Having blazed a trail as the drummer for California Bay Area vanguards, Avengers, as well as LGBTQIA+ pioneers Pansy Division – the first openly gay rock band to feature predominantly queer musicians – Luis Gabriel Illades is no stranger to brave and bold gestures of beautiful intent.
Having given himself over to countless acts since the late 90s Illades’s new Vida Vella project heralds the arrival of something entirely new. In his first outing as a front person, singer/songwriter and artist in his own right, his debut album, Panorama, was recorded with a cross section of emerging Mexican instrumentalists and notable US underground stalwarts from acts such as Camper van Beethoven, Anohni and the Johnsons and the State Band of Guanajuato.
Featuring songs in Spanish and English, it’s a two-sided coin where all compositions meet, regardless of their linguistic origin, to explore very human and universal ideas. Bilingually it traverses themes such as self-knowledge, romantic vulnerability, and the fear of apocalypse, enveloping everything in an extraordinary aural experience. Encapsulating his experiences of life, love, and everything in between.
With all that in mind, here are five records that have carried Luis through darkness and light and provide the perfect soundtrack for burnout and reinvention.
Panorama, the debut album by Vida Vella is officially released on 21st March 2025 and will be the inaugural release for Beso Y Abrazo, an emerging record label releasing Spanish language indie records from Latin America in the US. Pre-order the album here.
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The Breeders – Title TK
I identified strongly with the Deal sisters as I followed their journey through reinvention, recovery, hope, disdain, catharsis. The drum intro on ‘Little Fury’ sounds tough as hell and her call to opening the record had me hooked upon the first thirty seconds of listening. I listened to this album over and over on eternal repeat during a deep and dark depression and it spoke to me in a way that no actual person could. For a time, I was jacked up and twisted on various substances and insomnia and this was the only album that could calm me down and reach me. I might have listened to it twenty times in a row one night.
Nathan Larson – Jealous God
This album is extremely influential to me. It is criminal that it was not celebrated historically as a masterpiece. I watched Nathan Larson closely as I let myself sink into his guitar sounds for hours in his Shudder to Think records. The angular art punk and difficult aggression spoke to me on a visceral level. But as I saw him turn on this record from dissonant and cacophonous to elegant, smooth, sexy, and orchestral in his version of blue-eyed soul, I saw a potential future that spoke to me. It said, “I know you were troubled; I know you were dismissive, but now you can unclench your fist and heal a broken heart softly and purr.” Because we travelled in similar circles it felt accessible to me. Clive Langer and Alan Winstanely who produced Elvis Costello brought it together for an excellent troubadour’s touch. This might have been one of the most influential models as I started writing the Vida Vella record.
Nina Nastasia – The Blackened Air
This was another album I listened to on repeat on my darkest days and through the tentative reach for new beginnings. It waved a flag of what could be achieved in terms of production and instrumentation. The orchestration and atmospherics are mysterious, creepy and otherworldly. There’s something that evokes trudging through a forest and Nina, a gentle guide and tender spirit who is walking with the listener yet also overwhelmed and trepidatious. I studied a lot of the instrumentation when working on the Vida Vella Panorama album.
Lou Reed – Berlin
When I heard this album as a teenager, I don’t think I’d ever heard something so dark, sad or deeply intimate in my life. I honestly was shell shocked for about a week. I was scared, heartbroken and I had to recover. I’m not sure that anything has impacted me like this since regarding storytelling, production, narrative and sonic arc. This album is the gold standard for storytelling and the power of mood setting. The depth to which Lou Reed writes about internal experiences across a spectrum of personalities: weak men, addict mothers, daydreaming starlets, troubled derelicts. RIP Lou.
The Auteurs – After Murder Park
Most people in the US and Mexico aren’t familiar with Luke Haines’ body of work. I followed his career closely and digested all of the early Auteurs albums. But when I heard that he was doing an album with Steve Albini I couldn’t imagine how that would work given the band’s sound. I bought the album the day it was released with trembling hands. The re-invention of his signature sound is a raw, dark spitting aura with those large drum room sounds, and the drunken organ sounds that evoke asthmatic breathing and a drunken wavering. This album is mean, bitter and sounds like it was written by a sick child sequestered away in a tower glowering at the world. It spoke to me in a way that validated my contempt for everyone. Glorious Thing.
