Plastilina Mosh — Hola Chicuelos

• Artist: Plastilina Mosh
• Title: Hola Chicuelos
• Year: 2003
• Format: CD
• Rating (1-10): 9
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 2007 – Secondspin.com

For a long time I was unable to find the Plastilina Mosh albums I was missing. The first one, Auqamosh, can be especially expensive and I’ve seen listed in numerous online stores for $80(?!). For real. I found Hola Chicuelos used at Secondspin. For this one they moved to EMI Latin. All notes are in Spanish.

Hola Chicuelos is another piece of music greatness from the genius duo. Like the first two it’s stylistically all over the place. I think a few songs made it to the Latin charts. “Peligroso Pop” is maybe the most poignant sounding pop song I’ve ever heard. Now, I don’t have any idea what they are saying. The lyrics could be his grocery list but the total sound kills me. “Garret Club” is sort of like a jazz dance number, with real horns and strings. I love that one too. “Te lo juro por Madonna” is a rocked out tune with a great guitar riff. I believe that one was a hit. Another hit was “Enzo.” After “Peligroso Pop” this is my favorite. It’s mid-tempo, uses a lot of megaphone, some quick rapping (Or is that sportscasting? I can’t tell.), and a great sing along, or at least hum along chorus.

The album art is again quality stuff. The pages show Jonaz and Alejandro in their individual hotel rooms and, well, it’s just funny when you flip through it.

Plastilina Mosh — Juan Manuel

• Artist: Plastilina Mosh
• Title: Juan Manuel
• Year: 2000
• Format: CD
• Rating (1-10): 10
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 2000 – Amazon.com

Juan Manuel is the second album by Plastilina Mosh and the first one I bought. It’s named for a good friend of theirs. I stumbled upon it when reading reviews about another Mexican group I was interested at the time, Titan (pronounced tee-tahn). This record is a little less rocked out than their debut but it’s my favorite. With the exception of “Supercombo Electronico” there isn’t much hard rocking here at all. There are some jazzy funk and funky jazz tunes like “Saint Tropez is not Far”, ethereal numbers like “Shampoo”, and plenty of great dance stuff like “Human Disco Ball.” My absolute favorite song is the super-chill, slow tempo, vocoder vocaled “Baretta ’89.” I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a essentially mellow song that is this exciting.

Also included on this “enhanced CD” is a great video for “Human Disco Ball” depicting the “enchanting story of a boy and his pinball machine.” Like I said yesterday, I’ll get back to the videos later. Another music hero of mine, Money Mark, has a production credit on the record. At first I thought his fingerprints were on everything, but it turns he only did three songs. And great album art is not dead! For one funny tidbit look inside the tabs that hold the CD center. I think that face peeking out may be Juan Manuel himself.

The album is bookended by two beautifully strange instrumentals, “Nordic Laser” and “Good Bye Happy Farm.” The latter ends with the sounds of horse hoofs slowly clip-clopping off into the distance. What could be better than that?

Plastilina Mosh — Aquamosh

• Artist: Plastilina Mosh
• Title: Aquamosh
• Year: 1998
• Format: CD
• Rating (1-10): 9
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 2007 – SecondSpin.com
• Keeper: Yes

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo this coming Saturday I’m going to spend the week posting about some Mexican musicians who are my favorite band. And I don’t mean my favorite band from Mexico; I mean favorite band, period. Ladies and gentlemen… Plastilina Mosh!

I would like Beck as much as PMosh if he were twice as energetic and half as moody, and the Beastie Boys as much if they were as consistent. There is a connection there, but they are no imitators. They use Spanish and English, and other languages, in the same songs. They play songs in styles ranging from pure hip hop, rock and roll, punk, disco, lounge, noise, stuff I can’t explain or have never heard before, jazzy Stereolab-sounding things, and more. They appear to have no rules other than making good music. All that from only two guys, Alejandro Rosso and Jonás González.

Plastilina Mosh has had some real commercial success, especially in Latin markets. If you’re lucky you can catch one of their videos on MTV3, or MTV “Tr3�?s.” This is the one MTV that actually plays music videos. Isn’t that what MTV2 was for? Or, for that matter the original MTV? Anyhow, even their videos are great. I’ll get back to that later in the week.

Auqamosh is their debut album, but I didn’t get hip to them until their second release, Juan Manuel. My favorites from this one are the slamming rock hip hop opener “Niño Bomba”, “Afroman”, the hit “Monster Truck.”

Introduce yourself to Mr. P. Mosh.