“This is the sound of our water ceremonies, the 40 bands playing their melodies at once to recreate the cacophony of the first aurora & the call of the morning star Venus,” writes Chuquimamani-Condori with the release of their return album DJ E. “If you ever cared for me, if I ever loved you, if I ever did you wrong, if you ever broke my heart, then fuck w me now.”
The eclectic trans producer, formerly known as Elysia Crampton and E+E, returns to their Aymara name to drop this smashing internet hit. The first song of the album, Breathing, begins with a time-stretched sample of the Bolivian music group Yuray’s Un Vaso de Cerveza. Lethargic and drawn out, the song is overlaid with pounding bass, as the only part of the sample that begins to be audible over electronic loops is the siku, an Andean pan flute.
The release is preceded by the opening of a visual art exhibition by Chuquimamani-Condori and their brother Joshua Chuquimia Crampton. The two Norcal natives opened their exhibit, Q’iwanakaxa/Q’iwsanakaxa Utjxiwa, at the Queens gallery MoMA PS1, in March of 2023. The exhibit features black and white portraits of their great-great-grandparents, Francisco Tancara and Rosa Quiñones, Aymara activists, nestled between two futuristic speakers and other collaged materials. The visual display is a collision of indigenous Bolivian history and the technologically futuristic potential the two siblings envision.
Chuquimamani-Condori works in the genre of epic collage, best described as a mash of pop and eclectic sampling (think Rihanna with a car crash sound effect over it.) Even in 2014, when Fader Magazine first wrote about epic collage, they identified Elysia as a pioneer, joining a legacy of trans artists dominating the genre since its inception. Chuquimamani-Condori says in an interview, “I’m finally finding my place in this live setting that incorporates the use of spoken word as well as musical performance (…) I never thought that I would have to create a new space like that, but maybe it’s part of queer experience.” Employing Bolivia’s history of trans representation (in cross-dressing mariposa performers and fluid gender dynamics pre-colonization), Chuquimamani-Condori creates their own unique musical space through forward thinking production.
Chuquimamani-Condori identifies the dynamic production of their music with the Aymara idea of taypi. They describe the term as “a sort of juncture where the space-times of the here and now and the unknown, de-known, co-mingle.” Their music employs this idea, simultaneously drawing influence from Bolivian indigenous history and internet culture. This collision of histories carries a radical potential of transformation, a space outside the colonial narrative that defines musical expectations. The climactic songs of DJ E, “Return” and “Know,” are just this. Mixing thumping 808s, the sampling of a literal circular saw, and cumbia, the songs seem to exist outside the traditional measures of musical “goodness.”
When interviewed, Chuquimamani proudly reports that the album is “unmastered” – meaning that none of the instruments or sounds are compressed or lessened. This fact is obvious when experiencing the album (and it is an experience); your speakers grumble and crack as the textured soundscape exceeds doctor-recommended-decibel-listening-levels.
But don’t get it twisted – this ear-drum-exploding violence doesn’t make the listening experience harsh. Critics have called the album “cathartic,” pointing to the deep underlying joy that stands out even in the muddy mix. On the song “Engine,” angelic keys float over the Andean drums and industrial crackling. The radical dream Chuquimamani-Condori offers is one where beauty lies in the wreckage of their musical mash-up.
The album carries radical potential, and I think that’s a good reason to listen to it. But just in case, here’s another reason: it bumps. Chuquimamani-Condori has been at the top of epic collage for a while, and this latest album is a labor of love, made from the honed skills of a caring artist. Listening to it is giving yourself to their radical dream, and succumbing to the destructive power of unrestricted noise. If you like what you hear, Chuquimamani will be performing in New York on March 14th. Go support, go take part.