Mexico’s iconic quartet Café Tacvba is back with the remarkably named album, El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco (The Object Formerly Known as a Disc). This is their 7th studio album in their 20 years of making groundbreaking music that seamlessly fuses sounds and genres, and without fail, this is another masterpiece in its own right.
The themes addressed on the album are more introspective and range from growing older to continually seeking your own truth. Café Tacvba’s band members are not only getting older and wiser, but are exploring what this means in their compositions.
Musically, Café Tacvba has a keen ability to reinvent their sound and still manage to be relevant while doing so. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that many bands water down their music as these artists become older — they tend to lose their edge with age.
However, Cafeta’s album showcases their adept musicianship while exploring new sounds that they have been playing around with live and on more recent albums. Their vast repertoire only seems to get better with every new album they release. This is how bands should evolve and age gracefully.
For those who haven’t heard or have kept up with Café Tacvba’s evolution in some time may be surprised to hear what they are doing now. Sonically, they’ve managed to keep their identity and enhance it with synths and drum machines while still using rhythms from around the world. They continue to explore their harmonies especially on the opening track “Pájaros” and continue to share the mic more often as in the excellent track “Espuma” and the goth-like “Aprovéchate.”
As it has become a tradition with every new Cafeta release, lead singer Rubén Albarrán has a new moniker for this album as well, Zopilotes de alas blancas y cabeza negra. Zopilotes’ voice is still the prominent one throughout the 39 minute album and sounds fantastic on tracks like “Este lado del camino” and the album’s beautiful closing track “Volcán.”
This new release is a great step forward for the maturing quartet that embarks on newer soundscapes and reflects on what it means to get older in a modern society. I look forward to seeing how these tracks will translate live and if they will influence how they interpret some of their greatest hits they have become known for.
El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco is a manifestation of Café Tacvba’s evolution and maturation that excites the listener with each track — they remain fresh and energetic which is impressive considering their longstanding career as pioneers of Mexican rock. If this is what aging gracefully sounds like then it makes me look forward to the future.
Download Café Tacvba’s El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco below, out today!
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