It's been a big year for Raquel Berrios and Luis Alfredo Del Valle, the musical duo known as Buscabulla.
Based in Brooklyn, these Puerto Rican artists recorded a 4-song, self-titled EP with renowned producer Dev Hynes (Blood Orange), which was released by the French label Kitsuné in September. The EP has been critically acclaimed and lauded by digital publications and tastemakers as one of the year's best in new Latin alternative music.
In the process, the duo welcomed their first child, Charly Lua (born at home), recorded the soundtrack for the documentary "Mala Mala" that premiered at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, and performed in big festivals like SXSW and CMJ.
Contrary to what Luis told us in the video above, Buscabulla did not, however, win an Oscar, even though it wouldn't be far-fetched given their impressive 2014 run.
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Another big event for the band this year was the passing of Argentine rock icon Gustavo Cerati who at the age of 55 died in September. It was a huge loss for music lovers everywhere and for Buscabulla in particular. They were proundly influenced by Cerati's solo work as well as his legendary career with Soda Stereo, Latin America's biggest rock band.
"It's very deeply embedded in my deep psyche because I spent very long hours listening to him," says Berrios, who first listened to Cerati when she was an architecture student in San Juan over a decade ago. "And then I got obsessed with everything, all of his solo work, all of his work with Soda …it's golden…it's so good."
In Cerati's honor, Buscabulla recorded a cover of one of Soda Stereo's early hits, "Un misil en mi placard," from 1984. It's a beautiful, minimalist, warm rendition that is very Buscabulla and we have the honor of debuting it here on Fusion.
You can hear Raquel and Luis talk about their big year as well as Cerati's influence in the video above.
Buscabulla also performed a stripped-down version of their song "Caer" just for Fusion.
The beautiful venue where we shot the interview and performance is the Miami Marine Stadium, a Modernist concrete structure built in 1963 at the waterfront in Virginia Key in Miami. Once the site of powerboat races, Queen concerts and Elvis Presley movies, it was abandoned after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and has been embraced by artists, skateboarders and the curious ever since.
This is where Raquel and Luis wanted to record an acoustic performance on a recent trip to Miami. “We had a lot of friends who told us about this place so we wanted to come before they made it all shiny and polished,” says Raquel (there are efforts to renovate and preserve this historic structure.) She adds, "I studied architecture in Puerto Rico and specialized in tropical architecture. It’s all about warm weather and breeze; using the natural sunlight…I’m kind of a nerd with that.”
About the song “Caer,” Raquel says it’s about working hard to reach your goals. “‘Caer’ is all about this crazy process of really working hard to achieve what you want and how much your mind has to do with knowing if you can achieve your goals, it’s kind of a spiritual song, actually. Don’t let it go, don’t let it go…and at the same time, just let it go, girl!” she says.
Additional camera work by Alissa Figueroa, Lara Fernandez.
Additional editing by Leslie Anne Frye.
Sound by Christopher Dominguez.
Ingrid Rojas is a Colombian multimedia producer based in Miami. She spends her days either shooting, producing or editing all kinds of video content.
Nuria Net is a founding editor at Fusion and now Social Storytelling Editor working on our Snapchat Discover channel. Co-founder, former editor-in-chief of Remezcla.com. Net is her real last name; Lechuga is her DJ name.