Frida and the Filibusters Bid Farewell and Fall Asunder by Cime

When I lived in Las Vegas and started getting involved in the underground music scene there, I found myself immersed in a community of artists who blurred lines between genres, languages, and cultures. Most of the shows I went to were mixed lineups, industrial noise acts paired with Mexican ska bands followed up by queer hardcore punk. Now that I live in Nashville, I really miss the diversity that was much more commonplace on the west coast.

And while our friends in CIME are not based in Las Vegas, their new release Frida and the Filibusters Bid Farewell and Fall Asunder embodies the anarchic energy and radical inclusivity that makes DIY music feel like home. As a live record, listeners are given a front row seat to CIME’s molotov cocktail of noise rock, freak folk, jazz, funk, Latin music, and art punk. While their sound is already explosive in-studio, CIME’s live work is even more intense and captivating. Conga percussion and swells of alto saxophone back Monty Cime’s expressive vocals, her voice strained to its limits in a performance that would draw any porch-dwellers back inside the house to catch this unmissable set. Lyrically, themes of revolution and religious devotion feel poignant and imminent, like liberation (or the Messianic resurrection) is just around the corner. Pulling songs from last year’s release The Independence of Central America Remains an Unfinished Experiment and their new record Laurels of the End of History, this album reimagines these tracks and showcases CIME’s dedication to pushing boundaries and rejecting all restrictions or detractors.

It’s a challenge to take up this much space. To so boldly proclaim to one’s own right to exist exactly as you are. Yet CIME bravely lays it all bare, professing a message of fanatical self-affirmation rooted in rebellion. For those who appreciate outsider art, or for those who feel like outsiders themselves, Frida and the Filibusters Bid Farewell and Fall Asunder is a shining star you can hitch your wagon to.

- Kalen