Crossroads
September 25, 2009
Last week’s selection in the grand music experiment was Cafe Tacuba’s album Cuatro Caminos. Virtually the first thing one notices about the band’s sound is the voice of lead singer Ruben Albarran. It is raspy, but also high and a bit nasal, and reminds me of nothing so much as the growl of a small dog.
This is good for some amusement, but it wouldn’t come to much more if the band’s ability to craft quality pop hooks wasn’t apparent from the very first song on the album, the eminently catchy “Cero y Uno”. The style of the band turns out to be eclectic and fairly sophisticated, too, effortlessly blending such staples of traditional and contemporary Mexican music as the guitar and accordion with electronic sounds on songs like the bouncy up-tempo “Eo”, replete with video game style beeps and boops.
The band shifts easily between tempos and moods as well, following the languid “Mediodia”, with “Que Pasara” – a showcase for percussion and guitar distortion that wouldn’t sound out of place coming out of the garage next door where those punk kids are practicing while you try to get some sleep. A couple tracks later comes the album’s big hit, “Eres” as cool and polished a pop love song as you could ask for.
I could go on, but that would just be belaboring the point – these guys do a little bit of everything, and they do most of it quite well.
I’m glad that I was introduced to these fellows. The music experiment is paying off. I’ve just cracked open the next pick, so maybe I’ll write about it in a day or two, once I’ve had a chance to immerse in it.
Sorry if this has turned into the music blog, it is one of the few things I can get excited enough to write about at present. I promise to broaden my scope as conditions improve.
