Cuatro Caminos

Cuatro Caminos

Mexico City's Café Tacuba returned after a four-year absence with Cuatro Caminos, another ambitious, often madly catchy work. Less experimental than some earlier Tacuba albums—Reves/Yosoy, for instance, which found them collaborating with the Kronos Quartet—Caminos still covers a wide swath of stylistic ground. (Longtime Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann and Ween cohort Andrew Weiss each helm three cuts.) The set's first track, "Cero y Uno," opens with a lockstep electro beat before kicking into a full-on rock beat; singer Élfego Buendía's gutsy, nagging delivery pulls you in quickly. Elsewhere, there are stabs at off-center punk ("Eo"), Radiohead-esque art rock ("Encantamiento Inœtil"), psychedelic pop ("Eres," featuring multi-instrumentalist Emmanuel del Real's lead vocals), and amusing metallic clangor ("Soy o Estoy"). The album won a 2003 Grammy for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album—and deserved it.

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