Astro is an indie band from Santiago, Chile formed in 2008.

History

Formation (2008-2009)

Andrés Nusser and Octavio Caviares met at the Escuela Moderna de Música y Danza in Chile where they were enrolled as students. The other members knew each other from the DJ scene in Santiago. The band formed in 2008 when Nusser agreed to perform at a ski resort in southern Chile in exchange for a free 3-day stay there. Unfortunately, Nusser did not actually have a band, so he formed one with Caviares and members of Moustache!, a duo made up of Nicolás Arancibia and Daniel Varas. The band cites

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

, David Bowie,

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

, and

MGMT MGMT () is an American indie rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Alongside VanWyngarden and Goldwasser, MGMT's live lineup currently consists of ...

as early influences on their music. In 2009, the band released its first EP titled ''Le Disc de Astrou''. The next year the band performed at Vive Latino, the Mexican music festival.

''Astro'' (2011-2013)

The quartet released its first full-length album, ''Astro'', in 2011. Despite being entirely in Spanish, the album received attention from American music critics.

NPR Music NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...

featured the album as part of its First Listen series in 2012. Jasmine Garsd called ''Astro'' one of her favorite albums, referring to it as "infectiously cheery, lighthearted and danceable." She described them as musical cognates with American bands such as

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb). The band's work is characterized ...

, and Passion Pit. In 2013, Astro performed at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

Chicago, Primavera Sound, Mysteryland, and many others festivals. The song "Panda" was featured on the soundtrack of '' FIFA 13'', the EA Sports video game.

Departure of Andrés Nusser (2016)

In May 2016, Andrés Nusser announced that he would leave the band and that they would go into an indefinite hiatus after their tour on Mexico. Recently in 2020 Astro released a new single.

Members

*Andrés Nusser - vocals, guitar, keyboards *Octavio Caviares - drums, percussion *Nicolás Arancibia (Lego Moustache) - bass, keyboards, percussion *Daniel Varas (Zeta Moustache) - keyboards, percussion

Discography

Albums *'' Astro'' (2011) *'' Chicos de la luz'' (2015) EPs *''Le disc de Astrou'' (2009) Singles *"Maestro distorsión " (2009) *"Ciervos" (2012) *" Colombo " (2012) *" Panda" (2013) *"Hawaii" (2013) *"Manglares" (2014) *"Caribbean" (2015) *"Druida" (2015) *"Warrior" (2016)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Chilean alternative rock groups Rock en Español music groups Musical groups established in 2008 Musical groups disestablished in 2016 Musical quartets Nacional Records artists