Chile’s underground and experimental scene has steadily diversified into a myriad of sounds, forms, and expressions. This edition of tQ International takes us from abstract hip hop infected with IDM to overdriven screams and broken beats, to a loosely-knit collective of sound artists unleashing abrasive noise, sonic installations, and droning freakouts. There are deep listening experiences through the cross-pollination of ambient, electronica, and classical, and micro-compositions of avant-pop that evoke childhood memories.
“All of this arises ‘outside the norm’ by nature, and therefore carries both the good and the bad,” says viola player Valentina Maza, who crafts poignant ambient soundscapes informed by her classical training. “However, fortunately, people who seek to delve into new things authentically are not so interested in being overly commercial and conforming to the norm. By making the effort, working on other things to make a living, and finding ways to emerge, this creative niche truly coexists in an alternative manner to the ‘official’ one.”
The many strains of the Chilean avant-garde have found fertile ground to grow, move beyond the academic and arrive to the ears of young and excited audiences. Whether it’s ambient-meets-classical breeze, harsh noise and drone soundscapes, or ear-piercing cubist hip hop, experimental music in the country is being supported thanks to the collaborative spirit of its artists, venues, festivals, and labels.
In the capital of Santiago, landmark and long-established cultural centres are hosting shows, festivals and performances where genres and styles coexist in the programmes. Matucana 100, located in the south west of the city, held a mostly experimental-focused programme last August which included a show by well-respected Chilean trio Congelador, while LEROCK Festival in September featured a lineup consisting of mostly math rock, shoegaze and electronic artists from Chile, Latin America and the US. Organised by independent label LeRockPsicophonique since 2018, the latter festival has opted for bridging the creative niches of Chile and Latin America with the rest of the world, and has included acts like A Place to Bury Strangers and Brandt Brauer Frick on its eclectic lineups. In the middle of Alameda, Santiago’s main arterial road, stands Centro Gabriela Mistral, a multipurpose cultural centre with regular programming of new and leftfield artists through artistic residencies and CityLab, a creative platform for photographers, visual artists and contemporary musicians.
However, the subterranean sounds of Santiago are also spreading in radical, self-sustaining places too. “We are an independent venue by conviction, without grants or funding,” says Francisco Morales, a member of the venue Cajacústica, in one of Santiago’s central districts. “Our path has always been self-management and mutual support, and if you believe in this approach, you can come here to showcase your work, sell your publications, take photos, do sound work, host a discussion, create a poster… and why not, have a dance.” He’s part of a new set of self-managed venues and collectives breathing fresh air into the Chilean underground, where “what’s important is to be honest in what you do.
“In this small city, it seems that it’s always the same venues and the same people. So, I feel that what we do is try to strengthen what we have and keep it going, day by day”, continues Morales, who’s also a drummer in the punk and jazz improvisation trio Los Impulsos. Since opening in early January 2024, Cajacústica has welcomed a myriad of DIY bands and styles, ranging from saccharine synthpop, scorching hardcore and post-hardcore, drilling industrial and electronica to twee indie pop or vintage sample-based instrumental hip hop. Fierce independence and a deep sense of eclecticism is also the ethos of Productora Mutante, a long-standing platform for experimental and neo-psychedelic noiseniks, which organises regular concerts and festivals showcasing both established artists and newcomers.
Some 75 miles west of Santiago is the port of Valparaíso, where collectives like Acéfalo, Homeless Low-Fi and Rata Sorda Rec have been creating their own sense of experimentation through mutual partnerships. “We began to build a network of people who share a taste for experimental creations and their dissemination”, says Sebastián Tapia, member of Rata Sorda Rec, which also runs its own netlabel, a 24/7 broadcasting radio and a series of concerts called Jornada Ruido (“Noise Day”).
“In 2019, we decided to create an event for experimental sound expressions which we named Jornada Ruido, with the idea of bringing together active experimental creators in a streamlined activity lasting approximately 3 to 4 hours. During this time, a continuous ‘noise’ is maintained, with minimal silence between each presentation,” Tapia continues.
Among the supporters of Rata Sorda Rec is composer and researcher Graciela Muñoz, who is also a member of Valparaíso’s Sello Modular, a record label started by the Estudio Modular De Música Actual de Valparaíso (“Contemporary Music Modular Studio Of Valparaíso”). It releases contemporary, drone, and electroacoustic music by Chilean musicians based both in the country and abroad, but also works by late composers like Tomás Lefever (1926 – 2003), a relatively unknown and unpublished personality outside of the academic circles.
After the social turmoil of the 2019 protests, when millions of people turned to the streets in almost every major Chilean city, and lockdowns during the pandemic, many of the independently-owned venues were paralysed and a great number of them closed for good. “We believe that the independent scene did not stop [during that period]”, says Francisco Morales from Cajacústica. “Many new albums and bands emerged, also theatre productions, videos, and more. I think that these types of things don’t necessarily affect the independent scene. Our threats are rampant capitalism, the police state, and the harmful attitudes that society has normalised”.
Sebastián Tapia of Rata Sorda Rec had a similar experience: “During the pandemic, we took the opportunity to build an online radio station. Then, as soon as the pandemic restrictions were lifted, our friends from Homeless Low-Fi had already secured a bar in the port of Valparaíso and organised a fantastic gig. Since then, they haven’t stopped organising gigs at different locations, producing physical media (cassettes and fanzines), holding workshops, and even working on a film that is in progress”.
“Of course there are spaces to showcase these experimental works and an audience that wants to listen (on a smaller scale, on a human scale, with organic growth). What we do could be compared to homemade food versus fast food. Homemade food is not sold; it is shared and made with care and ‘with what’s available’”, says Valentina Maza, as to what may come next for Chile’s outside the norm artists and musicians.
NarrativaJavier!Primo
Influenced by the IDM-informed abstract beats and unabashed style of clipping., JPEGMAFIA and Arca, young MC and beatmaker Javier Zomosa, who goes by the name of Narrativa, crafts a unique style of hip hop in the Chilean scene. Weirdness, polyrhythms, decay, and angst flow freely through these songs, like doomscrolling to a soundtrack of grooves and broken beats.The aggressive, raw and apocalyptic instrumentals clash with lyrics that range from humorous and tongue-in-cheek bars to depression, rage, and diatribes against contemporary Chilean life. Javier! had its official release in July with a show at Centro Gabriela Mistral, as part of the CityLab concert series. The album is part of the PRIMO Records catalogue, a label that has been vital in the development and promotion of contemporary Chilean rappers and urban music.
uzumakivalauzumakivala IISello Narval
With snippets of weird folk, video game soundtrack references, Japanese samples, and reminiscences from childhood memories, uzumakivala is a case in point of Chile’s growing leftfield pop music. The solo project of violinist and producer Valentina Bianchi, with uzumakivala she crafts warped, liminal microworlds – most tracks are under 2 minutes – with unexpected twists and turns; from hauntology to hypnagogic pop. Something seems off in these compositions, like being left alone as a child. Her second album was digitally released in 2023, but it recently had its first vinyl release through Sello Narval, a label that’s been patiently building a name for itself by combining the avant-garde with chamber music, deep jazz and psychedelic electronica.
Valentina MazaBusco EspacioPueblo Nuevo
The product of an artistic residency that viola player and composer Valentina Maza undertook at Centro Gabriela Mistral during 2023, Busco Espacio blends ambient music, deep listening, electronica, and soaring vocals. Having sought ways to expand the possibilities of viola, synthesisers, and vocals from her earliest releases, on Busco Espacio “the music was created by placing all the instruments on the floor and as distanced from each other as possible, supported by 5 long-duration real-time loops”, Maza explains. Released by legendary avant-electronic label Pueblo Nuevo, on these three tracks – plus two remixes – the physical space is almost palpable, with beams of light seeping through to create an intimate experience.
Congelador, a.k.a. Lore‘Discosta’Amuleto
Formed in the mid to late-90s, Congelador cut their teeth when experimentation in Chilean pop music was still rather exotic and a risky business. The trio of Jorge and Rodrigo Santis and Walter Roblero opted for densely layered and monolithic guitar walls, with an overall sense of melancholia through pop music’s many strains. After encapsulating some of the strangeness and anxieties of post-dictatorship Chile, Congelador entered the aughts with new albums, solo projects by its core members, and a record label (Quemasucabeza), among other personal ventures. They know how to keep themselves busy, but this year marks the trio’s return with new music after eight years of virtual silence. ‘Discosta’ is their first single released in 2024 and it shows Congelador’s droning melodies and thick atmospheres meeting the new school of Chilean pop by featuring singer, songwriter and musician Lorena Pulgar (a.k.a. Lore), who’s also a member of electronic trio chicarica. The 9-minute track combines spacey shoegaze, jazz and krautrock, a signature sound that Congelador continues to hone even now.
Various ArtistsJornada Ruido VRata Sorda Rec
Recorded last November at Sala Rubén Darío in Valparaíso, this compilation is another chapter in Rata Sorda Rec’s series Jornada Ruido, an event and intense experience where various sound creations are presented. “We strive to create a comfortable and safe space for creators and attendees to share. Artists are asked to perform a short set to accommodate the maximum number of projects”, explains Sebastián Tapia, a member of the label. This fifth instalment of Jornada Ruido was coordinated by A.R.E. (Association of Experimental Radios), the Centre for Artistic Research (University of Valparaíso), and Rata Sorda Rec, and is a 4+ hour fierce test of endurance. It showcases a continuum of drones, tape loops, experimental radio transmissions, sound art, and a perpetual noise that expands and contracts, perforates and erodes the listening experience. Not suitable for the faint of heart, but recommended for everyone who wishes to explore the fringes of sound possibility.
