Alan Palomo is Mexican-born, Denton, TX-based singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and electronic music artist best known for his recording project, Neon Indian. Palomo’s 2009 debut effort, Psychic Chasms was released to critical praise across the blogosphere, as Pitchfork named it one of its best albums of that year, and by Spin Magazine, who praised the effort for its dreamy feel. And his sophomore effort, Era Extraña was followed by a North American tour with with Purity Ring and Com Truise, which naturally expanded the Denton, TX-based artist’s profile nationally.
VEGA INTL. Night School, Palomo’s third full-length Neon Indian effort was released earlier this year to critical praise from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The 405, Under the Radar, The Verge and others, and honestly that shouldn’t be surprising as the album’s first single “Annie” clearly drew influence from 80s synth pop and R&B, as the song is comprised of a taut yet sinuous bass line, angular funk guitar chords and shimmering and cascading synth stabs paired with Palomo’s plaintive falsetto. And sonically the song possessed an uncanny resemblance to Rush Midnight and the Cascine Records roster, which also specialize in an extremely similar, sleek, summer-time party funk.
The album’s latest single “Slumlord Rising” is a slickly produced yet densely layered song featuring layers upon layers of cascading synth chords stacked upon each other, wobbling bass, propulsive, four-on-the floor drum programming, and Palomo’s plaintive falsetto to create a sound that sounds as though it equally draws from 80s synth pop as it does from I Love You It’s Cool-era Bear in Heaven (in particular think of “Reflection of You” and “Sinful Nature“) as it’s a club-banging electro pop tune with a sincere, aching heart at its core; however, the addition of a vocal sample from a Spanish club gives the song an off-kilter, surrealist air — all while remaining incredibly crowd pleasing.
The recently released official video is a noir-ish and surreal video that throws the video into a shadowy underworld of nightlife featuring gangsters ripping each other off over a briefcase and a bloody and terrifying scene that hits close to home. And it has one of the strangest, disturbing endings that I’ve seen in some time.
Palomo is about to embark on an extensive world tour. Check out tour dates below.
TOUR DATES:
11/20 – Shanghai, China – QSW – Q House
11/22 – Taipei City, Taiwan – The Wall
11/24 – Jakarta, Indonesia – Rolling Stone Cafe
11/26 – Bangkok, Thailand – Live RCA
11/28 – Seoul, Korea – Ax Hall
11/29 – Hong Kong, China – Clockenflap Festival
12/02 – Tokyo, Japan – Unit
12/03 – Osaka, Japan – Conpass
12/10 – Adelaide, Australia – Fat Controller
12/11 – Perth, Australia – Disconnect Festival
12/12 – Meredith, Australia – Meredith Supernatural Ampitheatre
12/14 – Wollongong, Australia – Uow Unibar
12/15 – Sydney, Australia – Oxford Arts Factory
12/16 – Fortitude Valley, Australia – The Foundry
12/18 – Melbourne, Australia – National Gallery of Victoria
12/31 – Chicago, IL – East Room (DJ Set)
01/28 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
01/29 – Montreal, Quebec – Fairmount Theatre
01/30 – Toronto, Ontario – Lee’s Place