Artist Bio

To begin 2010, one of indie music's rising stars, Ceci Bastida (Tijuana NO, Julieta Venegas) will release her first full-length solo album, VEO LA MAREA ("I See the Tide"). Taste-making music blog Club Fonograma—the Latin pitchfork.com—has already dubbed it “[one] of our most anticipated records for the upcoming year.”

In the past year, Ceci has cemented her reputation as an in-demand Los Angeles club favorite, with her songs featured on influential programs on KCRW, KEXP and on Mexico City’s taste-making Reactor, and remixed by Julieta Venegas, Mexican Institute of Sound, Legion of Doom, Los Macuanos, Brother Reade, The Latin Project, and KCRW DJ Raul Campos.

Her collaboration with hot Baltimore DJ and producer XXXChange (Spank Rock, Amanda Blank), “Controlar,” became an internet hit after being picked up by TheFader.com and Rcrdlabl.com. She was also featured on “S.O.S.,” a duet with rapper Pigeon John and the Mad Decent approved Israeli hip hop crew Soulico.

Her live shows, beloved for their unique covers of Kanye West, Miike Snow, and The Clash, have won her critical praise and packed houses, from L.A. to Mexico City to New York City (The New York Times featured her July 2009 performance in a special photo spread on new Latin music).

Her debut comes in the wake of Ceci’s acclaimed pair of performances at 2009’s SXSW Music Festival, where she played a Billboard showcase and shared the stage with Jason Lytle, The Low Anthem, and Fanfarlo. She earned rave reviews and was named one of “The Top 21 Performances at SXSW.”

Ceci has been a MySpace Latino Sponsored Artist and she has been a featured artist on iTunes (Free Song of the Week), MySpace Latino (Featured Artist), and KCRW (Today's Top Tune). She was a buzzed about artist at the SXSW Music Festival in both 2007 and 2008, winning critical praise for her six combined performances and showcases.

She has opened shows for Mexican alterna-pop icon Julieta Venegas, mash-up king Girl Talk, Mexican rockers Zoe, and Los Angeles favorites Ozomatli. She has shared bills with everyone from Jenny Lewis and Dengue Fever to Mexican chanteuse Natalia Lafourcade, Dominican sensation Maluca and Colombian dance favorites Bomba Estereo.

Building on the success of her self-released 2006 EP Front BC, which quickly became a favorite of KCRW's revered Morning Becomes Eclectic program and garnered critical praise everywhere from Pitchfork to Latina to LA Weekly, VEO LA MAREA is produced by L.A.’s The Gifted (Giant Drag, Grand Ronde, Dirty Little Secret) and features a duet with leading Mexican rapper Niña Dioz.

Ceci Bastida was born and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. At the age of 15, she joined Tijuana NO as a lead vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter and became one of the first women to rise in the ranks of Latin rock. One of Mexico's most important ska-punk bands of the 1990s, Tijuana NO performed together for 12 years and recorded three albums for BMG: NO, Transgresores de la Ley, and Contra-Revolucion Avenue. Their song “Pobre de Ti” and their cover of The Clash’s “Spanish Bombs” are considered rock en español classics. With Tijuana NO, Ceci wrote and produced songs with Manu Chao, Fishbone, Bad Brains, Kid Frost, and The Breeders.

In 2000, Ceci joined the band of top-selling Sony/BMG recording artist Julieta Venegas and sang back-up vocals and played keyboards with her for seven years. Ceci is featured on Julieta Venegas' lauded 2008 MTV Unplugged broadcast and recording, released this past June. As a veteran of Venegas' band, Ceci was invited to join this all-star ensemble that includes Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla, Brazilian superstar Marisa Monte, Mexican singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade, and Spanish hip-hop queen La Mala. In December 2008, she was invited to join Venegas to perform with her at the 2008 Latin Grammys and in Oslo, Norway at the Nobel Peace Prize concert, alongside Jason Mraz, Diana Ross, and others.

In 2008, Ceci made her solo Mexico debut at the two-day Vive Latino festival in Mexico City (the Mexican Coachella). Joining a bill that also included Los Lobos, Babasonicos, and Nortec, Ceci received extensive coverage by the Mexican press and her songs "Vas Pa' Atras" and "A Mi Me Da Igual" have been in heavy rotation on the taste-making Mexico City radio station Reactor.

In 2009, her song "Empieza a Amanecer," was featured on the celebrated HBO Latin America series "Capadocia," which has also featured songs by Venegas, Aventura, and Kany Garcia. The song was also part of the Voto Latino voter benefit compilation featured on iTunes that also included tracks by Pitbull, Ozomatli, and Don Omar. Her songs were also included on the Mexican it-band compilation Resistencia Terricola and on Fonogramaticos Vol. 4 & 6, two recent compilations from leading Latin indie music blog Club Fonograma.