Rising young Chicano artist Cuco came through Atlanta on Monday to a sold out show at the Masquerade for their Smoked Out Tour. The LA-based multi-instrumentalist is touring behind his long awaited debut album Para Mi, which came out July 26th via Interscope Records.
Cuco’s rise has been nothing but meteoric, complete with that storybook back story that started at a young age. For Omar Banos, aka Cuco, growing up in Hawthorne, CA a primarily Latino suburb of LA with his Mexican born parents, the influences that have shaped him until this point started young. His Dad brought rock en español and Mom brought Spanish-language bolero music, while uncles brought gansta and Chicano rap. As young as 8 years old, Omar taught himself guitar via internet tutorials before soon learning everything from keys to bass to horns and more. He was also part of his high school band, got introduced to psychedelic rock, and even taught himself music production.
Omar Banos’ passion for the music has taken those influences from bedroom recordings, to on the verge of being an international star. He’s certainly already made a mark in the Latino community throughout the United States, but Cuco’s star is much bigger than that. Musically, Cuco may just be the perfect star for this millennial generation.
Since self releasing his debut mixtape in the summer of 2016, Cuco has accrued hundreds and hundreds of millions of streams, released an EP, collaborated with Clairo, Dillon Francis, and Chicano rap legends MC Magic and Lil Rob, and now released his debut full length. Cuco and band headlined their first festival in 2017 and have performed at major music festivals around the world, including Coachella, Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, Austin City Limits, SXSW, and Outside Lands, in addition to sold out headlining dates around the world.
Cuco’s rise was also reflected locally with the 2019 Atlanta show. Initially slated to take place at Variety Playhouse, which is a great venue for a headlining slot for an artist who had yet to release his debut, that show quickly sold out. The show was then moved to Masquerade’s Heaven venue, a larger space in downtown Atlanta, which quickly sold out again.
Live, Cuco and his band showed what the fuss was all about. Cuco’s influences combine to create a fully formed modern pop sound that’s as much for the indie pop lover as it is for the Latino community. With songs both in Spanish and English, the Latin flair that traces all the way back to the gorgeous music his parents started him out on is found throughout. Then of course, the hip hop that he’s grown up with is always there like a lot of modern day pop, including bouts of the more recent trip hop explosion. But the big influence that shined through on this night was the psychedelics. With a backdrop displaying mind bending visuals, Cuco and band looked and sounded like a young Tame Impala (Currents era) with a beautiful display of psych pop that sounded as current as anything out there. While the production has gotten more polished has Cuco as gone from Bedroom artist to major label, those techniques used early on were never lost and these “love songs” had the ecstatic crowd dancing and singing in euphoric joy throughout the night.
What the Atlanta crowd saw on this night was no flash in the pan, Cuco is just getting started. He’s an experimental artist with a vision, giving an ode to the music before his time, while still pushing the music forward and on his way to perhaps becoming an icon for a new generation. That’s at least how it felt on a wild Monday night at Masquerade. Can’t wait to see where Cuco goes from here.
Check out photos from the show by Mike Gerry below:
CUCO
Opening Band: LA DONA
CUCO ONLINE:
WEBSITE // FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM // TWITTER
