CD Review: Cafe Tacuba - SINO

Cafe Tacuba's Sino is only the iconic Mexican rock group's sixth album since they formed in 1989. While the group has always been innovative and nonconformist in both their music and lyrics, Sino is musically a blast from the past with a roster of tracks that evoke the 70s and the sounds of The Who, David Bowie, The Beatles and other great classic rock groups. Rather than being derivative, the music is vibrant, introspective and a pleasure for both classic rock and Cafe Tacuba fans.

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Mexico's Cafe Tacuba takes their time between albums. Since their start in 1989, they've only made 6 studio albums; it's been four years since their 2003 Cuatro Caminos and, once again, Cafe Tacuba takes a new direction, this time to the past and the golden age of classic rock.

Listening to this album is a little bit like climbing aboard a rock time machine. When the track "53100" comes on, it's easy to imagine a Tacubian pin ball wizard hitting the stage while "Volver a Comenzar" has a real David Bowie feel to it. "Quiero Ver" leads you to expect Paul McCartney and Wings to jump right in and sing along.

While the album sometimes seems to be a tribute to the groups that infuenced Cafe Tacuba from an early age (The Who, David Bowie, late Beatles), there's really nothing derivative about the album. Cafe Tacuba brings an original musical and lyrical spin to an instrumental blend that eschews the digital experimentation of Cuatro Caminos.

As with all of us as we start to feel our age, the band members of Cafe Tacuba are starting to look backwards rather than forwards in their life and their lyrics reflect that sort of introspection. "Volver a Comencar" speaks to the mistakes we all make in life and our retrospective understanding of those mistakes; "Tengo Todo" underscores the understanding that true freedom comes with letting desires go by the wayside.

Sino means fate/destiny or it can be broken apart to mean yes/no. But the music belies all these existential themes, remaining vibrant and true to the ever youthful spirit of rock.