Bio Ritmo - Review of 'Bionico' by Bio Ritmo

Bio Ritmo is a 9-piece salsa band based in Richmond, VA and Bionico is their 6th album. Starting with 70s style Nuyorican salsa, Bio Ritmo mixes it up with lots of different influences and effects while maintaining the integrity of salsa’s essence and rhythms. The result is exciting, fresh and danceable. If you think salsa is getting stale, try this album.

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I hate to admit that I have been under-whelmed with the crop of salsa albums coming out this year, but there it is. The big name bands keep putting out highly polished, tight albums (and not that many of those) but after awhile, the material all seems to sound the same and run together. The salsa romantica gang seems to be going more towards pop than salsa and what's the point of that?

As a result, Bionico, by the Richmond, VA salsa band Bio Ritmo came as a much-needed breath of fresh air. In Bionico you can hear the elements that made salsa so popular in its heyday – innovation and high-energy raw, joyous sound; Bio Ritmo is not just making music via a predetermined formula. Yes, they base their sound on 70s style Nuyorican salsa but then, just as they did in the 70s, they experiment, use modern tools and techniques and make it their own and something new.

The 9-piece ensemble includes 4 brass but those 4 give the group a big-band brass sound that belies their numbers. Classically trained pianist Marlysse Rose Simmons not only more than holds her own on keyboards, she’s able to create some 21st century sound effects that take the music to the new millennium as does the introduction of synthesizer, esoteric samples and other electronica.

To that, the band adds a wide range of rhythms and influences. “A La Cha” was inspired by the music of Egyptian icon Abdel Halim Hafez, “Bionic Boogaloo” is based on the theme from the Six Million Dollar Man, “Seguiras Criticando” is a modern re-do of a Bobby Valentin’s guaracha.

The band’s not as tight as we’ve become used to but Bio Ritmo leader and vocalist Rei Alvarez comments “we appreciate now that sometimes being loose is better.”

I’d have to agree.