South-of-the-border rock and roll rarely gets its due in the States. Traditional folk music, sure – Putumayo seems to put out a new coffee-shop compilation of that every week – but incorporate electric guitars in the mix and people don’t know quite what to make of it. Does truly-southern rock count as authentic or is it just musicians appropriating another culture?
El Justiciero Cha Cha Cha offers one more step toward definitively answering that question. This eighteen-song tribute to psychedelic Brazilian collective Os Mutantes shows you why the band is good enough that Kurt Cobain once wrote them a letter begging them to reunite (they declined). A whole host of Mexican and South American bands cover songs from throughout the band’s formidable 1968-1974 discography.
Today we’re pleased to offer a premiere from the album. Mexican indie quartet Café Tacuba give “O Relógio” (“The Watch”), originally on OM’s self-titled debut, a glossy electro-folk sheen. It saunters along pleasantly, drum machine snaps segueing into good old fashioned rock and roll. Download it below.
El Justiciero Cha Cha Cha comes out November 9 on Nacional Records.
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