Amoeba Music

Cuco celebrates his new album Para Mi (Interscope) with a live performance at Amoeba Hollywood on Tuesday, July 30th at 5pm!

To attend this event:

** Purchase "Para Mi" on CD or vinyl LP in-store only at Amoeba Hollywood beginning on Friday, July 26th to receive a GUARANTEED ADMISSION TICKET for the show.

** In-store purchases only for the guaranteed admission ticket. No online or phone orders.

** Limit 2 album/in-store ticket packs per customer.

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Recognized as “one of L.A.’s most exciting young stars” (Los Angeles Times), Los Angeles artist Cuco is a 21-year-old self-taught, self-produced DIY solo indie pop producer, singer, songwriter and musician. Since first exploding on the scene in 2016, Cuco, née Omar Banos, has been on a meteoric rise that’s seen him break through the bedroom producer ranks to become a bona fide international star in the making, with hundreds of millions of streams to boot.

Based and reared in Hawthorne, CA, Banos grew up on a diverse diet of iconic Latin music by way of his Mexico-born parents—rock en español from his dad and Spanish-language bolero music via his mom—as well as gangsta and Chicano rap, care of his uncles, and psychedelic rock, via his high school friends. Banos began playing music as early as 8 years old, first teaching himself guitar, via internet tutorials, then picking up bass, keys, drums, trumpet, French horn, and mellophone, all before the age 15. By age 16, while an active member of his high school marching band, he taught himself music production and composing via a cracked version of Ableton Live. It was during those high school years when Banos developed his signature Cuco sound: lo-fi, self-produced “psychedelia-soaked love ballads” (Rolling Stone) for the digital age that traverse dream pop, indie rock, Latin pop, and everything in between, matched with romantic vocals in both English and Spanish, lovelorn lyrics, and a dash of nerdy charm and wit.

Banos first broke out in the summer of 2016 when he self-released his debut mixtape as Cuco, "Wannabewithu," which featured the standout originals and fan favorites “Lover Is a Day” and “Amor de Siempre.” To date, "Wannabewithu" counts +72 million streams collectively on Spotify alone. At the top of 2017, Cuco released his follow-up mixtape "Songs4u" (+53MM/Spotify), which expanded on his brand of “hypnotic melodies of love” (Billboard) and “sensitive, dreamy songs” (NPR).

In May 2017, Cuco followed up with “Lo Que Siento,” his first bilingual track and his ultimate breakthrough single. An oldies-inspired love song, “Lo Que Siento” mixes moody synths, gleaming keys, West Coast Chicano raps in Spanglish, and Cuco’s trademark trumpet solos. An independent release, “Lo Que Siento” catapulted Cuco to internet stardom and solidified him as an artist to watch. Since its release, the song has garnered +44 million Spotify streams, with an additional +9 million streams on SoundCloud.

Cuco’s discography also includes the self-released "Chiquito" (May 2018), his first proper EP, on which “Banos makes nearly everything sound effortless” (Pitchfork). Led by the comical, self-deprecating “CR-V,” “a wry rap song with wholesome energy” (The FADER), "Chiquito" also includes the dreamy single “Sunnyside,” which was recognized as one of the best songs of 2018 by The New Yorker. Elsewhere, Cuco has also collaborated with fellow lo-fi breakout star Clairo on “Drown,” voted one of the best songs of 2018 by The New York Times; EDM giant Dillon Francis on “Fix Me”; and Chicano rap legends MC Magic and Lil Rob on “Search.” Cuco now enters his next creative chapter with "Para Mi," his debut solo album and his first undertaking since signing with a major label earlier this year. Scheduled for release July 26 on Interscope Records, "Para Mi," Spanish for “for me,” is Cuco’s most creatively ambitious project to date. The album continues the artist’s DIY spirit—Cuco fully produced, wrote, and recorded the album inside the garage of his Hawthorne, CA, home—yet reflects his evolved songwriting and newfound approach to production.

Across 13 brand-new originals, Cuco experiments with new sounds and tackles uncharted genres. Lead single “Hydrocodone” — recorded during his post-surgery recovery following a car accident he and his band suffered while on tour in fall 2018 — is a woozy, melancholic guitar lullaby that weaves in and out of surf and blues as Cuco sings of heartbreak and feelings of isolation. “Bossa No Se?,” featuring up-and-coming R&B crooner Jean Carter of Los Angeles trio Your Grandparents, mixes velvety bossa nova guitars as Cuco languishes about love, loss, and jealousy. Elsewhere, “Feelings” is a sensual, horn-fueled lounge track that mixes nostalgic elements with future-leaning production, while “Love Tripper” blends airy synths and drowsy guitars to paint an ethereal pop dreamscape.

On the live front, Cuco evolved from a local act playing DIY house shows in Southern California basements and backyards to a festival-headlining artist by summer 2017. To date, Cuco—alongside a full band ensemble composed of his high school friends and hometown homies, including Esai Salas (bass), Fernando Carbajal (guitar), Gabriel “Breeze” Baltazar (guitar), and Julian Farias (drums)—has performed at major music festivals around the world, including Coachella, Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, Austin City Limits, SXSW, and Outside Lands, in addition to several international dates in North America, the UK, Asia, and beyond. In 2019, he launched his first West Coast sold-out tour of the year and will kick off a North American summer tour in support of Para Mi, prior to embarking on a heavy festival circuit run in South America for the first time.

“Para Mi represents everything I’ve learned so far, but grown up and matured,” Banos says of the new album. “I’m experimenting with new sounds, my songwriting and production techniques are stronger, and I’m trying all sorts of approaches in the studio and on the stage. Para Mi is the full picture of me as an artist and where I am today creatively.”

—John Ochoa, July 2019