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LA rockers Los Abandoned have proven to be one of the freshest and most appealing bilingual bands in the U.S.
After last September's release of Los Abandoned's full length debut album, Mix Tape, media like the Los Angeles Times were including the band under "Buzz Band" and "Best of 2006 Pop Music" lists and even describing the band's lead singer, Lady P, as a Latina version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O. A bit turned off by the media and music industry's big fuss, I reluctantly gave the CD a spin, and rapidly dismissed the album as excessively sugary, poppy, and, well, accessible. Almost a year and another listen later, my opinion of Los Abandoned has been revised and if anything, broadened. Indeed, the band's mix of punk and pop melodies are catchy and appealing to the ear. But beyond the band's pop-punk sound, the band's Spanglish and bilingual lyrics have permitted the group to rise from the relative anonymity of the underground Latin-Alternative music scene and to reach more mainstream (read: anglo) audiences. At the same time that a song like Van Nuys (es very nice) with lyrics like "Dejaste los Andes/ por el cemento y los swimming pools" touches base with children of immigrants, any resident of Los Angeles can't help but flash a knowing grin at the sound of lines like: "The summer's hot, it's hell the bus is always late/ The great big cloud of smog that makes you choke and hate."
Los Abandoned are equal parts the voice of a growing population of bicultural Latinos in the US and equal parts products of their environment, the multicultural metropolis that is LA. The band consists of Lady P (lead vocals, rhythm guitars, keyboards and ukelele), Don Verde (lead guitars, backing vocals, programming), bassist Vira Lata and drummer Dulce. Lady P (Pilar Diaz) moved to Van Nuys, CA from Chile around the age of 10; Don Verde (Dave Green) is a gringo from Culver City; Vira Lata (Moises Baqueiro) hails from Mexico City; and Dulce (Anthony Reyes) grew up in Pomona, CA. Lead singer Lady P has cited musical influences that range from Blondie, The Smiths, REM, and X to Los Prisioneros, Cafe Tacuba, Los Tres and Chilean folkloric music. Lady P's croonings in Spanish, English, and Spanglish are hip, new, refreshing, and, dare I say it, postmodern. In a broader sense, Los Abandoned are reflective of U.S. society's changing listening patterns and tastes. In today's globalized world, technology (think Myspace) is increasingly erasing spatial borders, facilitating cultural flows and communication between musicians and listeners from around the word. According to an article in Los Abandoned's press-kit, the band "play[s] tirelessly in L.A. but crack the charts in D.F.", "tour[s] with Anglo bands in Mexico and with Mexican Bands (Molotov, Cafe Tacuba) in the U.S." and are produced by "indie rock-mainstay Dave Trumifo (Wilco, Grandaddy)."
So while long time Los Abandoned fans and other Latino hipster types may be sighing over the fact that just about anyone can catch the band's songs spinning on syndicated radio shows like KCRW's "Morning becomes Eclectic" and on alt-rock radio stations like LA County's KROQ, they can rest assured that an entire slew of home-grown bilingual bands continue to remain in the unknown.
Check out their website www.myspace.com/losabandoned and video for Van Nuys (es very nice) below. 
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