Cerouno makes music out of machines, nostalgia and video games

[CERO… Read Full Bio ↴Cerouno makes music out of machines, nostalgia and video games

[CEROUNO: CERO (Zero) + UNO (One)]

Considered the main promoters of the rebirth of New Wave in Venezuela, the band presented their first album with a free concert on February 20th, at a local Cultural Center. The album, named Atari Amor, was long awaited for by the followers of electronic music in the country, and counted with the production of Claudio Ramirez, renowned for his work with bands such as Chucknorris, Joystick, Los Paranoias and Todosantos. Atari Amor is available for Free through Fan Zinatra’s website, www.fanzinatra.com.

One of the first sounds played in Cerouno’s first album is a 1977 Atari 2600. The videogame swiftly melts with synth atmospheres, 80s new wavish drum rythms and sweet and sticky melodies. After listening to the 13 songs that comprise the album, it is easy to understand its name: Atari Amor.
Cerouno presented the album on February 20, 2008, in the Centro Cultural Chacao, with a free concert, in which the electronic duo made up by Javier Otero and Alejandro Suárez, was paired up with Kuamasi from Autopista Sur and Ricardo Suarez, from Los Donovans. During the show, the band gave the public the big surprise: there was no CD. In Javier Otero’s words, “In times in which the technology has advanced so much, selling a CD is becoming as absurd as selling a cassette. The music market has to adapt itself to the new reality, the CD is no longer culture.” That’s the reason why Cerouno joined Fan Zinatra and released the album for free through the site www.fanzinatra.com. The duo assures that this is also the best way to fight piracy: “Why buy a cheap bad quality copy of the album when we are giving it to you for free and with good quality?”, comments Alejandro Suarez, and adds: “The album is also available in CD-format: an archeologic treasure, available for those who really love us that much and want to help us record our second album, but we won’t make them buy the album if they only wish to listen to us.”

Atari Amor is the result of intense work with producer Claudio Ramirez, who has also produced renowned Venezuelan indie albums such as Aeropuerto, by Todosantos; 11 Cuentos, by Chucknorris; Lonchera, by Joystick, and also participated in the production of 3 songs of Hey, dónde están los Paranoias, by Los Paranoias.

Cerouno is considered one of the first bands in Venezuela who adventured into electronic music in band format, at the beginning of the century. Throughout their concerts, they have inspired many other projects and have become the main promoters of Electro and New Wave in Venezuela, thus, Atari Amor was a long awaited album by the followers of the genre.

The recording counted with the collaboration of renowned people of the Indie movement, such as Kuámasi (Autopista Sur), Ricardo Suarez (Los Donovans), DJ Naxxo and Jose Ignacio Benitez (Domingo en Llamas, Master Guru). The production work was long and detailed, with the object of catching the intensity and the particular feats of the Caraquenian duo. “Every Cerouno song represents a particular emotion and the most important and difficult part in the production was translating that emotion into complementing sounds”, comments Claudio Ramirez.

Since its beginnings in 2002, the band has played live in several Festivals, such as the Festival 100% Rock Venezolano, in Valencia, the Platanoverde street party, Por el Medio de la Calle 2008, and several concerts organized by Fundación Festival Nuevas Bandas, such as Festival Alma Mater and the Circuito Nuevas Bandas, and they have also played in the most important universities and concert rooms in the country.

In the words of its members, Cerouno seeks to produce from machines a sound that represents the soul of the band: a lifelong friendship and a lot of fun. Since its beginnings the band has been recognized for their unmistakeable style.

“It is both fun and sad, at the same time”, as many say. According to Javier Otero, the lyrics are also catchy, “because they’re very simple and loaded with pop sensibility, but have a much darker, not so superficial content.”

The songs talk about solitude and strangeness towards the world. They talk about love going wrong, about anger. They immediately contrast the catchy melodies and the 80s claps of the music. A perfect bittersweet.

“Cerouno started in a very natural way: the idea has always been to enjoy playing with friends”, says Alejandro Suarez. “But sometimes oyu’re sad for any given reason and, although you play happy songs that make you jump, what you sing is not so happy. So you part from sadness to try to become happy. In the end, you get to make your whole life become a party.”

Cerouno is:
Javier Otero – Synths, Rythms, Vocoder, Voice.
Alejandro Suárez – Bass, rythms, Voice.

Other Ceros and Unos:
Kuámasi González – Guitar and voice.
Ricardo Suárez – Guitar and voice.
Claudio Ramírez – Sound Engineering, programming and bass.
VJ Mute y VJ Rei – Videos and Visual Art.
DJ Alma – DJ in the band’s events.

Links of interest:

Cerouno Official Website (Spanish) – http://www.cerouno.com.ve
Cerouno MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/cerouno
Fan Zinatra Records – http://www.fanzinatra.com

Robot
Cerouno Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Siempre quieres cambiar el destino
Siempre quieres ocultar lo que sentimos

Pero ya no lo vas a hacer
No lo vas a hacer más
Ahora no soy igual
Ahora me convertí en un...

ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT
En un...
ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT

Siempre quieres cambiar el destino
Pero ya no lo vas a hacer más,
No, no lo vas a hacer más
No, no lo vas a hacer más

Ahora ya no tengo sentimientos,
No ya no tengo corazón sino un carbón sucio y negro

Pero ya no lo vas a hacer
No lo vas a hacer más
Ahora no soy igual
Ahora me convertí en un...

ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT
En un...
ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT

Tú no me quisiste calentar
Ahora estaré frío por la eternidad
Como el metal, ya lo verás

Ya no vas a cambiar el destino
Ya no vas a ocultar lo que sentimos

Ya no lo vas a hacer
No lo vas a hacer más
Ahora no soy igual
Ahora me convertí en un...

ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT
En un...
ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT

Doi dai dai doi doi da dai dou
Dou dai dai dou dou dai dai dou
Dou dai dai dou dou dai dai dou
Dou do dou do dou do dououououou

Domo arigato mister robot dou let go let go
Dou dai dai dou dou dai dai dou
Dou dai dai don let go don let go

En un robot

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Cerouno's song Robot explore the desire to escape from hurt and pain by turning into emotionless machines. The song is about how the singer has been hurt so much that they no longer have any feelings or emotions left. They talk about how they used to try to change their fate and hide their emotions, but now they have finally given up and turned into a robot.

The repetition of the word "robot" emphasizes the idea of becoming a machine, and how it allows the singer to escape from their emotions. The chorus that goes "robot, robot, robot" is almost like a mantra that the singer uses to remind themselves that they are no longer human, but instead, they are machines.

The song's bridge references the famous line from the classic American science fiction horror film, The Terminator (1984): "I'll be back." The singer is using this line to remind their past self that they are no longer who they used to be, and the person who hurt them will never be able to change their fate or hurt them anymore.

Overall, the song Robot reflects on the idea of becoming emotionally numb in order to escape pain and hurt from the past. By turning into a robot, the singer of the song finds temporary solace from their emotions.

Line by Line Meaning

Siempre quieres cambiar el destino
You always want to change fate

Siempre quieres ocultar lo que sentimos
You always want to hide what we feel

Pero ya no lo vas a hacer
But you won't do it anymore

No lo vas a hacer más
You won't do it again

Ahora no soy igual
Now I'm not the same

Ahora me convertí en un...
Now I became a...

ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT
ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT

En un...
In a...

ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT
ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT ROBOT

Ahora ya no tengo sentimientos,
Now I no longer have feelings

No ya no tengo corazón sino un carbón sucio y negro
I no longer have a heart, just a dirty and black coal