Greetings from Puebla, Mexico, where I just finished the Cinco Tacos special: only 25 pesos for five crazy good tacos al pastor. Insert Homer Simpson blissful gargle noise here. I’m in Mexico this week to do a couple DJ gigs at “warm-up parties” for the MX Beat Soundfest music festival, and while its prominent Marlboro sponsorship gave me pause (I’m an American Spirit smoker!), I guess commercial tie-ins are kind of typical south of the border, and the lineup is reassuringly fantastic, including both international artists like the Beastie Boys and M.I.A. as well as Mexican artists like Los Dynamite and Instituto Mexicano del Sonido. Headlining the event here in Puebla on Saturday is Plastilina Mosh, a Monterrey duo who have a reputation for enthusiastic eclecticism. Their latest single, last year’s “Millionaire,” connects the dots between loping reggaeton, glitchy Aphex Twin, and, well, Ace of Base, and happily switches between Spanish and English. I haven’t been able to get it out of my head all week:
Silly, but the video-game synths are quirky enough to keep it from sliding into complete cheese-land. Back in 1998, one of the band’s first singles, “Mr. P. Mosh,” was a huge smash here in Mexico, and its straight-ahead hip-hop sound is partially due to their using Cypress Hill’s producer:
If you find yourself in the neighborhood of Mexico’s fourth largest city this weekend, check out Plastilina Mosh at the Parque del Arte.
(Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Guatevino)
