Calle 13 Releases 'Multi_Viral' With Help from Julian Assange, Tom Morello: Listen
Calle 13 has just posted their much Tweeted-about track “Multi_Viral,” which features spoken-word contribution from WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange and Palestinian artist Kamilya Jubran’s soulful singing.
Tom Morello’s guitar characteristically rages on “Multi_Viral,” which takes the explosive sound explored by previous Calle 13 songs like “Calma Pueblo” to full throttle. The Puerto Rican duo’s Réne Pérez rapping rails against the press, the military, pharmaceutical companies, processed food, and corporate mind control, inciting listeners to take up ther own can of spraypaint or protest sign.
While the song’s format may not be as revolutionary as its intent, it’s a powerful track that speaks the current language of social dissent. And with “Multi_Viral,” Calle 13 should succeed in shrugging off the dogged reggaeton label for good.
Assange speaks for the “Power of people armed with the truth. It all happens in a spoken-word segment jacked with electronic jamming and embellished with the beauty of Jubran’s Arabian tones, which are a highlight whenever they wind within the song's hectic soundscape. “We live in the world that your propaganda made," Assange says. “Where you think you are strong you are weak…Your secrecy shows us where we will strike. Your weapons reveal your fears for all to see.”
Calle 13 Going Indie for New Album, Single
Pérez earlier this year embedded himself in the Ecuadorian embassy in London with Assange, who is living there to avoid extradition by British authorities to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning related to sexual assault accusations. Pérez and Assange used messages submitted by their Twitter followers about social justice as inspiration for their unexpected collab.
Its not Assange’s first rock star turn. He recently gave a 10-minute chat over Skype for M.I.A.’s Matangi tour opener. And back in August, he donned a mullet wig for a reworking of John Farnham’s 1986 hit “You're The Voice.”
“Multi_Viral” is the first song from Calle 13’s new album, which will be their first independent release after splitting from Sony Music Latin. Calle 13's previous albums have sold a total of 464,000 copies in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according to Nielsen Soundscan. The Group have won 19 Latin Grammy awards, the record for a group.
