MANU CHAO’S LA RADIOLINA DEBUTS AT #1 ON ITUNES LATINO AND THE TOP 10 OF AMAZON.COM AS CRITICAL PRAISE AND RADIO SUPPORT POUR IN; ALBUM IS ALSO THE #16 OVERALL TITLE ON ITUNES

Manu Chao’s first studio album in six years, La Radiolina (Nacional Records/Because), is off to a strong start, debuting at #1 on the iTunes Latino sales chart, #7 overall album on Amazon, and #16 overall album on iTunes. Manu Chao recently performed on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, and is conquering radio with the #1 Latin and #3 World album on the CMJ radio charts. Manu Chao’s “La Radiolina’ has earned considerable acclaim in in its first week of release. Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, Spin and many others are already praising the new album. Entertainment Weekly describes La Radiolina as “so sonically vivid, so gloriously evocative, translation seems almost superfluous. The Los Angeles Times calls it “mesmerizing.”

Prior to the album’s release, many (underground and mainstream) outlets embraced the album’s first single, “Rainin in Paradize.” The Guardian called it “ a glorious, fist-pumping riot of driving beats and soaring punk guitar lines, with Chao’s irrepressible spirit making it a defiant rallying call rather than a resigned grumble. One of the singles of the year so far.” New York Magazine warned, “This heartfelt reaction to institutionalized violence will seize you by the proverbial lapels””and make you dance.” Rolling Stone, Slate, Pitchfork and others said something similar.

This summer brought Chao equal praise from the likes of The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, among others, for the explosive live show he performs with his Radio Bemba Sound System. Pitchfork wrote that Chao is “the ringmaster of a multicultural, cross-generational, genre-busting circus that can whip tens of thousands of people into a frenzy even if they don’t speak the same language.” Reviewing one of Chao’s two sold-out Celebrate Brooklyn! shows (each to 6,000+), Gothamist described “something any music fan should experience at least once in their life, because there is really nobody else like him performing today.”

La Radiolina is Chao’s first since the live Radio Bemba Sound System (2002) and his first studio release in the U.S. since Proxima Estacion: Esperanza, which in 2001 topped the European charts and was named one of the best albums of the year by Rolling Stone. Among many critical accolades he garnered worldwide, Manu made the front page of The Wall Street Journal. Proxima Estacion was preceded by equal fanfare for his debut album, Clandestino (1998), which The Los Angeles Times called “superb.” Clandestino remains one of the best-selling albums in French music history, with more than 2.5 million copies sold to date.

Manu Chao’s music is multilingual and broadly multicultural, blending rock, reggae, punk, ska, found sounds, and more. The Paris-born, Barcelona-dwelling artist of Spanish descent finds inspiration in street cultures everywhere. Throughout his career, Chao has remained true to his anti-establishment principles and continues to mix music and politics by performing at events that promote anti-globalization efforts.

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