Martes

Album Review

Fernando Corona had a stated purpose for his debut album as Murcof: Take contemporary composition and introduce it to the world of minimalist Mexican techno. Originally released only in Mexico in late 2001, Martes didn't see broader distribution until the middle of 2002, when the Leaf label saw fit to reissue the record in North America and Europe. The album was quite a departure for Corona, already widely known in Mexico as Terrestre, whose decidedly funkier fusion of traditional norteño and electronica had already become a staple of Tijuana's Nortec Collective. Martes (Spanish for "Tuesday") is far afield of Terrestre's bootylicious grooves. In this much more intimate affair, Corona isolates the smallest elements of select classical works, such as a plucked string, one bow length across a cello, or a furious pound on a piano's keyboard, and integrates them with beats similar to those programmed by Morr Music or blip-hop artists. The result is a moody recontextualization of contemporary classical music, in which, though dismembered, the original pieces find new life and space to breathe while somehow maintaining their original mood.