Cafe Tacuba, Reves/Yosoy (WEA)
Mexico City's Cafe Tacuba have been genre-hopping since 1992. Re was a critical favorite in 1995 for its mix of sambas, ballads, punk, ska and classic rock. Revés /Yosoy ("Backwards/I Am") blows it away. The all-instrumental first disc is unprecedented -- the last thing anyone expected from the figureheads of the "Rock En Espanol" movement is an avant-garde disc full of cinematic, ambient experiments, beautifully inventive guitar picking and smooth classical forays, including a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet. Just the first disc alone would give a band like Tortoise a run for their money. But then there's another one! Yosoy concentrates on more traditional (bolero, ranchera, salsa) Latin vocal music, but with their typical on-the-fly energy, throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. Propelled by his flexible rubber band, Rubén Albarrán's voice nimbly oscillates between high, delicate crooning and forceful scats. Sadly, the poor packaging (an intentional sabotage by WEA?) and uncompromising music will sell them few copies, while they deserve to be worshipped as the baddest musical mavericks in Mexico.
