Bardo Martinez of Chicano Batman, Lila Downs, Divino Niño, Arath Herce, Victor Internet and Loyal Lobos have signed management deals with Cosmica Artists. The indie record label and company represents Latin talent from alternative genres across Los Angeles, Miami, Austin and Mexico city.
“Reaching our 20 year anniversary at Cosmica Artists is such a proud moment for me as I started this as a one person company, stuffing manilla envelopes with burned promo CDs, xeroxed bios and EPK’s,” Gil Gastelum, founder of Cosmica, tells Variety. “Our new signings usher in a new chapter for Cosmica Artists, as we begin to navigate the future with confidence and pride. Looking at distribution, marketing, publishing, sync, and touring partners future and present has us all ready for the next 20 years.”
Martinez will be represented by Cosmica as focuses on a solo career — a new LP, “Stones Throw Records,” is slated for 2025 — outside of role as the lead songwriter and vocalist for the group Chicano Batman. The rock band formed in 2008 with a fresh take on tropicália and indie-rock that led to five studio albums. In recent weeks, the group announced they were going on an “indefinite hiatus.”
Lila Downs is a Mexican singer-songwriter, while Divino Niño hail from Chicago and Colombia with innovative hyper-pop (Divino were featured on Variety‘s Best Latin Albums of 2022). Arath Herce, Victor Internet and Loyal Lobos are all up and coming artists rooted in pop.
The Cosmica team represents Mexican singer/songwriter Carla Morrison, who recently sold out the Hollywood Bowl. Most recently, Guatemalan artist Gaby Moreno won a Grammy for best Latin pop album, and claimed multiple Latin Grammy wins. Cosmica also supported Mexican-American producer, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, David Garza on his pair of Grammy wins for co-producing Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters”(best alternative album and song).
“It’s been an amazing journey filled with ups and downs, exhilarating highs and thrown under the bus lows,” said Gastelum “We’ve taken it all in and we keep going. I take great pride in working with an amazing staff and roster of talent as we work hard to create a safe and creative space for all of us.”
