El María y José: “Up & Down” (Vengaboys cover)

At the fringes of kitsch culture and the obsessive behavior of modern youth to recycle just about everything, Tijuana born and based producer El María y José reworks a 90’s dance classic, (semi-tasteless) Vengaboys’ “Up and Down.”

El María y José’s take on “Up and Dow”n can rightfully be defined as post-cumbia, post-dance, post-rave and, most definitely post-kitsch. El María y José’s take is nearly post-everything.

In the original track the beat section is cocaine-driven, but El María y José goes ahead for a more exoticized marijuana haze, with the almost arrhythmic cumbia-like beat pattern blindly crashing against the ralentized vocals giving you the sensation that you’ve been dancing way too much at a rave party. Disoriented, tumbling, dizzy yet happy, slow motion mode.

We really don’t know if this is serious or just a James Ferraro-like prank, maybe this is how Games’ Way Slower style exercises might’ve sounded like if Daniel and Joel were born in Tijuana.

The truth is El María y José sounds effortlessly modern instead of retro and his counterfeited version of cumbia is absolutely effective as opposed to just funny.

Vengaboy’s Up and Down is one of the most abominable tracks in Dance music history but El María y José’s approach is so twisted (almost evil) that it really pushes the whole thing deep into contemporary art territory.

You can hear more from El María y José on Soundcloud

Written by Julio Lorea