Cuco celebrated his 19th birthday with us in the studio. The young singer / songwriter / composer / multi-instrumentalist is having quite the year. He's in the middle of an initial explosion that's seen his following double in only a couple months. That's because his sugary sweet pop ballads can melt the heart of a teenage girl, or catch the ear of a jaded mid 30's music fan.

Upon first listen I assumed Cuco's music was sample based. Figured he must be digging through heaps of vinyl to find obscure loops from tender old love songs. But it turns out his music journey started as an 8 year old picking up a guitar and learning at least 6 others since. He's a one man band. Every layer of his songs are recorded through a humble home studio set up. Even his vintage lo-fi sound is a purposeful accident caused by a janky mixer channel. He prefers the warm grit the channel supplies over the high gloss mixing you'd expect in the pop world. In any case if you're a fan of previous guests Kali Uchis, TV Girl, or Dream Panther, you will love Cuco.

Cuco was (is?) a shy kid. He grew up an only child in Hawthorne, spending much of his youth alone with video games and music. As a result his appeal lies in the lack of pretense. The music is openly in it's feelings, accordingly about puppy dog love, infatuations, and loneliness. It's cute and goofy just like real teenage love. Combine this with his self-deprecating online presence and you have a very relatable teenage pop star. At this point Cuco's at the beginning of his journey, but with how things are going, we have a feeling he's going to become the face of introverted outsiders everywhere.

–Lee

Jensen Karp

KINDA NEATBy Lee ShanerAug 20, 2014