Special Discount Kinky

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By now, Latin music has taken so many sizes and shapes that it has finally givenrise to its own sort of underground. Marc Anthony and Ricky Martin may playto the big houses and the Oprah viewers, but for those looking for somethinga little different, one can turn to Plastilina Mosh and Kinky. Hailing likeP. Mosh from the Northeastern Mexico city of Monterey, Kinky have also gonethe way of pulling in a non-Latino producer (in this case, Coldplay/Beta Bandproducer Chris Allison) to tie up all the loose ends and sprawling influencesthey bring to their international debut. Stylistically, they fall somewherein between P. Mosh and the techno-norte~no Nortec Collective, but notunlike Mosh, what they deliver in terms of quality is only vaguely satisfying.

To be sure, despite the language barrier, most Stateside listeners will haveno problem with understanding the groove here. For while the group is playingaround with traditional Mexican styles like Cumbia and Batucada, Kinky sharesa lot more in common with modern day funk and dance appropriations of Latinmusic than the traditional source material. As a result, they represent a Latinversion of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and aren’t the least bit challengingor moving. Of course, some will congratulate this project anyway for its exoticism,but these guys could have gone a lot farther than they did, and fail to createanything particularly new or interesting by playing it down the middle.