist and director Dean Dempsey will be presenting his new film (released October 2014) that blurs the lines between reality and the film's narrative. Candy Apple follows Bobby (Dempsey) and his relationship with his father ("Trash" a.k.a. Terry "Texas" Trash) and their many vice-filled, dark and yet somehow still funny misadventures following a move to the Big Apple.

Then, the real Trash with hit the MOCA stage to perform live with the seminal Tucson punk outfit known simply as Texas Trash and the Trainwrecks. As with the film itself, the event promises to blur the lines between art and reality in a way that's nearly indistinguishable. Plus, it's an interesting overall look at one of the Old Pueblo's most legendary real characters, so you won't want to miss it.

The screening and live show begin at MOCA (265 S. Church Ave.) at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $5 for museum members and $10 for everyone else. Due to the film's (and possibly the concert's) subject matter, kids under 18 need a parent or guardian to attend.

Candy Apple Trailer 2015 from Dean Dempsey on Vimeo.

Editor's note: Terry "Texas" Trash is a finalists in Best of Tucson® this year. Which category? Vote to find out!

Local chilled out psych rockers Best Dog Award are headed up the west coast on tour for the next few weeks in support of their new release Faith-Based Space Place. If you haven't heard it yet, the five-song EP showcases the bands penchant for melding wave-like reverb-laced guitar with sunny electro-organ resulting in a sometimes relaxingly mellow, sometimes wiggle-inducing and upbeat, but always super dreamy mix of BDA's best work to date. Made at downtown's St. Cecilia Studios, the recording is clean and straightforward, without being cloyingly produced.

So, before they go out to California to spread Faith-Based Space Place along the coast, you'll want to catch Best Dog Award at Club Congress (311 E. Congress St.) on Wednesday, July 1. Starting at 8 p.m., freak funk trio Shooda Shook It and the fun and fuzzy Phoenix act Strange Lot will open up. Tickets will be sold at the door the day of for $5 and it's an all ages event.

Until then, make sure to check out their music video for "Successful," which was released earlier this month. The trippy space throwback video features some familiar venues, most notably D&D Pinball off Fourth Avenue, and was directed by Tucson ex-pat Caleb Jackson. 

Tucson musician Sergio Mendoza of Calexico and Orkesta Mendoza (among others) recently teamed up with Luz Elena Mendoza of Portland's Y La Bamba to record Los Hijos de la Montaña right here in downtown Tucson's Wavelab Studios. NPR's Felix Contreras puts it on NPR's list of the best 25 albums of 2015 (so far). Contreras notes:

I've been calling it "The Meeting of the Mendozas," this first-ever collaboration between songwriter Sergio Mendoza and vocalist Luz Elena Mendoza. The two (unrelated) musicians represent two very unique takes on Mexican influences in their music: Luz Elena is the husky-voiced lead singer of Y la Bamba, a group from the Pacific Northwest that I once described as a group of "rugged choir boys"; Sergio has divided his time between Calexico and his own Orkesta Mendoza, a 1950s-inspired mambo rock band. Together these Mendozas sound nothing like their separate bands: Los Hijos de la Montaña is a captivating sonic soundscape of a mythical Southwest, a land where the border doesn't exist and the musical flow is bilingual and bi-cultural. It hasn't caused much of a stir in the crowded world of online music, but this album is worth a second and even third listen six months into this year. There is a well-crafted and expertly-performed world in this music that is very real to many of us who grew up in the Southwest. This collaboration nails the sound in our heads perfectly. —Felix Contreras

Well, Abril Castillo, St. Cecilia Studios and Cloud Microphones are at it again. The folks that make up the T-Town Sessions team just released the first in a new series of locally-made live music videos. Since the videos are recorded downtown in a professional studio by professional videographers, you can expect another crop of visually and aurally beautiful videos showcasing the town's top talent. 

First up in this round of videos is Tucson-by-way-of-France singer-songwriter Naim Amor. While Amor is typically known for his romantic, delicate chanson, the video for "Woman" shows a hard-rocking, jammy side of Amor, embellished by a full band, that showcases just what this local musician is capable of. Prepare to have the video looping on YouTube all day.


Next up in this series of four will be Pork Torta, Aztral Folk and Copper & Congress. You can also catch Amor tonight live on The Coronet patio (402 E. Ninth St.) for free, with half-off bottles of wine.