Si*Se Specializes in Spinning Spells

The sound of heavy rain briefly filled the hot and crowded Temple Bar during Friday’s show by New York’s Si*Se, a favorite of alter-Latino fans. The depressing drizzle set the midnight mood in the dark Santa Monica club.

“You know what that is?” asked the group’s lead singer, Carol C. (for Cardenas), petite and barefoot with a hip-hugging, wraparound skirt and tight, shoulder-baring black top. The diva’s adoring fans answered with cheers, as if to say, “Yo si se,” which means, “Yes, I know.” They instantly recognized the sound effect that opens “The Rain,” from the group’s acclaimed, self-titled 2001 debut album on the Luaka Bop label. For any newcomers, the dark Dominican beauty and the five-piece band soon re-created the song’s unmistakable mood of hopeless heartbreak on wet city streets.

Si*Se is among the best of America’s new generation of exploratory, bilingual bands that balance cultural influences as naturally as they do their multi-ethnic friendships.

Spinning spells is Si*Se’s specialty. The relentless pulsing of drums and bass. The Gypsy-like accents of a mournful viola. The eerie, mind-bending electronica by programming whiz and producer Cliff Cristofaro, a.k.a. U.F.LOW. And always, Cardenas’ crescendos of passion, held in long notes and words that bend into extended, malleable vowels of anguish. She’s sultry like Sade and sensuous like Shakira, with hands and hips gracefully suggesting a hint of Arab heritage.

Her only weakness: pedestrian Spanish lyrics (Cardenas wrote several songs in the language so that her mother could understand them). The poor poetic meter can be comical, as with the upbeat “Bizcocho Amargo,” a danceable declaration of independence from a once sweet relationship that now “tastes like Margo,” thanks to a seriously misplaced accent in her pronunciation. Cardenas meant bitter (amargo). Ecstatic fans were too busy grooving to notice or care.