Corridos Ketamina Are Making Folk Music for a New Generation
On ‘Cktriz’, the Mexican-American duo push corridos into new territory while building a world entirely of their own.
- Written by: Amanda Breeze
- Photography by: Lorenzo A González
With their new EP, Cktriz, Corridos Ketamina take the sound they’ve been building to higher places, bridging their love of corridos Mexican folk tradition with the alternative underground influences that first drew them to music. The title plays on “cicatriz,” Spanish for scar, a fitting image for a record about “change, growth, and being authentic.”
Henny Fay first came to music through the alternative underground scene. Nico Malva was surrounded by corridos from an early age, along with ’90s grunge and nu-metal he would hear on the radio. Corridos Ketamina grew out of these influences, bridging sounds from Mexico into conversation with the music that first caught their attention. “I always wanted to see all my interests shaped into one,” Henny says. What started as a collision of interests has become a project with its own language, one that leaves plenty of room to keep experimenting.
That same openness extends to the world they built around the music. From the project’s early imagery, much of it shot by Henny on an old iPhone 4, to the work of their longtime friend and creative director Quetzi Morales, the visuals have become an essential part of Corridos Ketamina’s identity.
On their latest release, that knack for experimentation takes them somewhere new. Cktriz leans further into pop, bringing in 808s and hyperclash synths while retaining the guitar ballads, rap, and emo genres that have shaped the project so far. The duo has no interest in finding a formula and sticking to it. If anything, they’re more interested in seeing how far they can stretch the idea of Corridos Ketamina without losing what made it theirs in the first place.
There’s a restless quality to the band that runs through everything they do. Even as Cktriz brings the project into its fullest form yet, it’s clear that the duo don’t plan on slowing down. As Nico puts it, he’s “still incredibly hungry for this industry,” and that hunger is what keeps them going, leaving room for the sound to evolve and for the band to take risks. With Cktriz out in the world, they want listeners to connect to the music more than ever, and “take ownership and claim it as their own.”
Amanda Breeze
Henny Fay & Nico Malva
Things are getting bigger for Corridos Ketamina. How has your relationship with the underground changed as the project has grown?
Henny Fay: I’ve always had so much love for the underground. A lot of those artists have inspired me to dig and to have an open ear to what’s new. I feel like we live in a time where even underground music is reaching bigger audiences. It’s pushing us to be more open to culture.
Nico Malva: We’re always aiming higher. We’re grateful things are getting bigger, it’s definitely a blessing, but we both talked about how we’re nowhere near our goal. I’m still incredibly hungry. I’ve only shown a tiny fraction of what I can do, but I respect this project a lot, and I want to nurture it, which is why we have no problem taking the long way. There might be times when I feel like I’ve reached my limit, and it feels like this weird plateau period, but that only means I have to study and learn more.
My relationship with the underground hasn’t changed much, I’ve always had respect for it. The crowd will always be the most passionate, since they get the first look at what’s coming next. The artists in the underground are not afraid of taking risks. I want to maintain that energy within myself.
It’s interesting to see you bring regional Mexican music into conversation with sounds and references it’s not often associated with. How did those influences come together in your music?
HF: It just made sense. Alternative underground music is what ignited my interest in wanting to make music. Once I started practicing how to play corridos, I was already imagining what sounds would go together, like how “Ambient Wife” has a little Brian Eno ambient moment or how we added the shoegaze-inspired electric guitar in “Ketitz.” I always wanted to see all my interests shaped into one. Obsessing over and studying the things I love helped me get to a point where I can blend elements from each genre to create Corridos Ketamina and my personal project, Henny Fay.
NM: I grew up in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, a border town in northern Mexico, so I was exposed to corridos my whole life, it’s embedded in my DNA. Growing up, I was exposed to a lot of ‘90s grunge and nu-metal on the radio, which became my musical obsession as a kid. I was also hella “malandro,” mischievous, and “vago,” about street life. I was always kicking it with the “cholos” at school, or whoever was staying out late. I feel like all those things fit into their own category, and combining them into something else could be considered an enigma. At the end of the day, it’s how I grew up and what makes me me.
You’ve talked about wanting people your age to connect with this genre of music without feeling underrepresented. Did you feel like something was missing from the music you were listening to when you started?
HF: Definitely, it was special to realize we were the perfect people to shed light on perspectives that were missing in this genre. I grew up confused about my identity being in the States, but I realized that confusion is actually a blessing because I can share my perspective and the duality of understanding two cultures at the same time.
NM: I was always the emo-looking kid that would bump José José or corridos. I don’t know why, but people would always be surprised or thought I was LARPing. Nothing was missing from the music I listened to, but I did believe Mexico needed a native alternative sound. Yes, we have alternative music, but it’s mostly inspired by European rock, with the exception of Caifanes and Café Tacvba. I had this vision of making alternative music from sounds that come from Mexico, and corridos felt natural to me.
What possibilities do you see in this genre that you wish people would explore more?
HF: More feminine energy. I can see corridos developing in a way where creatives of all identities can exist and experience the success and influence they deserve. The most influential artists are those who have such a broad understanding of the world, like my favorite designers, who are typically queer. They run this art shit and haven’t been credited enough, but I see the pendulum swinging.
NM: Natanael Cano really popularized corridos in pop culture and showed it could be worldwide, not just in Mexico. I want to keep doing that and show how our music is world-class. The only twist is that this genre is fresh and untapped, meaning there’s so much potential to keep experimenting with it. The corridos tumbados movement felt a lot like the SoundCloud rap era, and I think in this era, Corridos Ketamina feels like Yeezus by Ye or Death Grips.
You took some time to develop your sound and visual identity before releasing your first EP. What did you need to figure out about Corridos Ketamina before you were ready to put more music out?
HF: A lot of studying and being open to experiment. When me and Nico came together to flesh out what the actual sound would be like, we approached it with patience, love, and care. We knew that music was moving at a fast pace, but we ignored that. We immersed ourselves in Corridos Ketamina. In the early stages of it, I was throwing raves with my friends under PWR SOURCE, which was started by my friend David (aka Crime), so the rave scene is the blueprint for me. It opened my mind and connected me to so many different people.
NM: I was a fan of Demna, and I always admired his visual introduction to the pieces he would drop. Photographer Louis F. Cota also has this amazing warped, low-light aesthetic. I was attracted to both of these visuals, and they didn’t have any sound to them, so I wanted to make music that could fit into these worlds. Now, I’m good friends with Louis and always remind him of how much he inspires me. At times, I’m more inspired by visuals than the music itself.
Which brings me to the visual world of CK. Do you work closely with your creative director to shape it?
HF: During the early days of CK, I picked up my high school iPhone 4 that had so much history attached to it, and every picture I took was magic. The pics had this energy I couldn’t explain. I believe the energy from the history and relationship I had with it was projected onto the pictures. A lot of the early visual identity [for CK] was created using that phone. I remember one day wanting to get a clear picture of Nico’s logo tattoo in the backyard of my house at the time, and I knew instantly after taking it that it was going to be the cover of our first project. As we got more serious with the releases and the work became more consistent, our friend David helped level up our visual identity. What really helps us build a visual identity is understanding each other. We’re all really close, so when we come together to create, it feels natural.
NM: Our creative director Quetzi Morales, @crimewvtch, started as a graphic designer and somehow evolved into doing everything. We’ll shoot any idea to him, and he’ll be able to come back with exactly how we imagined it. He’s one of the founders of Corridos Ketamina and a longtime friend, so working with him just feels like we’re kicking it and having fun. Nothing feels forced, it’s seamless and clean, which enhances the project with a layer of purity.
What do you want people to feel when they listen to your music?
NM: I would like them to feel human. Life is overwhelming, and it’s easy to forget. Music has done that for me, so I would love to repay my karmic debt by doing the same.
Your new EP Cktriz feels like a step into a more expansive sound. What did you want to explore on this record that you hadn’t touched on before?
HF: We’ve been working on refining our sound more and more, but always leave a window open for more experimentation. I always wanted to create a pop record, and with this new EP, I found ways in the writing and production to introduce those kinds of melodies and sounds.
NM: When experimenting with any genre, you have to be aware that the audience will never be ready. You have to be open to introducing “the new.” For Cktriz, we wanted to take a more poppy approach. We introduced 808s and hyperclash synths, while still keeping it minimal, like in “Vibes Only.” In our new track “Socorro,” we have a wall-of-sound break, all by layering dozens of guitars. Engineer Jeff Ellis really polished the sounds we were going for by cleaning up the mix of our tracks. Working with him felt like we could wild out on the beat and still have a clean sound.
The title plays on the word “cicatriz,” meaning scar. What does that image mean to you in the context of the record?
HF: Change, growth, being authentic. Love hurts, but it’s beautiful and motivating. Scars are pretty to me, it tells a story without words.
NM: The body heals itself, only a scar is left. To me, that means breaking generational cycles and remembering the pain to become stronger.
Your music pivots between romance, excess, and darker emotional territory. What draws you to writing about feelings that are sometimes difficult to reconcile?
HF: Music is a form of therapy. It’s that tingling feeling you experience when you’re singing something sentimental to you. I get that feeling a lot when I’m creating. I remember being so detached from my feelings when I was very young. I don’t know why, being a boy, I guess, but the older I get, the more emotional and expressive I become. Very early on, I realized there was no way I could purely express myself without being open about how I really felt, especially when making music. It can be difficult to express certain things, but I’d rather live life expressing these feelings than be a prisoner of them.
NM: Again, it’s hard to feel human. Emotions will always be hard to communicate, because showing vulnerability is seen as weakness. Especially as a man, we never want to talk about our feelings. To break cycles, you have to reconcile with your heart and keep it as pure as possible to maintain your childhood innocence and keep your curiosity intact. If you can open up about difficult emotions, it shows emotional maturity and intellect.
For someone discovering Corridos Ketamina for the first time, what do you hope they take away from the record?
HF: You can do it too.
NM: I hope they appreciate the sound design, which to me, feels like the hardest thing to have accomplished with this project. [laughs] Most importantly, I hope they feel a connection to the whole world of Corridos Ketamina, whether it be the visuals or lyrical craft. It’s true what they say, once you put something out into the world, it’s no longer yours. That’s how I feel about it. I hope people take ownership and claim it as their own.
Amanda Breeze is a writer based in London. Her work has appeared in SSENSE, Schön!, METAL, and SICKY.
- Written by: Amanda Breeze
- Photography by: Lorenzo A González
- Creative Direction: Jaime Salgado
- Styling: Ty Nieto
