Jose (melodica, glockenspiel, synths, omnichord, laptop, synsonics drums, toy keyboards, balun drawings, photography, visuals/animations, web design), Angelica (toy piano, celtic harp, violin, glockenspiel, accordion, synths, music box, melody harp, omnichord, voice, found sounds), and Nora (bass guitar, tiple, and toy piano). Past members/collaborators: Ariel, Leo, and Andrés.
Influences
Well, many melodies and movie scenes that have grown on us! And also a group of little creatures people have called balunes.
hola a todos. At first, we were an electronic duo in 2002 and the name was Balloon, and we all lived in Puerto Rico. Then we became an electro-acoustic trio in 2004 and we became Balún. By 2007 we became officially a quartet and lived in other countries. We like dreamy music that's why most of the time we would like to be sleeping. We recorded and self-released some songs for everybody in 2003 and 2004, and that was good. Some people, well specifically Robert Balun, have told us that our songs made them sleepy. Success! We would like to play in other countries and that's why we want to buy a plane. We also play in a side project called Arturo en el Barco.
If you would like to download our music you can visit the netlabel Observatory, there's a free EP called "While Sleeping" we made for you during our sleep in summer of 2004, and with love! Our first album, titled "Something Comes Our Way" was released on 2006 by the Chicago-based label Brilliante Records! Our EP Collection was re-released last year by the NYC label Expansion Team. In 2007 we also released new songs on compilations by netlabels Petite & Jolie (France) and Aerotone (Germany). And in 2008 we have released music on compilations by Monsterk7 (France) and Si No Puedo Bailar (Brazil). Also we remixed Genji Siraisi (Expansion Team) and the remix is very nice! Metele full!
hello everybody. Al principio, en el 2002, eramos un duo electrónico y nuestro nombre era Balloony viviamos en Puerto Rico. Luego en el 2004 nos convertimos en un trio electro-acústico y el nombre cambió a Balún. Ya para el 2007 nos convertimos en un cuarteto y estamos viviendo en otros paises! Nos gusta la música soñolienta por eso queremos estar durmiendo la mayoría del tiempo! Grabamos y auto-publicamos unas canciones en el 2003 y en el 2004 para todos y eso fue muy bueno. Algunas personas, específicamente el distinguidísimo señor Robert Balun, nos han dicho que nuestra música les da sueño. Hemos triunfado! Nos gustaría tocar en otros países y por eso queremos comprar un avión. Nosotros también formamos parte de otras bandas de otro proyecto que se llama Arturo en el Barco. Si te gustaría bajar más de nuestras canciones puedes visitar el netlabel Observatory, ahí puedes bajar gratuitamente nuestro último EP titulado "While Sleeping" y el mismo lo hicimos en el verano del 2004 mientras dormíamos. Nuestro debut y primer disco titulado "Something Comes Our Way" salió en el 2006 bajo el sello, radicado en Chicago, Brilliante Records! Nuestro EP Collection fue re-editado en formato digital y fisico en el 2007 por el label de NYC, Expansion Team. En el 2007 tambien sacamos canciones nuevas en los netlabels Petite & Jolie (Francia) y Aerotone (Alemania). Y en 2008 hemos editado musica en compilados por Monsterk7 (Francia) y Si No Puedo Bailar (Brazil). Tambien le hicimos un remix a Genji Siraisi (Expansion Team) y quedo muy bueno. Check it out!
"Something Comes Our Way" (Brilliante 2006) debut album with 12 new electro-acoustic and poppy songs for the tropical set. Released by Brilliante Records.
"An EP Collection" (Sgulp! Discos / Expansion Team 2007) Our first three EPs in one reasonably priced Sgulp! CD. From EP1 (2003) to While Sleeping EP (2004) a collection of 19 songs for your 8-bit dreaming pleasure.
"Snol EP" (Brilliante 2006) exclusively for sale in the iTunes store. Remixes of "Snol" by Venue and Paul Salva plus our cover of Superaquello's "Naranja" and a pretty neat unreleased b-side.
"Balún's debut CD is a swirling mix of lo-fi electronics and old-school instruments that puts to rest the idea that all indie electronic music sounds the same...On Something Comes Our Way, Balún has created a very fine record, one that will appeal to lovers of both sad indie pop and inventive electronic music." - 4/5 Stars ALL MUSIC GUIDE
"...Balún may be from San Juan, but conventional Latin influences escape the Puerto Rico trio ontheir quiet debut full length, 'Something Comes Our Way'. Constructing the kind of Teutonic soundscrapers destined for Morr Music's catalog, Balún makes fragile dioramas out of mutated electronics and muted acoustics..." - XLR8R
"...José Olivares, Angélica Negrón, and Andrés Fontánez spin wide-ranging variations on electro-acoustic pop in a style that recalls Yesterday Was Dramatic – Today is OK and simultaneously allows room for bleepy arcade sounds and synth-pop...Balún's material gets a considerable boost from rich, multi-hued arrangements teeming with violins, accordions, dusty pianos, bells, melodica, and guitars in addition to the usual electronic touches." - TEXTURA
"This Puerto Rican electro/acoustic band presents a dreamy mix of mellow, minimal music that brings to mind seductive Stereolab songs, nonboring atmospheric soundscapes—and the best children's music... It's this playfulness that makes Balún's multi-instrumentalists stand out from other blippy keyboard-sounds-and-breathy-vocals acts." - TIME OUT CHICAGO
"...Balún makes dreamy, twinkling electro pop. The classically trained musicians use barely-there guitar motifs, mournful accordion swells, and delicate glockenspiel melodies to sculpt gorgeously glitched-up, densely layered arrangements that recall the ethereal, brooding magic of Múm or the "lead-guitarlessness" of shoegaze heroes Slowdive... " - FLAVOR PILL CHICAGO
"...Something Comes Our Way is much more than your typical run of the mill bedroom pop, it's brilliantly crafted, intricate, twinkling, and certainly raises the bar for future indie electronic music..." - CRACKERS UNITED BLOG
te esperamos en metropoli este viernes!
La mejor fiesta de el mes!
El precio incluye una cerveza 2-equis!
Amanditita tocara por primera vez en L.A. en un evento
intimo como Metropoli! Gil Cerezo Dj set! Y como celebramos
la pelicula de "Voy a Explotar" tenemos invitado especial,
Unsexxy/Maria y Jose {forma parte de el Soundtrack de la
pelicula}
Tambien tendremos dj residente Fancy
Guey y May Electra!
Having released a couple of tuneful albums with theAudiologist and Soni Jimm since my last LP, "Fear of Mathematics", Section 27 Netlabel brings you "Wrpdata”, containing 14 tracks full of chunky, breathy and some would even say pleasantly broken breaks, some good-time-mind-fuck glitch, a few (thankfully blissful) orchestrated mixes featuring the talents of Pinklogik and theAudiologist (also acting as co-producer on this release) respectively, and ends sweetly with some beautiful spoken word poetry by the lovely aussie Cindel Waddington.
A delight on the sensory organs from start to finish, "Wrpdata" is available now for *free* download. Licensed by Creative Commons.
Hey guys! After a year and a hafl we are back charging full steam ahead with the release of our latest album "Songs For The Road Towards The End Of The World" this past May 31, 2009. Unlike our two previous releases this was a long duration album (LP) featuring 12 all created by Pete Drown. Mike Mellow participated in the album by co-producing it and creating the art. The first single is called "Ciento Once Grados" (111 Degrees) and we have a brief video/slideshow teaser for it on our page.
We want to invite you to download our free album and share with us your feedback. All you have to do is click on the Cover art either on this message or by visiting our myspace page. There you can also download our previous two EP's if you don't have them already.
So, that being said, I hope you download it, I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you let us know. Thanks again. Micro out...