Clorofila

Jorge Verdín was born in Los Angeles, but grew up in Tijuana in the 1970s and 1980s at a time when the city was still considered mainly a tourist town. Through his older brothers and sisters, he discovered The Beatles and American pop, which lead to a lifelong obsession with music, which by his teenage years, went from British rock bands Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to British post-punk and synth-pop bands such as New Order, Cocteau Twins and Depeche Mode.[1][2] This connection lead to being exposed to the record cover design from that period, which in turn, lead him to study graphic design. He studied at the design program at San Diego City College and later earned a bachelors in graphic design from the Art Center College of Design.[2]

The culture of northern Mexico has heavily influenced both Verdín's music and design work.[1] Musically, he is one of the formative forces of Nortec as a musical style, a mix of electronic dance music (sound blocks, samplings, computer manipulation, etc.), with popular northern Mexico sounds, especially norteño (accordion, tarola, bajo sexto) and banda (tuba, trumpet, clarinet, tarola). Clorofila is Verdín's personal interpretation of that style, which differs significantly from the other members of the Nortec Collective.[1][3] Verdin has stated his music is influenced by artists as varied as New Order, Donna Summer, Steve Reich and Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass.[1][4]

Nortec arose from Verdín and the other Collective members’ experience of living on the border, at the very margins of Mexican culture and in an area heavily influenced by that of the United States.[3] He states his music tries to convey the social and political situation of northern Mexico, especially Tijuana, which is a major point for illegal immigration as well as drug trafficking. The city itself still has neighborhoods without running water, despite being only three hours away from Los Angeles and Hollywood, leading to a social political situation the artist calls “schizophrenic.”[1]

Verdín's musical career began under the name of Clorofila, a musical partnership he began in the late 1990s with Fritz Torres, with whom he also worked in the graphic design group Cha3.[2] In 2002, Torres left Clorofila, leaving Verdin as the sole member.

As Cha3, they worked on El sueño de la gallina, a local fanzine published by Cha3 along with local writers and friends, which featured design that incorporated visual ephemera and the graphic vernacular of Tijuana. The 1999-2000 issue called El Nuevo Sueño de la Gallina included a CD which they curated that included work by future Nortec Collective members Bostich, Hiperboreal, Fussible and the first recording by Clorofila. Through this connection, they would become part of what was initially dubbed "Nortec" a loose knit collection of musicians and artists trying to create a style based on technology and Tijuana's local culture and identity, each working with the blending of electronic dance music with the traditional musical styles of northern Mexico.[2][5][4] The aesthetic Verdin and Torres had established with Cha3, was mixed with elements of norteño culture to produce visuals for self organized "Nortec" events which grew in size, until they were signed by PALM Pictures A&R person Kim Buie, who suggested the musical projects adopt the name Nortec Collective[5] In 2001, Tijuana Sessions Volume 1 was released under the Nortec Collective name, with design by Verdin and photography by Torres.

In 2005, Tijuana Session Vol 3 was released and featured four tracks by Clorofila, as well a striking cover design by Verdin and Torres once again. It was nominated for a Latin Grammy as Best Alternative Record and Best Cover Design.[4] One of Clorofila's songs on this album, Almada, was chosen for the video game FIFA 2005, and a track made in collaboration with Panoptica, Olvidela Compa was featured in the movie La Mujer de Mi Hermano.[4]

Years of extensive touring led to personality clashes and tensions within the group, so the members of the Collective decided in 2007 to take a hiatus from recording and touring together, during which Bostich and Fussible, unilaterally announced the break-up of the Collective. Thus led to various solo releases by its members.[5][4]

In 2010, Verdin released his first Clorofila solo effort called Corridos Urbanos, which had a "Nortec Collective Presents” tag on the artwork.[5][4] but did not feature contributions from other Collective members.[4] Clorofila worked with vocalists Fernanda Karolys, Supina Bytol and Robin Abernathy, as well as banda sinaloense ensamble Banda Agua Caliente, local Tijuana norteño musicians as well as a guest appearance from David J, a founding member of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets.[4] Corridos Urbanos followed in the tradition of Nortec Collective's mix of electronic dance music and banda and norteño, but also displayed Verdin's interest in atmospheric electronic music, post-punk and disco. Corridos Urbanos went to number one on the Latin iTunes Electronic Music chart, despite little or no label promotion. The single Baby Rock Rock was heavily requested at alternative radio stations and made the Top 20 at Reactor FM's annual 100 Most Popular of 2010 countdown.[4] Verdin undertook a short Mexican tour with singer Karolys and 20 piece banda sinaloense ensamble Banda Agua Caliente. The Corridos Urbanos album launch at Mexico City's Lunario del Auditorio Nacional which was nominated for the Lunas del Auditorio Nacional for Best Electronic Music Performance award.[4]

During 2012, Verdin returned to his Clorofila project and played dates around Mexico and a small tour of Europe including shows in Portugal, Spain and Belgium with a four piece of horn players from Oaxaca, dubbed Los Mezcaleros de la Sierra.

Verdin released his second Clorofila solo album, Ahorita Vengo in 2014 for which he eliminated any references to Nortec in the album art, deciding it was time to move away from the label. For Ahorita Vengo, Verdin went for slightly darker, more industrial inspired sound, relying heavily on analog sequencers and synthesizers.[5]

In 2009, Verdin began an ongoing collaboration with Mexico City's avant-garde theater company Teatro Linea de Sombra, for whom he has created original music, songs and soundscapes for the productions Amarillo, Pequeños Territorios en Reconstrucción, Baños Roma, Revolución and Article 13, a large scale installation performance piece in collaboration with French theatre company Carabosse for which Verdin contributed sound design, original music and conceptual support.[4]

The piece would be premiered at festivals in Europe and performed in Guanajuato, Mexico at the 2014 Festival Internacional Cervantino, for which Verdín would new music for Línea de Sombra's adaptation and production of Artículo 13, a piece described as "part art installation, part memorial, and part documentary".[6]

In 2018 he collaborated with Teatro Linea de Sombra on Durango 66 which was presented at the Los Angeles REDCAT Theatre, as part of the Pacific Standard Time LA/LA art initiative.[7]

He has collaborated and produced remixes for Beck, Mochipet, Tremor, Matias Aguayo, Rigo Tovar and Radiokijada, both with Nortec Collective and solo.[2][4]

Verdin also produces music under the name Tremolo Audio, which released Visitas in 2008, a collection of semi finished tracks that were remixed by underground producers whose work he admired, including musicians from the United States, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Great Britain. In 2019, he released the follow up album, Panorama which included the finalized versions of the tracks remixed on Visitas, collaborated with Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz on Pico-Bite-Beat, a chamber music piece for string quartet and 3 percussionists for which Verdin created electronic rhythm tracks and soundscapes.

Besides his design work for Nortec Collective and the Mil Records label, Verdin has worked as a designer and art director for MAK Center / Black Dog Publishing, Kaiser Permanente, Rebeca Mendez Communication, Nacional Records, Palm Pictures, Virgin Records, USA Networks, Razorfish, Honda, Los Angeles Magazine and currently does freelance work for various clients.[2] His work has been published in various magazines such as Communication Arts, Time and Pulse magazines.

Much of the graphic work and album covers that Verdín produced for Nortec Collective [3] with Torres, including record cover proposals, visual identity tests, concert visuals and flyers, were published in a book called El Paso del Nortec by Editorial Trilce.[4]

In 2014, Verdin designed the cover for Únicamente La Verdad, an opera by Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz based on urban myth of Camelia La Texana from the song "Contrabando y Traición", made famous by Los Tigres del Norte.

In 2015, Verdin contributed a short essay and a page design to the book "Seismographic Sounds – Visions of a New World", a collection of essays on global music, and ethnomusicology published by Bern-based Swiss publisher, Norient Books.[8] The following year, he worked on "How To Read El Pato Pascual," a book and exhibit are based around reach and influence of Disney is also examined in a series of commissioned essays drawing on cultural studies, historical research and postcolonial theory for the MAK Schindler House in West Hollywood, also a part of Pacific Standard Time LA/LA. The book was published by Black Dog Publishing.[9]

Clorofila (with Nortec Collective)

Cha3 - El Nuevo Sueño de la Gallina (1998)

Nortec Sampler (1999)

Nortec Experimental (2000)

Frontier-Life (Soundtrack) (2000)

Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1 (2001)

Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3 (2005)

Clorofila (solo)

Corridos Urbanos (2010)

Ahorita Vengo (2014)

As Tremolo Audio

Colores Vol 1 (compilation) (2005)

Random V1 (compilation) (2006)

Visitas (2008)

Panorama (2019)