LATIN PULSE : Spanish-Language Rock Around World

Spanish-language rock music has evolved most significantly in Mexico, Spain and Argentina, but the development has been different in each country. Spain is the only one that has created a big industry around rock groups, while in Mexico the pop industry has ignored the work of rock musicians for decades. Argentina, isolated due to its economic crisis, has generated an active underground scene and some of the most innovative bands in Latin rock.

In 1987, big record labels in Mexico started supporting rock by releasing collections of bands from all these countries, and musicians of each nation became better acquainted with one another, resulting in a steady exchange of records and information. Since then, bands from Argentina and Spain have performed in Mexico and even more recently in the United States. That explains the recent commercial success and the increase of home-grown rock activity in Mexico, as well as an expanding market for U.S. and European rock acts, which have appeared in Mexico during this past year with more regularity than ever before.

Here’s a roundup of some of the most notable recent Spanish-language rock releases:

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).

* * * *Caifanes, “El Silencio,” BMG International. For decades, true rock music in Mexico only existed in the underground. Caifanes was the first Mexican band to offset genuine rock attitudes with a less threatening image, enabling it to introduce rock into the mainstream. In its third album, produced by American guitarist Adrian Belew, the band successfully blends alternative rock with traditional elements of Mexican music. Songs such as “Piedra” (“Stone”) and a version of the traditional huapango “La Mariquita” exhibit the same freedom of Los Lobos’ experiments with Mexican music in its “Kiko” album.

* * * * Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, “El Leon,” Sony Music. This nine-member ensemble from Argentina has experimented with musical styles from reggae to ska to salsa to rock. After seven years, they have discovered that tropical music seems to suit them best. “El Leon” (“The Lion”) is their first solid expedition into that musical style. In this album, the group re-creates bolero, son, salsa, rumba and even waltz, with an unconventional treatment--spicing a Caribbean rhythm with a Brazilian batucada or combining Mexican nortenas with reggae. Lead singer Vicentico’s voice sounds more elastic than ever and the three-man brass section exhibits a power equal to any Colombian or Puerto Rican orchestra.

* * * 1/2 Cafe Tacuba, “Cafe Tacuba,” WEA Latina. Imagine how a group that employs traditional Mexican rhythms, played with the irreverence, acoustic treatment and eloquence of the Violent Femmes, might sound. Cafe Tacuba--named for a popular Mexico City restaurant--is one of the bands along with Caifanes and Maldita Vecindad to present the new face of Mexican rock. With keyboards, a drum machine, acoustic guitar and tololoche (acoustic bass), the band in some songs recovers the romantic spirit of Mexican bohemian music from the ‘50s, and in others takes more rock-oriented paths.

* * * Radio Futura, “Tierra Para Bailar,” BMG International. Among the most popular and talented musicians in Spain, the Auseron brothers, Santiago and Luis, formed the band Radio Futura in 1979. The 1987 album “La Cancion de Juan Perro” (“The Song of Juan Perro”) was among the first successful efforts to give rock a Latin identity by employing tropical music instruments. With the band having split up in May, “Tierra Para Bailar” (“Land For Dancing”) is Radio Futura’s final work and it showcases the recent musical explorations of each brother: Santiago spent a long period in Cuba researching the roots of tropical rhythms, while Luis worked with Brazilian artists. The album provides a taste of what the Auseron brothers have learned during their respective adventures. The songs, made for dancing, show the ability of the band to combine reggae and energetic salsa with minimal rock and rap.