Meme Del Real, the producer, co-vocalist, guitarist, and keyboardist of legendary Mexican rock band Cafe Tacvba, spent a long stint living in Valle De Bravo, a remote lakeside city just outside of Mexico City. In that pueblo mágico built around Lake Avándaro, away from metropolitan noise, he wrote an introspective and experimental collection of songs that became his first solo effort La montaña encendida (“The Burning Mountain”). Settling back into the sprawling Mexican capital, he got to work on releasing the album.
After adventures in Los Angeles with Masego and Berlin with BUNT., the final episode in Sonos and Rolling Stone’s three-part series “Sound Conductors” takes us into Meme Del Real’s world. Casting the multi-instrumentalist as an orchestra composer against the backdrop of a Mexico City home where the acoustics are as dreamy as the decor, Sonos sets the scene for a moving musical experience.
Photo Credit: Diogo
For the Mexican rock superstar, good sound is a personal matter.
Del Real tricked out every room in his house with Sonos equipment and redefined the way him and his family listen to and coexist around music. Sonos facilitates a tender morning ritual where the family wakes to Mozart. Timeless classical compositions play in every room, Sonos powering a whimsical start to the day that feels straight out of a fairy tale: Meme is a magician, conjuring a wave of sound that connects every family member to each other.
“I love having the possibility of listening in every part of the house… to be able to listen to the same song in different spaces and to be able to, sometimes, play it louder in this place or that, or to turn it off when somebody needs silence. That communal and familiar experience of being able to share music in this way is something I hadn’t experienced before, and because of Sonos I get to enjoy that,” says Del Real.
Photo Credit: Diogo
For an expansive effort like La montaña encendida —one that saw Del Real explore, mash together, and break down rock, electronic, cumbia, and even bachata— a Sonos system allowed him to hear every intricacy in the standout sonic experiment that is “Líquenes”, a song that starts as a near-ambient arrangement and explodes into a contemplative supernova.
“‘Líquenes’ is a song that starts as a sonic exercise, let’s say; it’s a song that goes from the intimate and microscopic to the macro,” says Del Real. “From the inside of one’s being to the outside, the cosmic…it’s a song that translates well to this moment where I wanted to make music that maybe didn’t have a specific purpose.”
For “Sound Conductors”, Del Real reinterprets this multi-faceted track with orchestral flourish. In the video, Del Real dances in the rain, discusses the doors that are opened by the creative process, and directs an orchestra to recreate “Líquenes” in an indoor-outdoor chill area by the pool which is transformed into an orchestra pit. Watching him lose himself in the music, you can tell Del Real feels it physically and emotionally.
The surreal affair is lifted up by Sonos, making the music heard in heavenly high-definition sound that Del Real is familiar with, from the Era 100 amplifying the record player to Era 300 bringing the sound to the entire living room, elegantly placed and almost unrecognizable from a contemporary sculpture. Their chic design stands in contrast to the warm tones of the living room, decorated with an oil painting of the Popocatépetl volcano and a paper maché mask hanging on the wall.
Photo Credit: Diogo
“When I had the chance to hear La montaña encndida on a Sonos system for the first time, it was a beautiful experience because I was at home in a very comfortable place, but I felt like I was listening to it in the studio. The sound is beautiful, translates well, sounds natural and really organic…it made me emotional,” he says. “I love that you don’t have to separate yourself from the emotions and energy to be able to deeply listen. It’s not easy to translate that with just any sound system, and I love being able to feel that dimension of the music when I listen to it.”
As he moves from room to room, carrying a Move 2 speaker to activate the house with “Líquenes”, Del Real gives himself (and us) the great pleasure of listening to the carefully constructed soundscapes of La montaña encendida. Watching Del Real dance around and conduct an orchestra poolside, the parallel is clear: a Sonos sound system is a personal orchestra at your finger tips.
Meme Del Real x Mario Santos | Sound Conductors “Líquenes”
