Turntable Lab
“…This is the future of music, in case you didn't know. [Chico Mann] has come from the future to show you how the past should have sounded. This time-traveling mastermind is basically the Jersey City Cuban James Brown of the Casio. You heard it here first…Welcome to the future past. Recommended.”
Dusty Groove America
“…a set of spare, gritty grooves that are all plenty darn funky -- and served up with a few global traces too!...a mean, lean quality that has the full force of Afrika 70 stripped down for the streets of New York! The tunes are simple, but quite compelling…”
Earplug
“…Marcos "Marquitos" Garcia, Antibalas' guitar player, has created a pretty damn good [band] with his Chico Mann project. Recorded with live instruments and '70s-era synthesizers, the end result is unabashedly retro…Garcia, like Antibalas, has a knack for bringing together disparate elements in a way that sounds natural. In this case, it's a very fine vintage indeed.”
Stranger Magazine (Nick Radford)
“…It sounds as if it were recorded over 30 years ago but was way ahead of its time. Every track is a potential dancefloor bomb - hot foot, get up, get into it and get involved... get a copy.”
Loose-record.com (Maggie McQuade)
“…I even found myself so overcome by the funk that I was forced to shake my head back and forth in an effort to pantomime the sentiment, "too dirty, too sexy"! Listening to Chico Mann makes me feel like throwing understated bedroom eyes at sexy strangers, smoking cuban cigars, and wearing leisure suits.”
Boomkat
“…a fusion of Latin influences, old fashioned funk and electronics…Garcia manages to make the album sound authentically vintage – not just in terms of its content but the production itself. Even on the Casio keyboard beats of Piensalo (Bien) there’s a surprisingly impressive salsa-funk pedigree lurking beneath the surface. Very nice.”
Montreal Mirror
“…in the end this is a raw, much needed addition to the growing international sound of afrobeat. Proof positive can be found in the filthy stomp of Hot Foot, or the future dancefloor classic Say What. This record is a must…”
Soultrade
“…Garcia comes correct in his Chico Mann guise for another slamming Afrofunk throwdown…”
Fly.co.uk
“…the album immediately blossoms, with the opening track Mayombe establishing the album’s cheerful mood and contagious groove…Hearing Manifest Tone Vol.1 in full delights the listener with unrestrained, jubilant sounds capable of stirring up a dancefloor…”
Dancetracks Digital
“A stand-out album displaying the crossover between afrobeat and electronics without missing a beat! A record for the whole family to enjoy.”
Groove Distribution
“Ultra dope… time this is serious Latin & afrobeat headnoddery.”
Radio Rawal (R.B)
“…un afrobeat low-fi con coros latinos y de algún modo crea un ambiente de sofisticado vintage.”
Urb Magazine (Carlos Nino)
“…It's like a classic Afro-Soul-Salsa mash-up that has all the jumpin', live energy of Fela Kuti leading a procession in The Shrine with the raw, improvised hip-hop of Madlib flexing on the 303.”
Amp Camp (Glass Bendrix)
“Not Aimee Mann's half brother, not the Latino version of Man Man, but Antibalas guitarist Marquitos Garcia doing lo-fi electro afropop. Yup. And it sounds great.”
PopMatters (Kristofer Ríos)
"Chico Mann—an afrobeat-tinged, synth-driven musical oxymoron blending warm analog sounds with modern digital techniques—is as original on the stage as in the studio. As the chekere break to “Dilo Como Yo” dropped, frontman and creative mastermind Marcos Garcia took the stage, introducing his motley crew: Antibalas synth-master Victor “Ticklah” Axelrod, turntablist Telekinetic Kat, and sultry soul sisters Vinia Mojica and Mayteana Morales.
Once introduced, Telekinetic Kat kicked in the drum break, and the crowd was instantly transported by the futuristic Cuban guajira to an ’80s breakdance party in Lagos, Nigeria. Together, the blended lo-fi Casio keys, warm digital synths, soulful Spanish vocals, West African Highlife guitar riffs, and heavy afro-funk break-beats hit heavy and transcended time and place.
To those who may have seen Chico Mann in their first incarnation, the absence of a guitar and addition of DJ Telekinetic Kat were somewhat unexpected. The new arrangement reinvents the group’s approach, adding to the role of the DJ as a performer. Telekinetic is the band’s rhythm section; he cues and cuts in the drum line, bass line, and rhythm guitar with surgical precision and timing. Free from the guitar now, Garcia can freak out on the Casio and lead the vocals.
Throughout their set, Chico Mann shattered multiple musical boundaries, but as far as the audience was concerned, it was a dance party—the band’s funky afro-rhythms summoning everyone’s inner booty-shaker out and onto the dance floor."
Chico Mann
"Who You Runnin' From"
Manifest Tone Vol. 1
Kindred Spirits/K7!
2007
Chico Mann is a project born out of the heart and mind of Marcos Garcia. The music exists and thrives in a world where Jersey City is a short train ride away from Havana and where Casios and vintage drum machines collide with Afro-Cuban coros, freestyle keyboards, and Afrobeat sensibilities.
Garcia started the project as a lo-fi incursion into making beats and playing around with budding keyboard skills while touring with Antibalas, but it quickly grew into "Manifest Tone Vol.1" a full album of electro afrobeat machine funk that has received recognition in all the right places as a unique indy masterpiece that has marked the beginning of a very promising future.
Because Garcia played all the instruments, did all the programming and recorded all the vocals himself, the next challenge was to find a formula for bringing the unique Chico Mann experience to life. Because of the delicate blend of electronic beats and keys with organic call and response vocals, he was determined not to have a traditional band lineup performing in the traditional format of song/applause/song/applause.
With the goal of assembling a solid crew to help him bring the Chico Mann sound to life, Garcia turned to two of his earliest supporters. Victor Axelrod was the first on board and promptly traded in his usual organ, piano, and clavinet for an old Casio and a Roland Juno. Axelrod is a well respected musician whose credits run as deep as the music scenes that he has been instrumental in nurturing throughout the last decade. He is better known as Ticklah, a reggae producer and remixer who has three full-length albums out and co-produced Dub Side of the Moon on Easy Star records. He is also the keyboardist for Antibalas, one of the original members of Sharon Jones' backing group The Dap-Kings, and one of Mark Ronson's go to session musicians which has recently had him playing on tracks with Amy Winehouse, Lilly Allen, Mary J. Blige, Nas, and Jay-Z among others.
Next up was David Azzoni aka Telekinetic Kat aka Catman from Brooklyn based online DJ shop Turntablelab.com. The two had met after Azzoni had a life changing experience upon hearing the first Chico Mann single and responded by writing a glowing review for the website. Together, he and Garcia began developing a formula for how to uniquely present the music as more of an interactive DJ set than a typical live performance. The result has been a successful fusion of spontaneity and tightly orchestrated changes and transitions that allow the live show to flow nonstop while still maintaining the freedom for dynamic live arrangement and improvisation.
Next up was the need to solidify the vocal section of the group. Mayteana Morales came into the group with much buzz surrounding her rapidly rising prominence in the Brooklyn music scene. Her strong vocals and undeniable presence have gained her respect and admiration through her touring and involvement not only with Chico Mann, but also Akoya Afrobeat and the Pimps of Joytime.
To round out the live ensemble, New York legend Vinia Mojica came aboard as a perfect fit and added the final voice to Garcia's rich harmonies. Although Mojica is most known for her prolific and distinct contributions to "golden era" hip hop classics from A Tribe Caled Quest, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, she is also known within New York to always be at the forefront of what's happening creatively in music. At the same time that she was adding her powerful vocal touch to early 90's hits, she was cutting her teeth performing in the art scene with Arto Lindsay and members of the Black Rock Coalition. This ability to adapt to different types of music, transcend genres and scenes, and to always have an ear out for what fresh new sounds are being born naturally brought Mojica to Chico Mann.
Now with the crew complete, what had started as Marcos Garcia's personal Casio Afrobeat experiment has blossomed into a genre-defying, life-affirming, sweaty, politicized dance party that is evolving at an exponential rate. If you haven't experienced Chico Mann yet, you will soon.
CD available on iTunes
and
CD & LP available at Dusty Groove
please tell me ChicoMann is coming to L.A. in the summer..please tell me.. muah! mad love to you all! ....may be taking a trip to the east in Oct..any tentative shows?
What up Marcos, it's Josh the sound man from Mojitos and bass player for the PARK. Wanted to let yall know that I'll be out in NYC playing with Alice Russell Sat June 21st @ Hiro Ballroom. Hit me up if anyone wants to roll through.
