So simple, yet so powerful. Tobias Rochman stands behind his machines—a drum machine and a synth, just about everything—building his techno and electro rhythms into a fortress of grooves stingy. Chris Vargas raps, in Spanish, his fist clenched on his microphone, fire in his eyes.
Since the release of their first album in 2019, the Montreal duo Pelada has offered hundreds of concerts, recently in Japan, Australia and the United States. The experience gained made him formidable. Saturday evening, at the Phi Center, he will give one of the best shows in town to mark the release of his new album, Ahora más que nunca (Now more than ever), a work as festive as it is militant.
Over the course of the tours, “a sense of timing “, explains Chris Vargas, whose roots are Colombian. “Tobias doesn’t use a CDJ, he plays on his own machines, without pre-recorded tracks, which allows him to modify the shape of the songs live by adding effects, removing certain rhythmic elements, all to meet the needs of public energy. »
Tobias continues: “We like to keep the orchestrations of the songs open in concert, we look for spontaneity. By touring festivals, we noticed that several artists present hyper-calibrated shows, with recorded tapes, it’s almost like karaoke. We do things differently, and we’re at our best on stage. »
Of the revolt
Tobias, master of rhythms, sets the table for Chris, quite a specimen: explosive stage presence, authoritarian demeanor, raps while shouting – “I sang in a screamo group at the age of 15”, before playing the drums within the industrial group Pelvic Floor, author of two cassettes released seven or eight years ago.
“I still feel nervous before going on stage,” Chris admits. And that’s a good thing, it pisses me off! » Tobias-Varga, an electro-rap duo more punk in its posture than the majority of punk groups today — the Phi Center will not recover, that’s guaranteed!
Especially since the gesture follows the word. Chris doesn’t rap in vain: in the tone as in the text, there is revolt. On The people stood up (The People Rise Up), a duet with rapper Backxwash opening the new album, Pelada vociferates against capitalism and social injustices. On Pilas (Heads, as in: recharge your batteries), Chris motivates the listener to kick their butt, then hit the streets on Salgamos on the street. The text of Cerdo denounces police brutality, while the chorus ofAcabemos con el femicidio calls to stop feminicides: “My sisters in the street / Who defend their lives / Keep going strong, darlings.”
Aggressive… and festive
“Of course there is rage in my voice,” explains Chris, who also addresses the environmental crisis in his lyrics. “There are plenty of good reasons to be angry. I am a very articulate person and very direct in my words. Tobias composes music that would pass very easily on a dance floor; For me, I could write texts that address female sexuality or body positivity, but I see the opportunity to write differently, in a way that touches people differently and that gives new meaning to club music. And, in truth, in my songs, I don’t say anything new, but I say it with force”, this time on rhythms that tend even more towards electro and techno.
Chris adds: “I identify as a non-binary person, but I understand that people perceive me as binary [comme une femme]. Except that, on stage, I shout at people’s heads, you don’t see that very often. Even if the audience does not understand Spanish, immediately seeing a woman shouting her lyrics suggests that the music we make has a progressive dimension,” in the sociological sense of the term.
“After the first album [Movimiento para cambio, 2019], we asked ourselves how to do even better, explains Chris. We wanted a more coherent album: this first album sounds more like a playlist, a series of songs, whereas we imagined the new album more like a story, with musical variations. » Tobias: “Often, bands that release a second album tend to soften. We, on the contrary, were aiming for something even more aggressive. »
Aggressive, but festive: Pelada, on record as on stage, is a vector of release, dancing in the rhythm, urgent in the text. A rare commodity.