Kinky Continues To Reign

Mexican alternative band Kinky continues its dance-party progression on its infectious third album, Reina, which is also heavier on English lyrics than its past two efforts, Kinky and Atlas. Luckily, the band’s bilingualism doesn’t mean sacrificing any of its music’s trademark DJ humor, sweetness, and sweat-inducing intensity.One would never know the band’s instruments apparently were nearly destroyed by a mudslide, given Reina’s bouncy, fun nature. And like the mud that added SoCal flotsam to Kinky’s instruments, Reina, too, is a mixture of diverse musical elements, with electronica, tropical Latin percussion, traditional Mexican accordion and heavy rock and bass guitars propelling the music’s often chunky beats.

The album starts off effervescently with the funky “Sister Twisted,” moving straight into the sing-a-long DJ track, “I Say Hey.” Guest singer Colin Hay of Men At Work brings a menacing tone to “Monday Killer,” which also boasts a sinewy bass line from Kinky’s Cesar Pliego. Sultry rockera Ely Guerra’s vocals blend nicely with the spacey, Moog-ish keyboards on “A Dónde Van Los Muertos”; there’s also the Morphine-like “How Do They Do That?” and the growling “León” punching things up.

The standout track is the muscular, high-energy “Again And So On.” Lead singer Gilberto Cerezo muses about breaking up the monotony of daily life, suggesting it’s not as easy as it sounds: “I can’t believe it / How I’m living and I’m living it up / And again and so on.” The band slows down briefly for the love song, “Nothing Really,” before wrapping up with the percussive spice of “Uruapan Breaks” and the sexy keyboards on “Spin That Wine.”

Could Kinky become the ultimate party band? If ever a band deserved a wider audience, it’s them, and for sheer dance party fun, there’s no better soundtrack than Reina.