Help me find other bilingual bands

January 10, 2008 5:10 PM

I'm a big fan of Dengue Fever, the LA-based band that has songs in both English and Khmer. Can anyone recommend other bi- or multilingual American bands (preferably, but not necessarily, indie)?
posted by chicainthecity to society & culture (31 comments total)

Sepultura and Ozomatli come to mind. Shakira is not a band, but very bilingual. Calexico is indie and some of their songs are in spanish. This somewhat silly MTV article has more.
posted by jessamyn at 5:18 PM on January 10, 2008

Contramano is an indie pop fusion trio. The band is American/Argentinian and have songs in English and Spanish.
posted by kimdog at 5:24 PM on January 10, 2008

Los Lobos. I recommend their albums Kiko and Colossal Head as good starting points.
posted by misozaki at 5:24 PM on January 10, 2008

Allá - Gorgeous Latin psych-pop from Chicago.
posted by mykescipark at 5:27 PM on January 10, 2008

British-Indian indie rock electronica: Cornershop
posted by Paragon at 5:28 PM on January 10, 2008

Jonathan Richman did an album in spanish.

Nada Surf has done a handful of songs in French.

Porter is a Mexican band, but they have songs in both English and Spanish.
posted by burnmp3s at 5:35 PM on January 10, 2008

Seconding Ozomatli. I absolutely love them.
posted by General Malaise at 5:42 PM on January 10, 2008

Gogol Bordello!
posted by kitty teeth at 5:47 PM on January 10, 2008 [1 favorite]

Pink Martini
posted by HotPatatta at 5:49 PM on January 10, 2008

Neung Phak
posted by Etaoin Shrdlu at 5:56 PM on January 10, 2008

Brazilian Girls. She sings in at least four languages.
posted by youcancallmeal at 5:59 PM on January 10, 2008

Seconding Gogol Bordello. They rock most righteously.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 6:06 PM on January 10, 2008

Mosquitos is a fun indie pop band that sings in English and Portuguese.
posted by wsquared at 6:31 PM on January 10, 2008

Arto Lindsay has songs in both English and Brazilian Portuguese.

Thievery Corporation has songs in several languages, including English, Portuguese, and French.
posted by needled at 6:31 PM on January 10, 2008

Someone asked a similar question before, where the answers overlap a lot with these: Can anyone recommend any good "multilingual" songs?
posted by smackfu at 6:34 PM on January 10, 2008

Devendra Banhart sings in Spanish on a few songs on Cripple Crow. Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon has a few in Spanish and Portuguese.

Linda Rondstadt recorded three albums of Mexican and Spanish songs.

Smokey and Miho (Hatori of Cibo Matto) did two bossa nova EPs. The songs are in English, Portuguese and Japanese. Their Portuguese accents are a little off, which reminds me of the classic albums by Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66.

Wikipedia on Chicano rock. Here's Los Crudos performing in downtown Chicago.

2nding Arto Lindsay. It's incredibly sexy stuff.

Stretching your definition of "American," Brazil's Caetano Veloso recorded an album called Transa after his exile in England. I love the way he slips between English and Portuguese on "You Don't Know Me" and "Nine Out of Ten."
posted by hydrophonic at 6:44 PM on January 10, 2008

Mostly in English, but the band Beirut seems to have French lines interspersed in the lyrics. But more importantly, their music is great!
posted by Corduroy at 6:48 PM on January 10, 2008

Clazziquai Project is a Korean group that mixes English and Korean in their lyrics, and not in the typical random English words thrown in manner of Japanese or Korean pop songs.

Some examples:
Come to me
Love mode
posted by needled at 6:48 PM on January 10, 2008

Oh, and locally, check out ORthey, who often mixes French and English (as in this sweet song).
posted by Corduroy at 6:54 PM on January 10, 2008

Wyclef Jean sings in English and Haitian Creole. (not indie however)
posted by supercrayon at 7:06 PM on January 10, 2008

This page (self link) may have a DF track you don't have yet.
posted by dobbs at 7:40 PM on January 10, 2008

Los Crudos
posted by streetdreams at 8:20 PM on January 10, 2008

Asobi Seksu (songs in english/japanese).
posted by subtle-t at 8:20 PM on January 10, 2008

Not American, but Manu Chao sings in French, Spanish and English.
posted by kepano at 12:32 AM on January 11, 2008

Canadian (almost American?) Pépé et sa Guitare
posted by samsarah at 2:52 AM on January 11, 2008

Mill a h-Uile Rud are a punk band from Seattle who sing their songs in Scottish Gaelic. Some of their stuff is free on teh interwebs. Check em out!
posted by TheOtherGuy at 4:44 AM on January 11, 2008

Grupo Fantasma is amazing cumbia-mambo-funk. Scroll down on this link to watch a clip from their performance on Austin City Limits.
posted by umbú at 5:49 AM on January 11, 2008

Thievery Corporation.
posted by baphomet at 10:04 AM on January 11, 2008

Carla Bruni's first album is all French, and her second is all English. It's not a band, but the first one at least is very good.
posted by smackfu at 10:19 AM on January 11, 2008

April March sings in both French and English
posted by soplerfo at 1:14 PM on January 11, 2008

A few-
- Can, German "Krautrock" band with a male Japanese singer who sang in Japanese and English.
- Deerhoof- current band with a female Japanese singer and American back-up singing and instrumentation. Sings mostly in English (with a thick accent) but also in Japanese sometimes.
-I was also going to mention Asobi Seksu. I'm not a huge fan, but I know a lot of people who are.
-A lot of mid-late '60s Brazilian bands sang in both English and Portuguese, and sometimes in Spanish, too. You can find some of them on a blog titled Brazilian Nuggets.

I love Dengue Fever, too!
posted by fructose at 3:01 PM on January 11, 2008