Xela Zaid

It could be Alex Diaz lives in a parallel universe. His surreal songs certainly come from one. An altermate possibillity is that he writes from the other side of the looking glass,which might explain why he bills himself as Xela Zaid. As he sings and strums(sometimes playing solo using bass as his instrument,other times plucking acostic guitar,occasionally backed by a drummer or a full rhythm section),one variously hears echoes of Lloyd Cole, Paul Westerberg, Kurt Cobain,even Led Zeppelin in his guitarcentric tunes,which are full of unexpected rhymes and melodies lashed together with rich chording. Take "Honeycomb"which appears on his band Ho Chi Minh 1997album Motorama. It begins with a bright and bouncy guitar arpeggio:"indeed,indellibly keyed,ode to my sweet honeycomb/oh is that light in your head?"the paean then dissolves into a stromy,minor key refrain:"roam the night as night shines/hard upon as the river will spawn/creeds and deeds will make ends meet."huh? Well ,like so many semilucid dreams,songs to can have their own nonlinear logic. Diaz matches his mystical lyricism with prolificacy:his repertoire ranges from driving,head-bobbing rock to melancholic,cockeyed love songs,like " Poison Ivy," "i'll always remember the month of june when all of the kids are out of school/you know that summertime is near/it plays like a song you hope to hear/then as my heart beats into your arms,i know who you are/your poison ivy,how i want you still." Diaz creates absorbing,drug-trip songs best described as otherworldly. - New Times Miami

Congratulations! Ho Chi Minh has been selected as a semifinalist in the musician magazine best unsigned band competition. Recognized as a unique and outstanding performance,your CD was chosen from thousands of entries,and will now go on to the final round of judging by Jimmy Jam, Stone Gossard, Steve Winwood, Juliana Hatfield, Adrian Belew, Pat Metheny,and Matthew Sweet. Again,congratulations from all of us at musician magazine,the players choice for twenty years. Keep up the good work! - Musician Magazine

The music of Ho Chi Minh is about truth...in the purest sense. Take the bands name,is probably best known as the popular alias of Vietnams reolutionary communist leader Nguyen That Thanh...To those that dont look at the simple truth behind those three words,literally translated they mean "he who enlightens."The bands name exemplifies the multi-dimensionality of songwriter Alex Diaz lyrics.At once ambiguous and universal, Diaz's lyrics invite interpretation." The most original ideas are those that flow,"he says." They can mean different things to other people. It is subject to interpretation because there are that many people with their own ideas. How we interpret it is how unique we are as individuals." I like to keep it open and free,so there is room for thought,"he says." So that others may enlighten me as well as i may enlighten them. It tells me the reality of truth can be expressed in so many ways,no one is right or wrong. Thats the beauty of art." Ho Chi Minh's music, brought to life with the help of drummer/percussionist Bobby Macintyre and bassist Shane Soloski,features the same austerely shourded depth. Diaz's stout guitar sound is the result of his unique guitar tuning and the presence of a microphone within the guitar itself." I was looking for a distinctive,original sound for my acoustic guitar," Diaz says."I always like to challenge myself to try something different.' With Diaz's writing talents supplemented by Macintyre's subtle percussion and buoyed by Soloski's ardent foundation,the music on Ho Chi Minh's debut CD, Motorama,is an absorbing listening experience full of powerfull dynamics." On the horizon"celebrates spiritual revelation with a visceral,driving hook that never relents ,as if propelling the band to the allegorical light. The melancholic centerpieace," Honeycomb",opens with a poignant guitar melody that shimmers with sadness and reverberates with heart. It ebbs and swells until it steadily climaxes to its sacrificial conclusion." Ten foot tall"fades in like fat, foreboding thunderheads gathering before the storm. Diaz's world weary voice sounds cynical and pleeding at once. He lashes out a cold and merciless guitar hook that rattles and trembles as if collapsing the world onto itself,and,with a droning fade-out its over. On Motorama, Ho Chi Hinh present a powerfull listening experience that does not forget the importance of frailty. Diaz admits the music on Motorama is very personal to him,and it is that fragile quality of the music that makes the album so strong,making Motorama a human record that trancends humanity. - Hans Morgenstern

Motorama by Ho Chi Minh(left out).Ho Chi Minh's Alex Diaz would rather sneak up on you with a hook or melody than clobber you upside the head.The Miami-based songwriter's simply executed song's build slowly;his drawling Westerberg-by-way-of-Dylan vocals and his bandmate's(drummer Bobby Macintyre and bassist Shane Soloski)organic playing drip like syrup from an upturned jug.But once a number like the six minute hypnotizer"Cheesecake"wiggles its way inside your head,you'll have a rough time making it leave.
You certainly won't forget "Honeycomb,"Motorama's darkly pretty seven minute centerpiece,in which Macintyre's exquisite percussion captivates as Diaz equates(a bit weightily)a broken heart with crucifixion.The same goes for the somnolent "Eyefull,"in which Diaz sounds like Frank Black coming off a weekend bender of cheeseburgers and screwdrivers.Sure,Diaz's voice rarely changes pitch or timber throughout the album's 11 cuts(only two of which are less than four minutes long),but you'll be to entranced by Ho Chi Minh's artfull popcraft to care. - City Link Magazine

Three years is to long to wait for a new Ho Chi Minh CD only to have it turn out to be a three song EP.But with singer/songwriter Alex Diaz living in Miami and drummer Bobby Macintyre and bassist Shane Soloski residing out of state,we're lucky we even got this batch of songs.
And lucky we are.Diaz's hip,skillfull songwriting is in full bloom here and Ho Chi Minh as a whole never sounded like a more confident unit.Employing the loud soft dynamic familiar to so many bands ,Diaz actually freshens up the technique,his instrument smoothly down-shifting from roughneck power chords to soft,supple passages and back again.
Diaz's near nasel drawl briefly recalls Billy Crogan on the EP's opener,"Poison Ivy,"an invigorating song about wanting somebody you know couldn't more wrong for you."Summertime is here/Plays like a song you hope to hear,"Diaz sings,the want in his voice true and clear.On"Corduroy,"he makes like the Jesus Lizard's David Yow,with vocals bordering on the indecipherable as the music approaches claustrophobic levels before heading out with a chorus of delirious "woo-hoo-hoos."
The biggest hooks,though,are on "Hot Rod,"where Diaz,Macintyre,and Soloski come together to make one terrific wall of sound, as the singer drops philosophical riddles like he's Paul Westerberg's therapist("What could be worth more than you/ask yourself?
"Even the good and the bad has its fruit").But don't even bother trying to make sense of it all-just pop the disc in,sit back and hope to God these guys get back in the studio ASAP. - Jake Cline city link magazine

Dont let the spartan packaging fool you.Surprise,Surprise,the new five song EP by Xela Zaid(a k a Alex Diaz)is more than a plesant surprise.Released by Evol Egg Nart,surprise's xeroxed jacket and unlabeled,home-burned CD are a perfect match for the music,which sounds like an anonymous letter from a dark,wet place in the human heart.
Diaz,a troubadour who employs alternate tunings for his off kilter effect,writes songs that seem both mournful and joyful at the same time,as if coming from a man on the edge of giving up or giving in-the only difference between the two being the spirit of the capitulation.
For the past six years Diaz has recorded under the cover of his pseudo-band Ho Chi Minh.Those recordings were essentially full band versions of his frequent solo acoustic performances.The records were good but lacked the intimate,unsettling feeling of his solo shows.Surprise,Surprise,an acoustic EP with electronic noises dropped in for color,is his best release yet.Diaz's songs shimmer in the unadorned production,and it's not hard to conjure an image of him hunched over his guitar in a 2a.m.set when the revelers are long gone.
There's not a weak song among the five,but the best tracks are"Chocolate Kisses,"a chilling love song that creeps up on your senses like someone slowly pulling off the covers while you sleep,and the closing "Smile,"a heroin-like dream that's sensual and cold("how the river winds,up and down your spine,on a razor's edge"),a song that romances the downward spiral of letting go.
Recorded at the Ranch,Evol Egg Nart's home based recording studio,we finally get to hear Diaz the way many got to know him through his solo appearances.For anyone who's been waiting for a truly representative Diaz release,this is the one. - Rene Alvarez Street Magazine

Lo-fi singer/songwriter Xela Zaid has been something of a ghostly spector on the local scene.Always performing at strange hours on any given day, the wiry singer/songwriter will drift in and out of venues leaving unsuspecting patrons mystified with his hypnotic and eerie songs.But thanks to a heavy touring schedule and his constant enigmatic output(he released two CDs last year Surprise,Surprise and Beloved),his name is becoming well kwon in a yard much bigger than your typical local act.Beloved,Xela Zaid:An EP which truly captures Xela Zaid's(aka Alex Diaz)mysteriously lush and unorthodox sound:a lone voice riding alternately tuned guitars.It's a tightwire performance,troubador style,like sensual Nick Drake on a heroin dream so wet you can drown in it. - Street Magazine

Like his Christian name,Xela Zaid has taken the pretty melodies and emotional,solitary songs of the singer/songwriter and turned them inside out.The songs on his second independently released EP,Beloved,ride upon dark,electric guitar hooks,backed by the white noise of a transistor radio"played" by noise artist Rat Bastard.Rat's radio manipulation gives the music an eerie quality,similar to the soft hums,rumbles,and buzzes in the soundtrack of a David Lynch film.Zaid's fragile,trembling voice can barely be understood and makes for an instrument as amorphous as the radio's rumble.
The EP opens with the upbeat "Satellite Car,"driven by Zaid's reverberating electric guitar,which sometimes sounds like a bass and guitar at once.Rat's static crackels like a howling wind.The ominous "How the Trunips Go"follows.A slow ebb-flow noise buzzes from the radio,while two layers of Zaid's voice echo,one straight and the other through a baby monitor,as if from some fever dream.The disc seems gripped by a dour mood,but rarely has such unfriendly music sounded so tangible and vivid.-Hans Morgenstern - New Times Broward-PalmBeach

The phrase "singer-songwriter" usually conjures up images of blandly dressed young men with acoustic guitars intoning personal songs in an overwrought voice,not noise artist Xela Zaid.
Zaid comes from an alternate universe.He has developed his own method of tuning and plucking a guitar that allows him to produce bass lines as melodious guitar hooks,creating the illusion that he is accompanied by a spectral bassist.When he plays acoustic guitar,he shoves a microphone into its sound hole,creating an eerie,vibrating echo.Sometimes he'll strum an electric bass instead of guitar,tuning it so that it rumbles out of an amplifier.He also augments his songs with the white noise of a small reconfigured radio device.
Zaid sings in a hushed tone;his lyrics conjure up cryptic,surreal images,and the words can be difficult to discern.On "Smile,"his vocals pop and stutter like an audiophile's nightmare as he sings,"How the river winds/up and down your spine/on a razor's edge."His music isn't all gloom,though."Surprise,Surprise opens with a perky,though melancholic acoustic rhythm,and he rattles:"Surprise,surprise,surprise/ Before your eyes/Before you wake up,"as a wave of scratchy distortion oscilates to and fro.
Alex Diaz has been pushing the boundries of the traditional singer/songwriter role for more than fifteen years as a soloist and as leader of the power pop trio Ho Chi Minh.He has only recently discovered a personal bizaro world,though,through the alter ego Xela Zaid.Diaz says that Zaid helps him color the lines outside of audience expectations."Sometimes artist's get pigeonholed into a sound,then they repeat what they've done in the past,"he says during a recent telephone conversation.Xela allows me to break from that."
Stripped down to guitar,vocals,and effects,Zaid's music is simpler than the luscious hard rock of Ho Chi Minh.Yet it is more intricate and chaotic.The atmospheric noise of the radio device he uses give his songs an amorphous quality,turning each listen into a different experience.In this persona,he even has the confidence to make up songs,on the spot,in front of a live audience.
Diaz has released two EPs so far as Zaid:Surprise,Surprise in 2002 and Beloved 2003.Both of them feature another local vetran-Frank Falestra,better known as Rat Bastard-manipulating the radio.Diaz credits Rat,who has played shows in Japan and counts Thruston Moore among his admirers,for introducing him to the radio's sonic possibillities."He played an AM/FM transistor radio plugged into an effect pitch shifter,"explains Diaz.Rat accompanies Zaid by reacting to specific cues in the songs,controling the pitch and volume of the radio like a theremin operator.Diaz describes the results as "sonic waves that sound like jets,some times oceans.I hear animal sounds sometimes."
Rat says he made the device because"I needed an instrument that would offer a miscellany of rapidly changing sounds."He adds that the radio is an important aspect of Zaid's music."It takes the music out of a conventional sort of arrangement,"he explains.
In addition to the radio he built to play on Zaid's releases,Rat reconstructed a volume pedel with a radio inside it for Zaid to use on his solo,a capella numbers."It allows me to switch stations and I have control over the volume,"saysDiaz.
Zaid likes to put on a visual spectacle that mirrors his musical experiments.With a portable spotlight placed at his feet that casts an amber glow on his face and highlights his pointed facial features,he performes in white make up and blue lipstick,glitter fingernail polish,fancy shirts,and sensible shoes."The true Xela character does the makeup on his face and sometimes scares some people like that,but it's all out of fun.It's nothing that should be taken to seriously,"he says with a laugh.For him it contributes to an enviroment that help his creative juices flow.
"It's a fun outlet,really,"he says."It allows me expand and do different things musically,so people don't say,"Oh,he's just a singer/songwriter."Im not just that,I like to do different things." - Hans Morgenstern New Times Miami