Helado Negro

The son of Ecuadorean immigrants, Roberto Carlos Lange was born in South Florida in 1980. His childhood was suffused with tropical heat, humidity, hurricanes, all refracted with the rich sounds and colors of the various Latin American cultures of southern Florida. Pounding bass beats from passing cars, boom boxes bouncing down the block, and late-night parties called "peñas" provided a foundation for Lange’s interest in sound and lifelong quest to discover the unlimited variety of objects used to produce music. Lange’s musical compositions are often constructed through improvised performances and accidental happenings, then adjusted and aligned into their final form. Over the last four years Lange has collaborated with prominent visual and sound artist, David Ellis to compose a new series of kinetic sound sculptures. These include typewriters that self-type the lyrics to Kurtis Blow's "The Message" (in rhythm to the song, none-the-less), musical owls drawn out of liquor bottles, owl costumes made out of straws, flying musical birds, motion paintings, and trashcans- full of trash -that are actually living drum machines.

Lange has also worked with famed music producer Guillermo Scott Herren to produce Prefuse 73 and Savath and Savalas as an active member and contributor. He has also worked with School of Seven Bells, Paul Duncan, Bear in Heaven and many more.  And as if that was not enough, Roberto's other projects include Epstein, ROM, and now Helado Negro.

Helado Negro came together when Roberto Carlos Lange moved to New York in 2006. The group concept grew through projects and experiments Roberto would conduct while recording himself and others in his home studio in Brooklyn, NY. Loops, computer synthesis, record samples and live instruments provide the foundation for all these recordings. Throughout this process many players contributed to the record, including singing by Guillermo S.Herren (Prefuse 73) and Bear in Heaven front man Jon Philpot, drums and percussion by Chicago veteran Nori Tanaka (Lay all Over its, Jim O' Rourke trio), Matt Crum (Feathers) and Jason Trammell. Additional instrumentation includes Jason Ajemian (Born Heller, Chicago Underground Trio) John Ellis, Shannon Fields (Stars Like Fleas) and many more. Collectively all these people are Helado Negro but the group changes form with each new day.