Beck Vs. The Mae Shi

Beck - Que Onda Guero (Team Shi Latino 96.3 Remix).

We all know that I love Mae Shi. We also all know that I live in Los Angeles. My opinions on Beck have yet to be stated, although I did see an amazing concert of his one rainy-ass night in Boston a few years ago. So anyway, when it came to my attention that Mae Shi had gone and done a remix of Beck's Que Onda Guero, it was a no brainer that it would end up here. And to top it all off, the remix is really all about Beck's missing place in Los Angeles, and how he doesn't necessarily rep his neighborhood quite like used to. I've seen Beck out and about a bit, always dressed well and generally affable. But the hot ass summer of '05 didn't have much to do with his record, and I think the Shi really hammer this one home. It sure as shit sounds like LA to me.

I'm not feeling particularly eloquent today, so I'll let the band's drummer/guitarist/snyth player Brad Breeck share his thoughts:

So much of Beck's '90s output was a mythologizing of
the 80s Los Angeles he grew up immersed in –
lowriders, mariachi, turntables and microphones. Sure,
it's patronizing at times – "Odelay" was his gringo
approximation of "orale," as in "orale vato" – but for
some, it's the perfect whiteboy synthesis of
pre-Rodney King Riots Los Angeles.

However, the sound of the city has changed. With this
remix, local L.A. surprise punks The Mae Shi have
tried to capture the sound of a summer in Los Angeles
in 2005 – the sound of Daddy Yankee selling out
Staples Center, the sound of narcocorridos booming
from the car next to you as you drive down Pico Blvd.
This year saw a new radio station take over the
streets of Los Angeles, Latino 96.3, a bilingual
station "blazing reggaeton and hip-hop." In the hot
windows-down summer of 2005, the station was
impossible to ignore, and its rise in public presence
coincided with Daddy Yankee's newfound ubiquity (as
well as his ability to sell out Staples Center).

"Que Onda Guero (Team Shi 96.3 Latino Remix)" is The
Mae Shi's attempt to capture the sound of 2005 in the
same way Beck captured the sound of 1985.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. If you're interested in purchasing any of their amazing CDs, the boys just revamped their online store. Now you can buy all of their records, including some tour-only CD-Rs. All cheap, all excellent. I love Heartbeeps especially. Highly recommended.