Giveaway: Grupo Fantasma at Antone's

Over the last few years, Grupo Fantasma has emerged one of Austin’s most prominent and recognizable bands on the national scene. There was that Grammy nomination in 2009 and they have famously backed Prince on numerous occasions since 2007. And Brownout (comprised of many of Grupo’s members) continues to grow as a band, further demonstrating this prolific crew’s limitless prowess.

On Tuesday, Grupo will release El Existential, their fifth full-length and their first for the National Geographic label Nat Geo Music. The band rented out a house here in town to record the new album. The objective was to live together and cultivate a healthy environment that allowed the band members to align their vision and ideas in a comfortable setting, sans any outside influences. The result is a collection of mesmerizing tunes that blends the striking sounds of funk, salsa, cumbia, and many other genres, some exotic, some quite familiar. As always, Grupo excels at utilizing a wide array of instruments, throwing in plenty of brass, tons of irresistible beats and chiming keys, and a fair share of sizzling guitar riffs throughout the record.

Although much of the album will instantly have you tapping your toes and searching for the closest dance floor, Grupo shifts tempos and rhythms expertly as needed, finding room for the odd slow jam like “Juan Tenorio” (featuring Larry Harlow) as well. Curt Kirkwood also cameos, lending his six-string chops to “Telaraña,” another funky concoction that will get you moving in no time. All in all, El Existential proves that Grupo Fantasma is THE obvious choice when leaning towards a night of riveting Latin music. So it only makes sense that we’d like to send you to one of their two album release shows this weekend at Antone’s -- enter your information in the form below for chance to win a pair of tickets to Saturday’s show:

Grupo Fantasma: [Official] [MySpace]
Friday Opener -- Charanga Cakewalk: [MySpace]
Saturday Opener -- Manejo Beto: [Official] [MySpace]

Grupo Fantasma (and Brownout) are scheduled to perform on May 22nd at the 2010 Pachanga Latino Music Festival.