Meridian Brothers Colombian guitarist and composer Eblis Alvarez started Meridian Brothers twenty years ago as a vehicle for his own experimental music. Over the years, the group has evolved into a five-piece band focused on re-interpreting all manners of Latin Tropical styles with a strong psychedelic and experimental sensibility. The Meridian Brothers’ music uses popular Latin American rhythms, augmented by sampling techniques, elaborate effect processing, and Eblis’ quirky and theatrical vocals, which channel imaginary characters with both pathos and humor.
Eblis Alvarez has been an intricate part of the new generation of Colombian musicians who have been instrumental in re-inventing Colombia’s rich panoply of tropical styles, bringing them firmly into the 21st century, but retaining a sense of fun and celebration that remains essential to the music.
Taxicab Verses TaxiCab Verses is a project that was created by Athens musician, Jim Wilson. It’s a genre-defying, world warping, international collaboration between TaxiCab Verses (Athens, GA) and Kofi Atentenben and the Warriors (Accra, Ghana).
“Some years ago, Jim told me about a trip to Ghana he was planning where he hoped to get deeply acquainted with the vast, local music scene there. He always had a deep interest in the music of West Africa and although his trip was initially to do field recordings of local musicians there, it soon morphed into an all-encompassing project with Jim taking phrases he saw on the backs of the various taxicabs he rode in like “Be Wise, Think Twice” and “First Things First,” then writing them down and turning them into the basis of a series of songs.”
“He then took his field recordings of Ghana’s extremely talented Kofi Atentenben and the Warriors and had the idea of cross-pollinating them with musicians from his Athens hometown. The results became the TaxiCab Verses.”
— Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers)