Taxi Vision

photography by @thehomelesspimp

Imagine a bottle filled with sound, inside is the borough of Queens, New York; if you put your ear to it you’ll hear a mix of Caribbean and Afro inspired rhythm crossed with tight pop choruses playing against the clanking of a passing subway. This band aims to take you around the world or in this case down the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. For Taxi Vision, it’s difficult to pin down exactly where their music falls on the spectrum of genre. It’s distinctly indie but punk, experimental, yet purposeful. One could say they bounce between Tommy James and the Shondells and Eddie Palmieri if they both worked the deli counter at the corner store and Paul Simon was the manager. Others have called it:

“Stereolab meets Daddy Yankee”.

Whatever you call it, it’s a mosaic of diverse sounds and rhythms that are inspired by the city they’ve all joined in. In Matteo Battistini’s, one of the band’s lead singers and guitarists, own words: “We like to have a geography in the sound.” The other members of the band include Ernesto “El Defensor” Papaleo, who’s seasoned in international psych rock and plays bass. Laura Pereira, an accomplished musician who sings and plays percussion; notably she lent her voice on Juan Wauter’s “Guapa” and tours with Sessa, as well. Rick (pronounced Ricky) Lerman, also plays guitar and brings a cavaquinho like sensibility to his high notes. Their keyboardist, Jay Pluck, is a specialist in 60’s rock delicacies. Finally Matteo Ciambella, who is also Matteo but plays the drums with a nervous funk-rock pulse. Honorable mention to Camilo Perez, who is based in Ecuador. I was lucky enough to attend a few shows, and we met briefly after their set.

When I had the chance to speak with Matteo Battistini, who I’ll refer to as Matteo B in the interview, on the phone we spoke about the band’s beginnings. Taxi Vision was founded amongst friends years ago, of which Matteo was a founding member, and has since seen a few incarnations. Throughout this time though he carried the torch, putting together new lineups, and writing new music. Their style was developed humbly in those early sessions and live performances in Queens, Brooklyn, and Hoboken for years before Taxi Vision’s first EP “Channel One” was recorded and finally released in 2021. The project’s production I should mention was all done DIY in Matteo’s apartment. In a way this encapsulates the determination of the group at large, and their efforts to create not only as musicians but as artists as well. Getting to know the band has revealed that each member has multifaceted talents that make more apparent their interest in Taxi Vision’s creative direction. Ernesto is also a DJ, Ricky was a teen star in Brazil, Jay can work pyrotechnics, need I say more?

All their efforts, and their talent has culminated into opportunities to perform with other standout groups like Meridian Brothers, Delicate Steve, and Social Creatures recently. Post pandemic has seen new faces join the group like Jay and Ricky, but also new projects as well like the band’s debut album which arrived August 30th of 2023 entitled Mass Hysteria. Throughout this summer, songs from this record have been drip fed week by week like “Don’t Fall Asleep in the Sun” which feels like a sea salt fever dream, “Out of Time” which sounds like what be playing from a juke box when you enter a soda shop and Stop (Playing Mind Games With My Heart) which can only be described as a gondola ballad.

After arranging a photoshoot for this piece, we all had the chance to sit down at a bar and I asked the band a few questions. Here’s how it went:

How would you describe Taxi Vision?

Matteo B: We struggle with that. I don’t know. I mean, people always ask us what kind of music we play and we don’t know what to say. So we ask them, what they think.

Jay: I like Transatlantic as the first word.

Matteo B: We play music that’s like pretty grounded in like sixties pop, and we all love different kinds of rhythms.

Laura: I always say like Caribbean punk or something like that because it’s two extremes that doesn’t look like it would fit together but somehow it comes together in Taxi Vision.

Ernesto: Yeah, we’re all influenced by a lot of different things, and I think when we’re playing, we try to bring out whatever our influences are to enhance the music and make it more exciting. We always joke around it’s a stew, we might be able to tell you what the ingredients are but we might not be able to describe it in full.

Matteo B: I think we’re hesitant to mention a genre but we’re trying not to do anything in a traditional way, or recreate any one thing accurately.

It feels like the songs are very compartmentalized, do you write them in just one session? Or are coming back to them over time?

Matteo B: I usually bring the song to the group and we arrange it together, from there it evolves and changes.

Ernesto: But you write all the songs.

Matteo B: Thus far, I’m not the only songwriter in the group.

*The waiter comes over to pour water in our glasses*

Ernesto: I think the fun part for us is the arrangement though, and the live arrangement is always something that’s being worked on. Always kind of being edited but keeping in mind what’s interesting to listen to. How can we make people dance? How can people engage with the catharsis of what’s happening?

Matteo B: There’s a lot of discussion, but you try to create the maximum amount of excitement.

Ernesto: For us even changing the way the songs initially presented to us, much to Matteo’s frustration.

Matteo B: No, I love it. They’ll be like cut this part, cut that verse.

Ernesto: Play the relative minor and make it darker. I think a lot of our songs are progressing in that way.

On that note, I know Matteo mentioned the next album is finished so you guys have put it down for now. What can we expect from it?

*The food we ordered gets served to the table, a commotion ensues. Ernesto takes my phone to conduct the interview himself*

Ernesto: How would you describe the new album?

Matteo B: Well, I know you’re disappointed because there’s a country song on it, but I wouldn’t describe it as country.

Ernesto: How would you describe it?

Matteo B: I don’t know, I’m still thinking about that. How would you describe it?

Jay: Elements of the Stones?

Matteo B: (laughing) Maybe next album.

*Our sever comes back to check in, “All good for drinks guys?”*

The album release show is coming up, and I’ve gotten to experience the band live. What would you say is unique about the live Taxi Vision experience?

Jay: I think restraint is a big virtue, but we don’t care about that too much.

Matteo B: We just want everything to be open, we don’t want to be austere. The feeling of the song, if it’s romantic we try to make it super romantic, if it’s intense and loud we try to make it as intense as possible, you know?

Jay: For me it feels like every show has had a better and better set. It feels as though I’m having more fun at every show, I hope that can keep increasing.

Rick: The main thing is we’re having fun, we’re not pretending, we’re just having fun with friends. I think that’s what’s unique for me. To quote Matteo, our drummer, who couldn’t be here tonight, when you’re playing with your best friends your technique gets a boost.

Ok, yes or no question, does Taxi Vision intentionally sound like “tax evasion”?

Matteo B: In a roundabout way, yes. Me and the original drummer for Taxi Vision, a few years ago, were trying to come up with names. We were feeling uninspired, so we were throwing around all kinds of names. Illegal Subdivisions, things like that. He called out “tax evasion” but I was a little spaced out and heard it as “taxi vision”.

Is there anything you have been experimenting with, either recorded or live, that you’re excited about?

Jay: I think an upcoming goal is to track live in a studio, which hasn’t happened.

Matteo B: We really want to capture the live sound of the band. It’s something that’s been really hard to do because it’s much more difficult to do that way and expensive. So all the recordings have been made bit by bit, everyone contributing when they can. I think this album sounds great, but for the next one we want to have the most collaborative sound of the band.

This next one’s pretty abstract. You know how a place can be haunted because it’s built on top of a burial ground? What would Taxi Vision be built on top of?

Jay: I don’t really know...

Matteo B: I’ll say this, me and Ernesto started playing music together at what was probably the mutual lowest point in our lives.

Ernesto: It’s true.

Matteo B: There’s some desperation in there, a ragged emotional state.

Laura: Desperation, but also fun (laughing).

Ernesto: Like a polluted beach.

If Taxi Vision were an actual taxi, what’s the destination? Where are we going?

Laura: Jackson Heights.

Matteo B: It’s taking people out of the way; I think it’s going to Brighton Beach.

Ricky: We all have different destinations, that’s what makes this a special taxi.

Ernesto: Yeah, it’s going…I was going to say something philosophical (laughing). The proletariat revolution for a universal human emancipation.

Matteo B: The World’s Fair.

Jay: I love cabs and I love hotels, but I’ve never been to Brighton Beach.