Xenia Rubinos

In 2013, The New Yorker magazine wrote something very beautiful about a concert by Xenia Rubinos: in particularly intense moments, her black curly hair behaves like a third band member and has wave-like reactions to the music. Rubinos’ eccentric voice, which is very familiar with hip hop rhythms and has occasional whipping and splashing keyboard parts paired with funky-pressured beats from drummer and producer Marco Buccelli—has a curiously raw energy with many subtle details. On her new album “Black Terry Cat”, the 31 year old creates a feverish mix of jazz, hip hop, soul and Latin sounds. Rubinos sometimes makes you think of Neneh Cherry, and sometimes of Erykah Badu. The sound has a cutting clarity, aesthetic openness and a corresponding political attitude which is expressed in the lyrics. Rubinos, daughter of a Cuban father and a Puerto Rican mother grew up with Salsa, Merengue und Rumba. Following her musical training she only started writing and playing “pop music” recently. For her, pop is a vessel with a very large belly in which the music from her childhood is mixed with all sorts of other genres. Today, Rubinos lives in Brooklyn – a well-known laboratory for advanced music!