ESQUIVEL GETS PERSONAL: WITH YOU..AND YOU..AND YOU...
This has been a big year for Juan Garcia Esquivel, the aging Mexican bandleader famed for his '50s and '60s soundtracks. His compilation, Space Age Bachelor Pad Music, kicked off a new musical movement with separate names.
To Esquivel himself, his sound is known as "sonorama". In Europe, it's being publicised as "lounge music". And, in the US, the style is called "opaque". All told, it's shipped 38,000 units worldwide.
Now comes Esquivel's second wacky re-issue, entitled Music From A Sparkling Planet. Like its predecessor, this has been issued by Bar/None, a label based in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA. And it was compiled by the musicologist Irwin Chusid.
In Europe, Music From A Sparkling Planet can be ordered from Rough Trade Records at shop@roughtrade.com or via fax on (UK) 171- 221-1146. The UK CD price is eighteen pounds with P+P; for European orders add an extra pound. On Vinyl, Esquivel costs thirteen pounds fifty pence (that's in the UK with post included) or fifteen pounds to anywhere else in Europe. Rough Trade accepts Access, Visa, AmEx, Switch and Mastercard.
Here's how trade mag Billboard describes the sound:
"...Wild enough to perk up the most jaded set of ears, it's zany big-band music that utilises such unusual components as theremin, ondioline, steel guitar (by Alvino Rey) and even whistling (by Muzzy Marcellino)."
Esquivel-mania has taken the world by storm. So many rock fans have bought these strange records, they are known as "grunge on the rocks". With this in mind, state51 established the first 24-hour Esquivel Enquiry Service. NOW, through this medium, we are able to pass your messages, fan letters -- even presents! -- on directly to Esquivel himself, at his current home (a Mexican "Villa del Descanso").
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