Austin, TX. (Top40 Charts/ Boombox ATX Official Website) - Ivan Neville's favorite Austin band, Boombox ATX, the underground hip-hop phenomenon, is releasing their long awaited first CD "Feel the Boombox"
September 7, 2007 at a CD release party at the Parish.
The stellar, diverse band, who has managed to fill the Lucky Lounge every Tuesday night to capacity for three years running, is Carlos Sosa's pet project. Sosa, who is currently the Vice President of Texas chapter of the Recording Academy of America, better known as the GRAMMY Academy, is fresh off a tour with Kelly Clarkson.
Sosa, also founder of the Grooveline horns, voted Best Horn Section by the Austin Chronicle Reader's Poll for 7 years, and winner of a 2005 Latin Grammy with "La Mafia" and 2004 Dove Gospel Music Award with "Salvador"*, has this to say about Boombox ATX:
"About 10 years ago I was playing with Bob Schneider in the Scabs at Antone's, then I left and went next door to start my own thing, playing acid jazz and stuff like that. We gradually evolved into what we are now, with players from the Scabs, Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, and MC Overlord (Best Rapper - SXSW) and started selling out."
"The energy Tuesday nights (at Lucky Lounge) is great, sometimes we go in there and play what we know, sometimes it's spontaneous composition. Last night the first half of our show we played stuff we've never played before, jamming... and the crowd loves that, it's a whole different energy," says Sosa, "Our goal was to make that night something that no one could compete with."
The fan demographic for this band is as diverse as the band. "The B-Boys hip hop dance troupe comes and the crowd gets around them while they dance. They've done this thirty or forty times. Then I've seen people in their 70s at the show," he continued.
Boombox ATX is not strictly a hip-hop group. They have been compared to Ozomotli and the Roots.
"It's kind of like a hip hop band," says Sosa, but you can't pigeonhole this band. About the fourth track on the new CD, "Long Way Home" Sosa relates " I had this idea in my head about Mississipi Blues, Delta, Robert Johnson kind of thing but I wanted to make it hip hop. So the song that fits with the record, but it's not the whole band."
"The other two bands playing with us are "The Handsomes" from Houston, they played ska and rock, and the other band is "Pilaseca" from San Miguel, Mexico. The best way to describe them is a Mexican "Jamiriquoi", they play with us sometimes and they have a huge fan base in Mexico. They are like funk acid jazz, disco."
"All three of these bands fit together and have totally different crowds, but I think each crowd will love the other bands. There are some amazing musicians here in Austin, I hope to get them there too."
What kind of food goes with Boombox ATX music? "Chicken Wings, and fried chicken," Sosa replies with a laugh.
*The biggest unknown record deal out of Austin, but that's another press release.
