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Los Lichis

Mexican free-rock group

History
In 1996, three visual artists, Manuel Mathar, Gerardo Monsivais and Jose-Luis Rojas , met in Mexico City. They developed a series of artistic practices in a very ludic way, as a form of social interaction between friends. They produced their ideas through multiple media: drawing, painting, photo, video, installation, performance, and a large stock of tape recordings of musical improvisation using a variety of lo-fi instruments. In 1997, this peculiar group was founded as “Lichis”, a name they used for a skinny stray dog, who fleetingly visited them one rainy night in their apartment; and also a name that became an aestetic symbol,in their own idiosyncrasy, of a low and precarious form of life.

Los Lichis collective showed their projects in some of the most important alternative art venues of late 90's in Mexico (La Panadería, X-Teresa Arte Actual, BF15 Gallery). The art of Los Lichis manifested as an act of freedom with a strong dose of bizarre humor, playing with the role of the author, not showing up as protagonists, and letting the work being developed under external and unpredictable circumstances. At their first music performances, the public could only see and hear the loudspeakers, while the band were improvising for hours inside a closed room. In this way the group kept the amusement and freshness of a private music rehearsal. Los Lichis is against the concept of ​​being a conventional band playing in local rock venues, and thus, their appareances were mostly in public cultural spaces.

The relationship Los Lichis had with the former French-mexican gallery BF 15, carried Monsiváis and Mathar to show their work at Paris’s International Contemporary Art Fair (FIAC) in 2000 where they met the experimental musician Jean-Baptiste Favory for improvisations, as part of the exhibition in their booth during the fair. They also broadcasted a live performance through Epsilonia, an experimental music program ran by Favory in Radio Libertaire. Since then, Jean-Baptiste became the fourth member, enriching the group's musical baggage.

The first decade of XXI century began with a progressive break in the artistic production of the group, in part, due to the growing commitment of each member with their individual projects, but also because of the disappointment and boredom they felt about contemporary art circuit.

Despite of this, and a temporary recess of Jose-Luis, their musical practice continued giving birth to more complex experiments. This was reinforced with the collaboration of guitarist Alfonso Gutiérrez (1974 – 2007), drummer Gildardo Gonzalez and graphic artist Sergio de Osio, in whose workshop many Lichis’ flyers, posters, t-shirts and cdr´s were printed. Occasionally they appeared under names like Cacaflies or Chavilocos & The Butchers Filarmonika, varying in a wide range of influences: psychedelic, krautrock, punk, avant-garde, free-jazz, folk or electronic music.

By the end of 2009, they returned to the original line-up, reincorporating Jose-Luis Rojas (1975 - 2017) and working on a compilation project by their own, that concluded in the summer of 2013 with a double LP 12" Dog, compending 90 minutes of the first ten years of the group. In 2015, they released a new unlimited edition cdr entitled The Giant Lichis. Both of these albums were positively reviewed by music critic Byron Coley in an article published by the british magazine The Wire. That same year, U.S. based label Feeding Tube Records, owned by Coley, re-released 500 copies of “Dog” distributed worlwide by Forced Exposure. Los Lichis are regarded as one of the most important underground acts in Mexico.

“Los Lichis retain that naturalistic spark and simmering wildness that only the best improvised music can provide” wrote Robert Ham for Pitchfork magazine.

“Twenty years and Los Lichis are there, they appear and disappear, but when they let out the sound trail from their instruments, they surely leave their mark” mexican music critic, David Cortés states.

Lp's:

 * Dog (double LP) - Self-released 300 signed copies (2013)


 * Dog (double LP) - Feeding tube records (2016)


 * Savage Lichis religion (Los Lichis & Pakito Bolino) - Feeding tube records (2018)

Cd's

 * Ligatripa compilation (Universal / Conaculta 2001)


 * XTAA compilation (Conaculta 2003)

DVD

 * Savage Religions (Le Dernier Cri 2006)


 * Ready Media compilation (INBA / Conaculta 2010)

Tapes:

 * Cheap funeral music - Loki records 015 (2015)

CDr / DVDr:

 * Los Lichis Compil I, II, III y IV (1997-1999)


 * Obrera Sessions I y II (2000)


 * Andador 20 (2000)


 * Lichis en Paris Live Radio Libertaire (2000)


 * Dulces Nombres (2001)


 * Los Lichis Hits Collection #1 (2002)


 * KKflies kill all the Lichis (Pantano Records 2003)


 * Los Lichis Klassix 1997 (Vuélvete Underground 2006)


 * Chavilocos and the butchers filarmonika (2008)


 * Live music soundtrack for the film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene) (2005)


 * Los Lichis DVD 126 Traqcxzs 98-08 (2008)


 * The giant Lichis (2015)

Members

 * Gerardo Monsivais : visual artist, painter, drums, guitar, synths.


 * Manuel Mathar : visual artist, painter; bass, guitar, violin, voice.


 * Jose-Luis Rojas : visual artist, sculptor; synths & guitar.


 * Jean-Baptiste Favory  Sound artist, Synths & electronics.


 * Alfonso Gutiérrez -1974-2007- & Gilardo Gonzales (2001 to 2007) : Drums & Guitar.