From the start, it was clear that Angel, one of the two brothers to found the band, is an adept drummer; Jorge, despite his dorky enthusiasm, backs it up with skills on the guitar; and though Ms. Lupe Martinez, a fine singer and guitarist, was the last to join the group, she gives the outfit an edge and a memorable face, filling up the void that would’ve been left otherwise. 

After dabbling in several bands and experimenting with several sounds, the brothers have found themselves in Allá, which was once no more than a side project, but Allá has yet to fully find itself, at least live; the body has been identified as have the limbs, but I don’t think it’s quite soaring yet. The very least I expected was a just rendition of the joyous “Una Dia Otra Noche”, which is being pushed as “the single” over the internetz. Instead, we got a muddy, jammy version, which would’ve been fine had they at another point given proof of their ability to play that song with the kind of precision it requires. The thing is, though the percussive elements were strong throughout the show, the composition of the six-piece ensemble was not that interesting: a bass, a keyboard, drums, two guitars and additional percussive instruments like cowbell, tambourine, etc. If you’re going to entice listeners with a song like “Una Dia Otra Noche”, which doesn’t reflect the overall sound of the record, you really have to deliver it live—there should’ve been a violinist there!

A great band to have on the horizon, nonetheless.

Any Os Mutantes comparisons are well deserved—both groups get real far-out but still come off tropical-drink breezy—but Allá’s palette might be even broader, including bits of everything from Krautrock to hip-hop.

An earlier paragraph does a better job, read it after the jump:

Allá transforms traditional Mexican music—especially the combination of lushly harmonized folk melodies and Spanish-influenced guitar made famous by groups like the legendary Trio Los Panchos—into psychedelic confections, much the way Os Mutantes did with Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean styles in the 60s.

Yet that reasoning seems inadequate and the comparison difficult to swallow. Allá paints luscious cityscapes, mainly of a Chicago where artsy Latino kids hang with white kids without ever feeling like insiders, being challenged by their own kind, in the meanwhile, on the issue of Latino credibility. By contrast, I always imagined Os Mutantes to involve a superhero that rides a strong mule across hills adorned with dirt roads and many thieves. Perhaps I’m just being pigheaded.

Also, the texture that Portuguese words of Brazilian use insinuate are of a vastly different nature from Spanish’s, Mexican or not, and the singing styles differ too much; differences such as that in the earthy strings of the Mutantes compared to the sharp in Allá add up, too. I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if the live show proved slightly otherwise, when the music is stripped of polished studio production.

On the topic of being one of the first Latino bands to appeal to a primarily white indie music audience, the same article quotes founding member Jorge:

 “Besides traditional music,” he says, “there isn’t a lot of good Mexican music.”

That can’t be true! Further research must be posted on this blog.