Cenobita is an

aggrotech Electro-industrial is a music genre that emerged from industrial music in the early 1980s. While EBM (electronic body music) has a minimal structure and clean production, electro-industrial tends to have a grittier, complex and layered sound wi ...

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...

band based in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, created in 1994 by Claus Bita (programming, vocals and production) and former band member Omar Flo (vocals).

History

Cenobita formed as a duo of Claus Bita and Omar Flo in August of 1994. Bita and Flo met in Mexico City in 1993 and discovered a shared like for industrial and electronic music, inspired by bands such as

Skinny Puppy Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group is among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton ...

and

Front Line Assembly Front Line Assembly (FLA) is a Canadian electro-industrial band formed by Bill Leeb in 1986 after leaving Skinny Puppy. FLA has developed its own sound incorporating elements of electronic body music and electro-industrial. The band's members ...

, and drawing mutual conceptual inspiration from the 'cyberpunk' works of

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...

. At the time, Flo owned some equipment that the duo used to begin making their own electronic music. They chose the name "Cenobita," english for

Cenobite Cenobitic (or coenobitic) monasticism is a monastery, monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a Monastic rule, religious ru ...

, which they described as meaning "an anchorate, a person that is dedicated to conceiving the meaning of life and to following his or her own principles." Cenobita was a founding member of a loose association known as 'La Corporacion' alongside fellow Mexico City acts

Hocico Hocico () is a Mexican electro-industrial duo that was formed in 1993 in Mexico City. History Hocico was officially formed in 1993 by cousins Erik Garcia (aka Erk Aicrag) and Oscar Mayorga (aka Racso Agroyam), with Erik writing lyrics and perfo ...

and Deus Ex Machina. Their involvement in this group, which was organized around the desire to promote the electro-industrial scene in Mexico City, led to numerous live performances. By 1996, Flo established the annual Electronic Music and Arts festival in Mexico City, at which Cenobita was a frequent participant. Their first public work was the track "Genetica Mechanica," which was released on the Opción Sónica compilation ''From Trance to Cyber'' in 1994. The following year Cenobita recorded the demo tape ''Cybertuality'' which featured a more crossover sound using guitars. In 1996 they released a longer demo tape named ''Visiones''. The early demos were met to a generally positive response, both in their homeland and around the world. By 1999, they released their debut CD ''Neo Milenio'' on the independent Mexican label Opción Sónica. By this time they dropped the guitars and engaged in a more sample-heavy electronic sound. The band began to make inroads into the US market, though Omar Flo left the line-up in 2001, leaving Claus Bita as the sole member of the group. The Matrix Cube label issued their debut album in Europe during the same year, and Cenobita's first European tour followed the release of follow-up album 'Metamorphosis' in 2002.

Musical and performance style

The lyrics are influenced by many

themes and features, including novel

Neuromancer ''Neuromancer'' is a 1984 science fiction novel by American-Canadian writer William Gibson. Considered one of the earliest and best-known works in the cyberpunk genre, it is the only novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and ...

by writer

, and daily life experiences in

. The music itself goes around the

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

sound, with pounding beats, complex harmony and noisy soundscapes. Vocals are mainly distorted and are sung in both English and Spanish. For live performances, the band used Omar Flo's theater background to generate a highly visual aspect to their shows. Their stage shows take on a distinct performance art ethic, including customized stage props and dynamic effects and theatrics including smashing electronics and the use of blood.

Discography

Albums

* ''Neo Milenio'' (1999, Opción Sónica, Released by

Trisol Music Group The Trisol Music Group, GmbH (or Trisol), is a German business group and record label headquartered in Dieburg. Owning multiple sublabels, they specialize in producing musical works pertaining to darkwave, dark folk, gothic rock, deat ...

in Europe in 2001) * ''Metamorfosis'' (2002, Trisol/Matrix Cube)

Demos

* ''Cyberuality'' (1995 Demo Tape) * ''Visiones'' (1996 Demo Tape)

References

External links

* Electro-industrial music groups Musical groups from Mexico City Mexican electronic musical groups {{Mexico-band-stub