Crumb / Combo Chimbita

Crumb is a collaboration between four friends (Lila Ramani – vocals/guitar, Jesse Brotter – bass, Jonathan Gilad – drums, Brian Aronow – synth/keys/reeds/percussion).

After playing music together in various projects for years, the group came together to explore some songs Ramani had written in college, a recording project that became their first self-titled EP. On their second EP, Locket, which was written and recorded by the group while split between Boston and New York for a year, Crumb continues to play with intimate, soulful, and psychedelic sounds.

Now, for the first time in a year they live in the same city where they continue to write new music, collaborate with other artists, and play more shows.


Rooted in Colombia and based in New York, Combo Chimbita lives in the future. After playing together for years, these first-generation New Yorkers—powerhouse vocalist Carolina Oliveros, synth and bassist Prince of Queens, guitarist Niño Lento, and drummer Dilemastronauta—began experimenting with different traditional musical styles during their late night residencies at Barbès in Brooklyn. Exploring the connections between visual identity and improvisational long-form trips, Combo Chimbita came together as a four-piece band after they started encouraging more vocals by Carolina Oliveros, who tightens the rhythm with her guacharaca. Although their backgrounds are in heavy rock, metal, and psychedelic funk and soul, they gleefully fuse elements from cumbia, 70s funaná from Cape Verde, kompa from Haiti as well as salsa & reggae, mixing the Guacharaca and futuristic-yet-retro synth sounds.