BIO RITMO PLAY LULA LOUNGE (1585 DUNDAS W) OCT 24.
The funky Bionico is a triumph for salsa retro-futurists Bio Ritmo on many levels. It’s ambitious stylistically, compositionally and sonically, and it swings like hell. The band’s secret ingredient is Jon Fausty; he’s the Tom Dowd of salsa, the engineer responsible for Fania Records’ silky Nuyorican experiments of the ’70s. Without adding gobs of reverb, Fausty creates space into which keyboardist Marlysse Simmons plugs in an array of analog and digital electronics. The result is an alien salsascape broadened by Brazilian, jazz and boogaloo influences. “Seguiras Criticando” is the high point, in which a lively salsa dura gives way to a soaring afro-funk coda. Bio Ritmo reassert the Pan-American synthesis of Willie Colon’s best work, but do it in their own unique, contemporary style.