Cuco Returns Home: A Love Letter to Los Angeles on The SoCal Sound
Cuco is one one of those artists that seems to encapsulate the whole soul of being a true Los Angeles artist, and gets to the heart of what The SoCal Sound and Bilingual Sounds HD3 is all about – with his retro-inspired “soul-dies” type of music and always evolving vocal chops in new modern ways, it is a true mix of old/new, English and chicano, romanticos with psychedelic - the new album Ridin’ is truly a Southern California mix!
Ridin’ is a at heart a sonic love letter to LA’s lowrider boulevards and late-night cruise culture. The Hawthorne, CA-based singer songwriter references inspirations from his younger years skating through Sherman Oaks and Encino, Byron jokes “You know, the valley just tries to claim as many people as they can” in which Cuco responds ““A lot of my close friends live out here,” he shared, smiling. “So yeah — I’m kind of a Valley boy at heart.”
Ridin’ the newest album that will ride with you
Cuco’s latest album, Ridin’ is a soulful homage to Los Angeles – A city that raised him, inspired him, and continues to shape his sound. The album is filled with soulful inspired songs from vintage chicano car culture intertwined with coming-of age look at romance and friendship.
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This album marks a new chapter for Cuco as both a songwriter and a vocalist – Confident, romantic, and rooted in identity. This album is lush with vocal harmonies and also explores new territories in Cuco’s vocal range, “I had a really put my voice work because I had never been used to this.”
Producing the new album
For this new album, Cuco tapped producer Thomas Brenneck (The Budos Band, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Menahan Street Band) to bring his soulful insights, perfect for this album. Brenneck is also the founder of Dunham Records, which is a subsidiary of retro-soul label Daptone Records, “Tommy's a, walking giant” Cuco exclaims.
The shift began right before Brenneck came on board, Cuco ditched the synthesizers that once filled his music on songs like “Caution”, “Amor de Siempre”, and “Mesh Camp” and incorporated more organic instruments and organs, and mixed it in with a rich neo-falsetto. “I guess I knew my voice got better about it.” Cuco reflects on being at Diamond West Studios. “Just saying, work with, like, tape machines too. Was like. So I had the time… But seeing, like, Simon and Tommy just being on that, those kind of was just cool.”
Exclusive SoCal Sound Session performances
Cuco performed live at The SoCal Sound as part of this session. Starting the session with the title track from the album “Ridin’” following it up with “Sin Un Corazón”, “Dreamin’” and “Para Ti”. Also, from a special request from Byron himself, treated us to an exclusive bonus performance of “Phases”
take a peak behind the scenes: full session photo gallery here
Whats next for Cuco
Cuco is currently on the Midwest leg of his tour, with dates coming up in Minnesota and Ohio, then he will have a few dates in Mexico before heading overseas for a small European tour. You can find all the dates at https://www.cucomusic.com/
Ridin’ (Deluxe) is available now on vinyl LP and streaming anywhere from Interscope Records
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· Filmed & Edited & Photographed by Matt Blake
· Audio by Tristan Dolce
· Host: Marc “Mookie” Kaczor
· The SoCal Sound is member-supported public radio.
