Members of Acid Tongue, Grizzled Mighty, Los Honey Rockets, and Carrion Kids Team Up As Supergroup Mala Suerte (KEXP Premiere)

It’s long overdue but it feels like maybe, finally, the Northwest is starting to grasp the fact that there is music that’s really fucking good that also happens to not be sung in English. I could just be living in a bubble here at KEXP, where we just spent a month celebrating Latinx artists with Aqui y Ahora and we have an incredibly knowledgeable Latin Content Manager, Albina Cabrera, who is constantly throwing name after name at our team that are absolute must-listens, but I don’t think I’m alone here.

The tide change towards embracing global bands can be seen where it really matters — on the bills for festivals. Look at last month’s Treefort Music Fest, which brought acts like The Marías and El Shirota to Boise’s often-white stages, and next month’s Freakout Fest, whose lineup might be one of the most diverse bills that Seattle’s ever seen, with nearly half the artists coming from countries like Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. There’s clearly a hunger to reach across the border and ask, “So, what’s good over here?”

Guy Keltner, founder of Freakout Fest and frontman of local garage rock band Acid Tongue, is no stranger to asking that question. Years of touring in Mexico helped forged the relationships that would make Freakout Fest the haven for international artists that it is today and Keltner the go-to guy for Latinx booking. So, it’s no surprise that he’s fused these connections to make a PNW meets MEX underground supergroup.

Mala Suerte blends Keltner’s musical prowess with the talents of his Mexico City-based friends Jasmina Hirschl, who plays in the bands Las Pipas de la Paz and Los Honey Rockets, and Miguel Servin of Carrion Kids alongside Seattle band The Grizzled Mighty’s Ryan Granger. Together, their sound is fiery, dense, and dirty as hell.

Today, Mala Suerte is sharing the lead single and title track off their forthcoming eponymous record with KEXP. Released alongside a video of distorted VHS footage of occult iconography, the song emphasizes Granger’s expertise in bluesy riffs and Servin’s penchant for howling vocals. Themes of desolation and hopelessness are conveyed in both the Spanish lyrics and the song’s sludgey sonic tone. This is what the band had to say about the project: