GIRL ULTRA PLAYS DC’s VERY OWN BLACK CAT
BY BRENDA REYES
PHOTO BY: BRENDA REYES
Mariana de Miguel aka Girl Ultra took the stage at the Black Cat Wednesday night with opener Katzú Oso. They set the night off right with their chill sound, but the band bought a lot of punch with the trombone and manager on hand to help with the guitar. Definitely look for them in the future.
Girl Ultra's third album, El Sur, was released this past April and it pays tribute to her DJ/house beginnings back in Mexico City. El Sur is a collection of house and pop rock music with Mariana's R&B roots intertwined in songs like “Amores De Drogas,” “Para q te acuedes de mi,” and “Nada q hacer.” This album has a soft touch of the trance EDM influence with a classic R&B sound and a pop punk twist. If you were a teenager in the 90's or early 2000's; this album will bring back lots of nostalgic feelings and sounds
Girl Ultra opens the show with adoring fans screaming and she walks out like the cool girl that she is. You can tell that she has pent up energy inside of her and she was ready to release it once everyone was warmed up. Her bandmates are ready to release the energy into the crowd.
One of my favorite samples she uses in the album is in the song Punk, sampling from Bubble Pop Electric from Gwen Stefani's LOVE ANGEL MUSIC BABY album. The chorus translates perfectly into Spanish and Mariana spices the song in her own way. The live version of this song is exactly what I wanted from Mariana. She pulls up fans from the crowd onto the stage to live their best punk rock moment. With a guitar in one hand, microphone in the other: this was the climax of the show. If only moshing was allowed at the venue, but the essence of moshing was there in the room.
BOMBAY is a catchy song that will be stuck in your head for days. Mariana uses that famous Afrika Bambataa sound from Planet Rock to showcase the house/electro feeling through the album (also very notable in LL Cool J - Control Myself featuring Jennifer Lopez). As she ends the night with this song, I was so sad that the night was over. The energy, the fans, and of course Girl Ultra were amazing throughout the whole night. Everyone wanted to rock the night away, but Mariana made up for it by doing a mini meet and greet with everyone.
Catch Girl Ultra next at This Ain't No Picnic Festival at the Rose Bowl.
