Video: "PANORAMA" - Moona Luna (World Premiere!)

Summer is for many families a chance to travel and explore far and wide. Could be down the block or it could be in one of the world's great cities, like New York City.

Or, if you're Moona Luna in their latest video, it could be one and the same.

In this video for the title track from their latest album P A N O R A M A, Sandra Velasquez and her NYC-based bilingual band celebrate traveling by tooling around Governors Island, that small island located between the southern tip of Manhattan and Brooklyn that people pass on the ferry on the way to the Statue of Liberty. As you might expect from that description, there are a lot of familiar panoramic views (so to speak) in the video.

It's a fun video regardless of whether you're heading to the Big Apple this summer, and I'm glad to be offering the world premiere!

Moona Luna - "PANORAMA" [YouTube]

Interview: Sandra Velasquez (Moona Luna)

Sandra Velasquez has worn a number of different musical hats -- the leader of the multicultural rock and dance band Pistolera, one-half of the duo SLV, and most relevant for this neck of the woods, the driving force behind the duolingual band (and Pistolera alter ego) Moona Luna.

But as you'll see in the interview below, Velasquez is as passionate about travel as she is about music. To my ears, the recently-released P A N O R A M A, Moona Luna's third studio album, is the band's most personal-sounding record, and after talking about travel with Velasquez, it's clear to me why that is. Read on for Velasquez's memories of her favorite travel spots, how travel informed the making of the new album, and pictures from Velasquez's own camera.

Zooglobble: What are your first memories of traveling?

Sandra Velasquez: First memories of traveling are with my family to Mexico. My mother is from Guerrero and we would go visit her family. Part of her family lives on a coconut plantation. I have distinct memories of watching people climb coconut trees barefoot with a machete strapped to their belt and cut down coconuts for everyone, then cut off the top, make a hole so you could drink the water. It's a real skill! I also remember the first time I felt humidity. I was lucky in that my parents took us somewhere every year. We went to Hawaii, Canada, Europe. I blame my family for my travel bug!

Did you travel more to cities or "scenic" areas? Did you like one more than the other?

Definitely more scenic areas. My mother is from the countryside of Mexico. In fact, where she is from no longer exists. It was washed away by water. I suppose I never really thought about it, but I have a leaning towards scenic country settings when I travel now. I like to be in nature as much as possible. I'm going to Lombok this summer and can't wait.

Do you visit the same places over and over, or do you generally prefer exploring new places?

Always someplace new if possible. I might repeat some places only to show them to my daughter. I have a list of places I want to take her now she's older and can enjoy and remember them. Every year I try to go somewhere new. I've been to Costa Rica, Australia, all over Latin America, and I'm looking forward to Indonesia and Lombok this summer! [And I] am dying to get to Vietnam and Thailand. Maybe next year....

Do you think that desire to visit someplace new if possible extends to your artistic endeavors -- music in particular?

I never thought of that either, but yes! I suppose my wanderlust extends through all of my life! It's not about getting bored so much as being curious and always growing, once I feel like I'm not growing anymore then I move on. This is why there hasn't been another Pistolera album for many years. I feel like I took that sound as far as I could g(r)o(w). And I can't fake things. I've seen people who are "stuck" in their successful band churning out the one sound people want to hear from them for decades. I don't want that. I need to create things that I want to create. Otherwise music becomes another day job.

What new sounds or adventures were you aiming for on your new album P A N O R A M A?

As someone who grew up in California, and by that I mean in car culture, I love me a good driving album. I really wrote the album and ordered the songs in order of taking a journey from one place to the next. I used my own memories of traveling extensively by bus through Central America as visual inspiration when writing. Each song is truly connected to an actual experience I had. I did a lot of traveling alone in Latin America, which allowed me to really blend in with whatever town I was in. Those solo adventures through Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador really shaped who I am. So to answer your question, I hope I am giving people the soundtrack to their own journey, whether they've taken it yet or not.

Are there any tracks that are more meaningful to you because they're associated with particular memories?

The first three tracks I associate with specific memories as well as tracks 6, 7 and 10. It's not that the others don't have a visual for me - they do - but they are imagined...

The title track - "Panorama" - I have many memories that insprired this song. First, going to Tikal in Guatemala at dawn. Climbing the pyramids and seeing nothing but jungle on the horizon. The only sounds were of monkeys. It was pretty magical.

I also think of being on the bus (I was on the bus a lot) where you are winding through dense mountains and there is no civilization for as long as the eye can see. Latin America is filled with tiny chapels at the tops of steep hills. It's almost like an olympic sport climbing hundreds of stairs. But then once you do, you have an eagle eye view.

Note: I did all of these travels before the iPhone. so my pictures are with a [expletive] disposable camera (I never travel with expensive gear).

Those are lovely photos! (Also: I think Instagram should add a "[expletive] disposable camera" filter.)

Track 2 - "Happiness" - this is basically is a "grass isn't greener" song. I love to travel, don't get me wrong, but I do feel that Americans often feel they need to go FAR away to "discover" new things/feelings/people, and actually there's alot right here! There are still pockets of New York that I haven't discovered! The Bronx is vast. The song is not only about finding physical spaces, but also about just finding yourself in your own life. Sometimes we do need go somewhere else and get lost to learn about ourselves. and sometimes we learn that those things were inside of us all along.

Track 3 - "Espejos" - I have lot of family in mexico still. I don't get to see them very much. It's almost a little overwhelming to have a big family in one place. because if you go there, you HAVE to see family. [Anyway,] when I did go to Mexico with my family when I was younger it made an impression on me. I saw where certain physical traits and even vocal tones came from. Isn't it a trip when you look at, say, your great uncle and you have their eyes or their shoulders? You know what I mean? It's quite intense to see how people that all come from the same lineage turn out. I have cousins that look JUST like my grandmother even though their mother does not. This song ("Mirrors," in English) is all about how we see ourselves in each other.

In discussing "Happiness," you mention finding out things about yourself while traveling -- what have you found while traveling?

The reason I love traveling is because of how it puts me in my place in the world. This is if you are truly traveling, not vacationing. When you truly travel and engage with the community you become aware of all of the things you take for granted. I should also interject that I have mostly traveled in Latin America. One might not have the same feeling after travelling in Scandanavia where health care is free!

Mostly what I have learned from traveling is how lucky I am, how many resources I have at my fingertips, and that I have a LOT to be grateful for.

In the end, what do you hope listeners take away from P A N O R A M A?

The album takeaway - I want it to be a soundtrack to your next adventure. maybe that's just a road trip three hours away, or maybe it across the pond. I love soundtracks, and if I can make one for someone else, that makes me feel like I've done my job.

Photo credits: Shervin Lainez (top), Signe Schloss (Moona Luna) Sandra Velasquez (all others)

Interview Sandra Velasquez (Moona Luna)

Up above in the title for this interview, I've written "Moona Luna" after Sandra Velasquez, because if you're reading this website, you're probably most familiar with the New York-based Velasquez as the mastermind behind the bilingual Spanish kindie band.

But like many musicians, Velasquez wears a number of hats, and so it's just as likely that the intrepid Google-r will eventually find their way to this interview because they're fans of Velasquez's band Pistolera, the Spanish-language band she founded in 2005.

Or maybe you grooved to "Cheerleader," the leadoff single from SLV, the band featuring Velasquez and multi-instrumentalist Sean Dixon.

So there are a lot of reasons to listen to Velasquez, and I'm offering you one more -- the interview below, completed while Velasquez was on tour, and in which she talks about starting her musical life as a reluctant keyboardist, the impact of songwriting on her life, and the different audiences she plays to.

Zooglobble: What are your first musical memories?

Sandra Velasquez: I was forced to play piano as a child. So my earliest musical memories of are being forced to practice and playing piano recitals in lace dresses. I begged my parents to let me quit piano, which they did when I was 13. I bought my first electric guitar and started taking lessons immediately to learn all my favorite Nirvana, Hendrix, and other rock songs. Incidentally, the first band I played in when I was fifteen was as a keyboardist. We mostly practiced instead of gigging. Those were wonderful years because we were so naive in our freedom.

What inspired you to form Pistolera?

I moved to New York City the day after I graduated from music school in 1999 and spent that first summer completely in shock of the lack of Mexican and/or (more importantly) Chicano culture. I always said that I had I stayed in California I would have just played in a rock band. I started Pistolera out of a longing for trucks driving by with accordion melodies blaring out of them, for taco shops with banda music leaking out of the kitchen. But of course being a rocker at heart, Pistolera was always a blend. Latin music with rock attitude.

How did the birth of your daughter inspire Moona Luna?

I could have never started Moona Luna without my daughter. I would not have known what to write about! I am the kind of songwriter that writes from personal experiences. I can't make stuff up.

What have you enjoyed about writing songs for Moona Luna as compared to writing them for Pistolera? What has been more challenging?

Writing for Moona Luna has taught me that at the end of the day I am a songwriter. Not just a songwriter for Pistolera, or for one demographic. I enjoy writing songs. I'm addicted to melodies. Writing a good song can be challenging no matter who you are writing for. Some songs flow out easily and others you have to work on, put aside, and work on some more. I did find that giving myself a theme for the second Moona Luna album (Vamos, Let's Go!) helped me write.

Has your songwriting for families changed as your daughter has grown older? As you've grown older?

Now that I have multiple bands I have found that the songwriting just changes with time regardless. There is a the perception that I as the songwriter change the music, but lately I have been feeling like it's the music that changes me. I grow through the music. It is all equally valid and growth-inducing.

This may be difficult to answer, but are your Moona Luna audiences mostly filled with families for whom English is a second language, or are they more families for whom English is their primary language?

It really depends on the show. We did a residency in Santa Barbara where we played for underprivileged communities and most were bilingual if not mostly Spanish speakers. This may sound sad, but going to concerts at $15 a pop tend to be less accessible financially to families who do not speak English. When we play free city parks concerts in New York City the non-English speakers tend to be the childcare workers. This has been my experience.

Are there gaps that you see (in terms of musical styles, subjects, audiences) that "kindie" doesn't serve well enough?

Kindie audiences, or more specifically, kids, don't tend to favor dark or slow music in a live show scenario. This is just my experience with my own 7-year-old daughter. She likes upbeat music. I do too, but I also love slow, moody, minor and diminished chord music. This is why it's great to have multiple projects because it's hard to satisfy all of my musical cravings with just one band. If I just did Moona Luna I would feel more like an entertainer. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I don't always feel cheery -- do you? It would be unsatisfying for me if my only musical experience was to put on a happy face and dance. I have many moods and thankfully, three bands to express them all.

You recently released a song -- "Together" -- with Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. Are there other musicians you and Moona Luna would love to work with?

I loved collaborating with Skidoo. I heard his voice in my head when I wrote the song so I was pretty happy that he agreed to do it. I really love Lori Henriques' new album. She would be fun to collaborate with.

You have lots of ongoing projects going on -- Moona Luna, Pistolera, your solo album -- what's next?

At the moment I am really focused on SLV, which in the beginning was billed as my "solo project" but it's not really that, though the band name is my initials! It's really a new band and an equal collaboration with my drummer Sean Dixon, who is the drummer for the experimental electronic band Zammuto. (Check them out!). Since we recorded and released an EP with Meshell Ndegeocello in 2013, we have been working on our debut album. It's been over a year and I'm happy to say it's done and the first music video is filmed. It will come out this spring and you can expect to see us on tour this summer. I've started a new Moona Luna album too and hope to escape the cold of NYC and finish the songwriting part of it in February somewhere warm.

Photo credits: Shervin Lainez (Sandra Velasquez), M. Sharkey (Moona Luna)

Listen To This: "Together" - Moona Luna (feat. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo)

Always glad to hear folks from disparate parts of the kindie world coming together, especially when the result is as sunny as "Together," a brand new song from Moona Luna featuring Secret Agent 23 Skidoo.

Sandra Velasquez has written a breezy tune about friendship and getting together (natch). It's poppier than most Moona Luna music with an '80s synthpop/skiffle vibe, but there's still that hint of Latin pop that underlies everything Moona Luna does. And in the middle, Skidoo raps a fiendishly fast verse. Worth a spin.

Moona Luna (feat. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo) - "Together" [Bandcamp]

<a href="http://moonaluna.bandcamp.com/track/together-single-feat-secret-agent-23-skidoo">Together (Single) feat. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo by Moona Luna</a>

Review: Vamos, Let's Go! - Moona Luna

Musically digging into the crates of records from her past, Moona Luna bandleader Sandra Velasquez finds the sound of 50 years ago on the second Moona Luna album, Let's Go!.

It's not so surprising that "Do You Remember? (¿Te Acuerdas?)" has a girl-group sound given that song title, but Velasquez also turns lots of other basic preschooler and early-elementary school topics -- writing letters, telling time, the seasons -- into tightly-written songs that mimic the distinctive keyboards, rhythms, and vocal harmonies of post-Bill Haley rock-n-roll. (If you're like me, you'll probably spend not a small amount of time playing "spot the musical reference.")

Of course, this is Moona Luna, so this is all done with a Latin spin. The songs are strictly bilingual, giving English and Spanish lyrics equal weight, and I think Velasquez is getting better at integrating the two in her songs. Songs like "What Time Is It? (¿Que Hora Es?)" and "One of Those Days (Uno De Esos Dias)" have a distinct Latin sound thanks to the use of the accordion, and of course you can't reference rock and roll from the late 1950s without sounding a bit like Ritchie Valens.

The 26-minute album is most appropriate for kids ages 3 through 6. You can stream the whole album here.

Despite the surge in interest in bilingual music for wee ones, Moona Luna is one of the few bands making music your family might conceivably listen to for pure enjoyment's sake. And, if mixed in amongst your Recess Monkeys and Laurie Berkners these songs pop up and happen to give your family an appreciation for a different musical sound and language, so much the better. Definitely recommended.

[Note: I was given a copy of the album for possible review.]