The imagery accompanying the new collaboration between San Jose’s own Turbo Sonidero and Persian-British selector Arrabalero recalls the Afro-Futuristic album art of George Clinton. Call it Aztlán-Futurism. Grupo Jejeje fuses electronic textures with the global diaspora of Cumbia music—which originated in Columbia but has gone on to influence some of the world’s biggest pop producers and underground icons. The project has already garnered the attention of some serious tastemakers, including the DJ and curator Gilles Peterson, who premiered “Citlali” on his BBC6 radio show. Fledgling label Discos Rolas will release the album digitally and on vinyl May 3.

Grupo Jejeje
Fri, $7+
Discos Rolas

If a day filled with 25 different food trucks, each offering completely different variations of tacos doesn’t already sound like an excellent way to spend a Saturday afternoon, how about adding to that a full day of cutting-edge, eclectic bands?

The organizers of the San Jose Taco Festival made a concerted effort to book some interesting, up-and-coming bands for what they are hoping will be an annual festival in San Jose. They didn’t want the typical classic rock/cover bands that tend to serve as background music to most food-themed festivals. They wanted the kind of lineup people would check out even if there were no tacos.

“We wanted to book bands that were on the cusp of technology, but also bands that are more organic, really get a mixture of both worlds,” says music organizer Matt Gonzales.

At one end of the spectrum, they’ve booked acts like Turbo Sonidero Futuristico, who mix experimental electronic music with traditional cumbia, and Squareweezy, one of the DJs from San Jose’s innovative hip hop crew, The Bangerz.

On the other end, they’ve booked the Tumbleweed Wanderers, an acoustic Americana group with heartland rock and roll passion, and Los Hot Boxers and a local reggae, dancehall group with earnest doo wop elements.

While the bookings were deliberately diverse, they did want to make sure Latin music was represented. Besides Turbo Sonidero Futuristico, La Misa Negra plays strictly traditional cumbia, with a full horn section and lots of danceable percussion to work off those taco calories.

Probably the oddest nod to Mexican music at the festival will be the air accordion festival.

“They originally wanted to do an air guitar contest, but everyone does that, so they came up with an air accordion contest instead,” Gonzales says.

The Taco Festival will be held Saturday, April 14, at History Park, 1650 Senter Rd, San Jose, 11am-5pm; $7. More info.