Mambo Cósmico

Resenha do Álbum

The third studio effort by Mexico City's Sonido Gallo Negro (Black Rooster Sound) takes their 21st psychedelic cumbia sound past its predecessors to engage myriad sounds from across the Latin world and beyond. That said, their roots in rock and cumbia -- of both the Amazonian and Mexican varieties -- remain at the core of their persona. These nine players carve a new, unexpected musical cosmos from accepted genre formulations, moving past their influences to reveal the ghost tracks left by the influence of Middle Eastern, pre-Colombian, Spanish, and West African folk forms as well as Afro-Cuban grooves including mambo, cha cha, porro, and danzon. For the first time, they add vocals to their steamy hybrid.
Despite changes, the band's sound signature remains unmistakable. The orgiastic Farfisa organs, surf guitars, and layers of percussion bubble and strut, swing and swagger through nine originals and a pair of covers. The opening title track commences with dissonant piano montunos -- reflecting the classic Havana sound of the 1960s -- while Mexican mambo etches its place in stone via the mariachi horns. The pace is furious as layers of organ and six-string treble are underscored by hand drums. The cover of Lucho Bermúde's "Tolú" is led by plectrum and strummed electric guitars, and a forward-leaning bassline. They adopt the composer's Colombia rhythmic foundation as well as his reliance on big-band jazz horns as Theremin adds a contrapuntal statement that moves the tune forward in musical and cultural history to denote a Latin X identity not separate from its historical continuum. "Cumbia Ishtar" nods at the Middle East with its cinematic use of folk forms before organ, Theremin, and percussion spread the track's geography toward Peru, where psychedelic cumbia was birthed. The wordless vocal chorus adds depth and dimension. The horns in "La Foca (Cha Cha Cha)" illustrate an earlier dance music culture through true Cuban cha cha while folkloric Andean flutes and spiky Mexican surf guitars lengthen its shadows to cover more musical terrain. Throughout Mambo Cosmico, Sonido Gallo Negro focus on an integration that leaves details and jagged edges audible to ensure each musical identity is distinct. Two lead guitars engage in spaghetti western interplay in "Danza del Mar" as porro and danzon wrap one another in a sensual embrace while chanted vocals and Theremin point suggestively at this mysterious juxtaposition. The album mix is full of surprises to the end: "Cumbia Sanacion" allows sadness and grief-stricken voices -- albeit in a driving dance number (it was cut only days after the Central Mexico Earthquake of 2017) -- to mark the set's official close on an unsettling note. Mambo Cosmico is the work of a mature band firing on all cylinders. Their sonic restlessness never falls off track into musical excess, but instead allows keen articulation of the plethora of identities found in non-Anglo culture, and denotes the places they intersect. Besides, you can dance your ass off while absorbing its coded messages. Bravo.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo