Mucho

Album Review

Babasónicos emerged in the early '90s as an indie art rock collective, a sonically aggressive mixture of irony and provocation. After its commercial breakthrough with 2001's Jessico, the band started to drift away from its more experimental (and louder) side. Instead, in Infame (2003) and Anoche (2005), Babasónicos purposefully cultivated an image of decadent sophistication and sensuality — which was already part of the band's aura, but not its exclusive defining characteristic. Many old fans were outraged at what they perceived as a sellout, but the change certainly helped the band to attract a massive new audience in Argentina and Latin America. Mucho is the logical continuation to Infame and Anoche. As a matter of fact, it is easy to regard the three albums as a trilogy: no other successive Babasónicos records are so similar in sound and aesthetic. As successful as the previous two albums were, one is tempted to pick Mucho as the best of the lot. Perhaps the main reason for this lies in its conciseness: at ten tracks under 31 minutes, there is little room for filler on the sarcastically titled Mucho. Indeed, there is not much in terms of quantity, and even less in terms of novelty. These ten brief new songs may sound exactly like the ones on the previous albums, but their quality and consistency make up for everything. To pick up highlights is almost as easy as to go over the track list: "Yo Anuncio," "Pijamas," "Escamas," "Cuello Rojo," "Como Eran las Cosas," "Microdancing" — all are perfect pop miniatures featuring Babasónicos' trademark postmodern mixture of arrogance, hedonism, sexiness, frivolity, and irony. On a nostalgic note, Babasónicos have never sounded closer to Virus, the legendary 1980s band whose influence seems to be all over the Argentine pop/rock scene nowadays. Babasónicos may not be as ambitious anymore, and can justifiably be accused of levity, but they are undisputed masters of their own game, one that reaches new heights on the splendid Mucho. Easily one of the best rock en español releases of 2008.