Kinky

When Kinky released their "rocktronica en español” self-titled debut album in 2002, they threw a curve ball at critics and listeners alike. Ushering in a wave of new Latin like-minded acts whose eclectic dance-oriented sounds have proven difficult to categorise but have garnered a reputation for ass-shaking live shows, their music has been known to twitch the knees of even the hardest music scribe. However, the party has to end sometime and on their third release, Reina, the Mexican band trade in their penchant groovy, Latin sounds for inferior Euro dance tracks and annoying electronic hiccups and burps. There has always been a cheese element to this genre of music (Los Amigos Invisibles, Plastilina Mosh, Nortec Collective) but unlike most bands who still manage to come up with a decent groove, Reina lacks even that. It’s hard to take an album with parody titles like "Sister Twisted” and "Spin That Wine” seriously — as the Bloodhound Gang found out — and it’s even harder to get down to tracks that jump between characterless guitars, generic beats and repetitive dance vocals that jump between Spanish and English. Maybe the whole point of the album is to be one big farce, which if it is, Reina succeeds brilliantly. But after listening to their debut, you know that Kinky are capable of balancing musical escapades with exciting tunes. Here’s hoping the European clubs don’t come calling too hard on this tour.