DJ Meets Classical Chops | Golden Hornet Presents MXTX: A Cross-Border Exchange On Six Degree Records

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From a media release:

Golden Hornet Presents
MXTX: A Cross-Border Exchange
Out April 1, 2022 on Six Degree Record

MXTX was born in the wake of the 2016 U.S. elections with the impetus to repel intolerance, in full alignment with Austin, Texas based Golden Hornet’s mission of collaborative creations and adventurous programming with a commitment to justice and innovation. 

A curated, gender-balanced project involving more than forty DJ-producers and composers from both Texas and Mexico, MXTX’s multifaceted and dynamic creative output includes live performances, an open-source audio sample library, and the highly anticipated studio album MXTX: A Cross-Border Exchange (April 1, 2022 on Six Degrees Records).  

Golden Hornet’s Graham Reynolds, well known for his original scores to Richard Linklater films, along with three other extraordinary co-curators, invited a carefully chosen group of 40 musical artists from both sides of the Rio Grande/Bravo to participate in the first phase of MXTX; the build out of an open source audio sample library. 

The curators included Orión García, founder of the Austin, Texas based Latinx DJ/Producer/Artist collective Peligrosa; from Monterrey, México, arts entrepreneur Coka Treviño, the founder of The Projecto; and the highly-acclaimed Felipe Pérez Santiago of Mexico City - composer, conductor, sound artist and current Artist in Residence at California’s SETI Institute. 

The album builds upon elements from the extensive audio sample library; deconstructed, reconstructed, and reinvisioned along with parts composed and arranged for chamber ensemble plus electronics. The collaborations included both DJ-producers and classically-trained composers who mixed and matched beats, drops, loops, melodic fragments and soundscapes along with live and acoustic instrumentation. 

The first single from the project “Mundo en Extinción” by Ramón Amezcua “Bostich” of the groundbreaking Nortec Collective and propelled by the unmistakable vocals of Rubén Albarrán (of the legendary Cafe Tacvba) introduces the project in proper form. 

On another standout track, “Colmena” (Beehive), Reynolds builds upon Los Texmaniacs master accordionist Josh Baca’s chords with haunting, expansive cinematic embellishments that evoke journeys along dusty Southwestern roads. 

Some of the artists of MXTX

Two time Latin Grammy nominee and recipient of Mexico’s National Prize for Arts & Literature Gabriela Ortiz highlights extended techniques on the delightfully strange and David Lynch-esque "Human Mechanics" with husband Alejandro Escuer, combining her experimental side with formidable orchestration skills. 

These are just three examples of how each of the album’s compositions highlight the endless possibilities of the elements from the MXTX Sample Library. The results are an infinitely creative shapeshifting, kaleidoscopic collage; in each exquisite composition, we hear the fruitfulness of a full expression of fluid identities that are never constrained by borders, genres, instruments or musical realms. The compositions layer multiple textures in a way that they illuminate and reveal different beauties in each revisiting, and all the while, the listener is transported on a journey through a sonic territory whose hallmark is inclusion rather than exclusion. 

The final culmination of MXTX is a crowning achievement. The MXTX: A Cross-Border Exchange album consists of thirteen full gender-balanced works and one bonus track that demonstrate the immense beauty and power of music to overcome divides. 

As Reynolds says of the MXTX project, it reflects 

“...two communities becoming one in making an artistic statement together.”

The live MXTX world premiere is happening at the Fusebox Festival on Saturday, April 16, 2022 at the Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park in Austin, Texas. Performances in Marfa, TX and Mexico City to follow in Fall 2022.

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