Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 03/26/2002
Kinky may be a Mexican band, but these guys are a long shot from any preconceived notions you may have about what a Mexican band should sound like. They're anything but traditional and, if tagged as anything, are about as alternative as
Latin alternative gets. This is because
Kinky is a band that plays
electronic dance music without going the computerized beat-making route. Well, at least not wholeheartedly, as they retain their essence as a band above all (rather than program beats, they seem to sample themselves and then loop those samples). It's tough to pin these guys down on their self-titled debut album because it veers all over the place, sometimes within a single song. The album opener,
"Más," is a case in point, with its wah-wah guitars spitting out
funk licks and its
hip-hop breakbeats signifying the multicultural mélange to come. Some songs go a step further, like
"Ejercico No. 16" in particular, kicking up such a dance-party dust storm that you're liable to mistake
Kinky for
Daft Punk. So while
Kinky are indeed
Latin musicians and sing in Spanish, that's somewhat of a minor issue. Like
los Amigos Invisibles or
Titan,
Kinky emphasize the music, not the singing nor the cultural cues -- they're a universal band with a universal sound that just happens to originate in Monterrey, Mexico. After all, this debut album was licensed by
Nettwerk America (a Canadian label best known for releasing albums by
Sarah McLachlan and
the Barenaked Ladies) and was produced by
Chris Allison (a Brit best known for working with
Coldplay and
Dot Allison), so it doesn't exactly boast a lot of
Latin credentials. It doesn't need to when it's this great --
Kinky is the sort of album that should stand on its out, beyond the realm of geographic or demographic categorization, and most certainly beyond cultural expectations or stereotypes. And when taken on its own terms -- an album of music performed by a band -- it's hard to resist the dynamic rocktronica en español of
Kinky here, especially if you're keen on pigeonhole-defying multicultural listening experiences.
~Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
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