Helado Negro Is In Awe

The son of Ecuadorian immigrants, Roberto Carlos Lange was born in South Florida in 1970. Southern Florida infused his childhood with tropical heat, humidity, hurricanes, all of which were refracted with the rich sounds and colors of a myriad of Latin American cultures. Pounding bass beats from passing cars, boom boxes bouncing down the block, and late night parties provided a foundation for Lange's interest in sound and his lifelong quest to discover the unlimited variety of objects used to produce music. Helado Negro came together when Lange moved to New York in 2006. The concept continued to grow through projects and experiments Lange would conduct while recording himself and others in his home studio in Brooklyn, NY. That experimentation would eventually lead to the recording and creation of his album Awe Owe.

Awe Owe is a Latin music album informed and influenced by lounge music, jazz, and the South Florida lifestyle. This is a beautiful, blissed out album that sounds like it was recorded on the porches of Ocean Drive. In fact, this record could only be made by someone who is from South Florida because it's just so all over the place and colored with diversity. Let it be said that while you can take the boy out of South Florida, you can't take the South Florida out of the boy and his roots are all over this album; from the complete album being sung in Spanish to the Latin like percussion running throughout this has home written all over it.

At times sounding like a Spanish Cocteau Twins album and at others sounding like a Sunday afternoon in Calle Ocho, Awe Owehad me thinking back to the days of my youth and just how much I miss my hometown. Whether Helado Negro chooses to loop a vocal or strum an acoustic guitar, he uses technology and memories to come up with songs that are untroubled, relaxed, and captivating. This is a diverse, delightful record that's truly got it all. Awe Oweis a postcard of South Florida being sent from a Brooklynite who has fond memories of where he came from and who doesn't want to forget.