Antioquia

Birthed in Colombia and bred in the San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland-based Antioquia makes music that inspires raucous dancing and deep listening. With influences ranging from Mahavishnu Orchestra to Primus, Antioquia's primary mission is to unite humans in the healing act of dance through a genre that they have dubbed, "Afro-Colombian Psychedelic Lovefunk." Their earnest let-it-all-hang-out stage presence encourages the same from the audience, creating a feedback loop that builds momentum as standers-by are sucked into the dance floor.
Their story starts when two travelers, Adley Penner and Craig Miller, met at a bar in Ecuador. They immediately saw the drive and creative potential in each other, and moved to Medellin, Colombia to begin writing music. They lived there for two years, playing music together for hours each day and busking in the buses at night. When they were ready to bring their new sound to the states, they established a team in San Francisco, and Antioquia became a full band.
Antioquia's debut album Gringolandia, released in 2008, was called "a wild ride to the center of the earth and the depths of the soul." (Brian Echon, West Coast Performer Magazine). Their second full length album, My Piano Ate the Front Page of the San Francisco Chronicle was released in early 2010 to critical acclaim including Jambase Albums of the Week, March 5-11 and one of DirtyImpound.com's Albums of the Year. Dennis Cook writes "SF's Antioquia possess a distinct socio-political bent but shimmy about like kids on Pixie sticks and Kool-Aid as they prod and peel away at entrenched infrastructures. Echoes of Fela, Pere Ubu and Talking Heads ping around in their sound, but none so much to overshadow the original voice rising in this young band."
Peppered with fits of improvisation, bouts of silliness and fiery percussion pieces performed amidst the crowd, an Antioquia set is high energy, captivating, and anything but predictable. You can count on each show to bring the audience closer to the stage and closer together.