365 Days, 365 Files: Café Tacuba – El fin de la infancia

I’ve written about Café Tacuba numerous times before, but I don’t feel I’ve written enough.

However much I love Shiina Ringo, Björk or the Flaming Lips, nothing in the US, Europe or Japan compares to the manic eclecticism of Café Tacuba. The quartet catapults the music of its region so far into the future, it would probably still sound ahead of its time many years from now.

Beck saw fit to have the band open for him back in the mid ’90s. The most challenging piece on Kronos Quartet’s Nuevo was composed by the band. And as daring as the members of Café Tacuba are as rock musicians, they work from a firm foundation of traditional Mexican music.

"El fin de la infancia" comes from the band’s sprawling second album, Re. In the first half hour alone, Café Tacuba jumps from genre to genre, employing death metal guitars on one track, disco beats on another.

This track demonstrates the band’s willingness to go for the crazy. That drunken intro is something mighty dissonant.

To make up for all the time I haven’t written about Café Tacuba, the next few days will concentrate on the band’s music.

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