Aboriginal

MP3: Aboriginal — Love Hate City

With influences ranging from Led Zeppelin to the Beastie Boys, it’s hard to put a label on Aboriginal.

“We don’t follow trends,” said Helms De Armas, drummer for the five-member band. “We’re making our own sound. It’s honest. There’s no mask.”

The Kendall-based group has been honing its sound for seven years. De Armas, who goes by the stage name Helms1, describes Aboriginal’s music as “urban experimental.”

Other members, and their stage names, are: guitarist Andres Morales (Mono), vocalist Miguel Kitrell (Discrete), bassist Rodolfo Keyloun (Habbibi) and Gianni Perocarpi (DJ Geography) on percussion and keyboards.

“We fuse hip-hop vocals with live instrumentals,” De Armas said. “There’s rock. There’s jazz. There’s Latin. There are so many different styles that we use. You can’t sum it up in one description.”

Whatever it is, Aboriginal intends to reach more listeners with plans to release its first CD this summer. The disc’s title, 4.656%, uses the address of their Miami recording studio.

“As a joke, we added the decimal point and a percentage sign,” De Armas said.

One of the tracks on the debut, Love/Hate City, is dedicated to Miami.

“It’s about what people perceive Miami to be and what Miami really means to us,” De Armas said. “It’s where we grew up and how we’re a bunch of musicians trying to make it in a city saturated with glamour and glitz. It’s kind of hard.”

Love/Hate City is on a three-song sampler CD the band gives away to fans at concerts.

“We’re pretty known for our live shows,” De Armas said. “I don’t think there’s a venue in Miami that we haven’t played.”

Aboriginal has ventured into Broward County, too. Past dates include Young Circle Park in downtown Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale’s Poor House.

On the Web, visit myspace.com/aboriginal.

– Beth Feinstein-Bartl

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