ANTIHEROES – PRESENTES URBANIZADOS

We are thrilled to
present the historical rescue of the only existing recording of
Antihéroes, yet another mystery of the Argentine musical underground
scene of the 80s, now available on vinyl for the first time.
This obscure post punk band show their harshness and darkness in these
only two songs they recorded, back in 1985, and which were distributed
on a cassette that has today achieved cult status.
This release is the result of the collaborative work between Twistin’
Bones (Costa Rica) and Munster Records. Antihéroes is yet another
mystery of the Argentine musical underground scene of the 80s.
Back in the 70s, Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires province. Jurek and
Marcelo, children of Polish immigrants, meet at a religious school.
Fast forward a few years and Marcelo is given a keyboard and meets
Wojtek, another Polish boy with hunger for rock and Siekiera and
Brigada Krysys records. They then decide to start a dark wave band.
Jurek playing a single drum and a cymbal with an umbrella as stand,
Marcelo on keyboards and Wojtek on bass, it’s all set to go! Julio
Torres became the guitarist and, answering an ad on a magazine, a
singer turned up: the charismatic teenage poet Mónica Vidal. After
three rehearsal sessions at a metal workshop, they made their first
public appearance in 1984, at the basement of the Manzana de las Luces,
an almost completely abandoned old 17th century convent in the San
Telmo neighborhood. A young and experienced guitarist, Beto Morales,
was in the audience and he’d later join the band after Julio quit.
They recorded these songs in 1985. The session took place at a studio
owned by a singer who was kind of popular in the 0s, Silvestre, and
had another big name of the Argentine mainstream music industry at the
mixing desk, Francis Smith. Algo nos sucede’ and resentes urbanizados’
sound dark, ominous and ahead of their time, sporting varied influences
like Pink Floyd, Joy Division or Siouxsie & The Banshees. Neither
Silvestre nor Smith must have understood what those rough, antisocial,
black-clad young men who despised “commercial” wanted, but let’s admit
that their work was effective. Despite this, producers and managers of
the time rejected them. The market asked for cumbia, light pop or
“something to dance to.” They continued their short career in
tumultuous punk festivals and legendary Buenos Aires rock venues like
El Parakultural or Cemento.
In 1986 Mónica and Beto left to form El lado salvaje. At the end of
1989, Vidal and his partner Pablo Esau, drummer of Los Pillos,
tragically and mysteriously disappeared on a flight between Bolivia and
Brazil and were never heard from again.
Antihéroes continued with other musicians well into the 90s. Their only
existing recording, at the peak of their career, is this single that is
finally released forty years after its recording thanks to the
collaborative work between Twistin’ Bones and Munster Records. The
songs keep all their magic and spell intact beyond the passing of time
and unfair oblivion.