Get to Know Carolina Durante in Three Albums

On July 21, KEXP will host El Sonido Live, a free concert in KEXP’s courtyard celebrating Ibero-American music and community. As we lead up to the event, we’re getting to know the artists performing a bit better. In the spirit of our El Sonido: Cancioneros podcast, we’re asking artists to talk through their personal songbooks by sharing three albums that have inspired them. 

Named after a long-lost teenage love, Spanish band Carolina Durante are set to bring a thrilling spectacle of indie rock to KEXP's courtyard stage. Their anthemic songs ring out with heart-on-their-sleeve melodies with delicious heaps of distortion. The band shares some of their collective influences, including The Jesus and Mary Chain, El Mató a un Policía Motorizado, and Juanita y los Feos.

Learn more about El Sonido Live.

KEXP: What are three albums that have inspired you as a band and why? 

Carolina Durante: [The Jesus and Mary Chain] were one of the bands we were obsessed with when we started the band and we were so influenced by their sound and their melodies. It may sound weird because our first album sounds so clean, but Psychocandy was one of our main references.
 

El Mató a un Policía Motorizado - La Dinastía Scorpio. This is an album that our guitarist Mario showed us when we started playing. We were hooked by the lyrics and the simplicity of the music. It turned into one of our favorite albums and El Mato into an essential band for the history of Carolina Durante. 
 

Juanita y los Feos - Pesadilla Adulta. When we started playing it was one of the Spanish band sounds that we most wanted to resemble (them, Punsetes and Triángulo de Amor Bizarro). Their lyrics were funny, light, and emotional at the same time, and the sound was kind of raw but with catchy melodies in every song.
 

KEXP: What are your impressions of Seattle coming into this El Sonido Live event?

Carolina Durante: We are so excited to be in this city. Probably every rock band wants to come here for its “rock history”, but what we are more excited about its the landscape and the surroundings of the city, which we won't have time to visit because of rock reasons (fuck rock, viva beauty). 
 
KEXP: What are your favorite Live on KEXP sessions?

Carollina Durante: Huun-Huur-Tu. If it wasnt for KEXP, I probably wouldn’t even know about this project. Those voices are just something else. Also, Thee Oh Sees. Probably any of their sessions in KEXP. They are always on point.