Today, cinco de mayo, marks the release of Jei Beibi, the latest from the Mexican titans Cafe Tacuba, one of the truly great bands of our time. I am not kidding. Whoever your favorite band is, if you like modern music, modern being anything after about 1956, then you should like these guys. They are the equals of Radiohead or U2 or whoever your benchmark for global greatness is. Maybe not the equals of the Beatles, you know, but they are definitely as compelling as anyone out there right now.
Cafeta is a constantly evolving concern. For me, that's one indication of greatness. Their last album, El Objecto Antes Llamado Disco (the title a sort of ironic nod to Prince) was released in 2012. That record was markedly different from Sino, the previous (and great) release, which was released in 2007.
So they are not particularly prolific. You get something every five years or so. If you don't like it, too bad.
Weird fact: When I brought my son home from the hospital back in 2014 I loaded him into the nave and got everyone buckled in and started the car and tuned the radio in to the local
indie sort of station, Cafeta's
Pájaros miraculously began.
Jei Beibi promises to be as relentlessly eclectic as their last several releases. Among the songs they have released there's a futuristic sort of synth freak out, a psychedelic, meandering, melodic, mid-tempo rocker, and an outright homage to 70's soft rock balladry. This last one,
Que No, may be my favorite of what I've heard.
I wonder if my son doesn't think his name is Que NO! Maybe next record they'll have a song called Bájatedeallí! and really confuse the guy.
Continuing along in the surprisingly rewarding area of rock en español que no chupe, we find ourselves greeted with the latest single from El Mató a un Policía Motorizado, a band from La Plata, Argentina, that I love more than I can possibly explain. They are the perfect band for me. If you like Matador bands from the 90's, any of them, really, then they might be the perfect band for you, too. If you don't like Matador bands but you do like the Pixies or the Velvets, then pay attention.
I love all their records, but their latest
album was the first that I really felt got anywhere close to their potential. If the
single off the upcoming record that's supposed to be released in June (recorded in El Paso, of all places) is any indication of their development, well, I'm very excited.
Finally, let's stay in the southern hemisphere. There are some bands that I like more than anyone else I know. I invite friends to see them and we walk away and my friends say, Yeah, that was, umm, great.
OK. That's fine with me. Underground Lovers, a band from Melbourne, is probably just such a band. OK. That's fine with me. I've loved them for twenty five years. They took a long break and are back with their second recent record. Weekend was released in 2013, their first since Cold Feeling in 1999.
Staring At You Staring At Me will also be released tomorrow. I love it. Australia's Rolling Stone has
the whole thing up for streaming.
There are videos out there for The Rerun and Conde Nast Trap; either of those songs is perfectly representative of what the band is all about.
I don't know why this resonates with me, but the first song on the record, St Kilda Regret, sung by their keyboard player, is about the singer's extreme disappointment with the local football team.
I keep refreshing Amazon's Jei Beibi page trying to get them to sell it to me. No me complacen, chucha.
