Helado Negro

One of experimental electronic producer Roberto Carlos Lange's numerous monikers, Helado Negro is a collaborative project associated with Asthmatic Kitty Records that made its album debut in 2009 with Awe Owe. Born in South Florida in 1980 of Ecuadorian heritage, Lange made his recording debut in the early 2000s, when he released music under a few different monikers, most notably ROM (a collaboration with drummer Matt Crum), Epstein, and Boom & Birds. The eponymous album ROM (2005) on Wimm Recordings is a compilation of Lange's collaborations with Crum dating back to 2000. He was most prolific as Epstein, releasing the full-length albums Puñal (2004), Gente sin Pueblo (2005), Canto de Hermanos (2007), and Otros (2008); the former two on the label Botanica del Jibaro, the latter two on Arepaz. As Boom & Birds, he released the album Camino de Manos Chuecas (2005) on Arepaz. After moving to Brooklyn, NY, in 2006, Lange began a fruitful collaboration with Guillermo Scott Herren, earning co-production credits on the Prefuse 73 releases The Class of 73 Bells (2007) and Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian (2009) on Warp Records, plus the Savath + Savalas album La Llama (2009) on Stones Throw. In the wake of these high-profile releases in collaboration with Herren, Lange made his album debut as Helado Negro with Awe Owe (2009) on Asthmatic Kitty Records. A highly collaborative effort, Awe Owe featured input from Herren, former ROM collaborator Crum (also of Feathers), Jon Philpot (the frontman of Bear in Heaven), and numerous others. By contrast, Lange recorded Helado Negro's second album, 2011's Canta Lechuza ("Owl Singing") after holing up in a cabin in Connecticut.