Country : United States Label : Glitterbeat Genres and styles : Alternative Rock / Boogaloo / Cumbia / Ranchera / Reggae Year : 2020

Curandero

· by Rupert Bottenberg

Founded in 2009, Arizona’s Orkesta Mendoza was initially an ephemeral effort, thrown together for a tribute to Cuba’s mambo maestro Pérez Prado. Well, here they are, a decade and three albums later, and they’re still having fun – and awful lot of it, if Curandero is any indication.

OM jefe Sergio Mendoza is also a member of Tucson’s Calexico, and the bands share a list of basic ingredients sourced on both sides of the border, as well as a somewhat cinematic sensibility. Beyond that, though, Calexico and Mendoza’s Orkesta are almost literally night and day – the former’s lonesome “desert noir” drenched in a somber midnight mood, the latter’s bilingual “Mexican mambo” sociable (guests abound on Curandero) and soaked in sunshine.

Opener “La Paleta”, a muscular, uptempo cumbia rocker, kicks the door open, and from there, like some lurid lotería card for your loudspeakers, Curandero proceeds to do something different at every turn. “Head Above Water” is a sparkling, buoyant bit of tropical ska, while “Eres Oficial” and “Why You Looking That Way” bounce around some bubblegum boogaloo. Elsewhere, there’s the sentimental, psychotropic dub-reggae ranchera of “Me dejo Llevar”, the 8-bit ornamentation of “El Chumina”, and the outlandish mambo “Bora Bora”. Things close out on the finger-snapping boogie-woogie of “Hoodoo Voodoo Queen”, sustaining the album’s irreverent high spirits to its final, full-bodied chord.

Latest 360 Content

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Blondshell – If You Asked For a Picture

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Hitting a Fever Pitch at the Ribbon Skirt LP Launch 

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Wu-Tang Clan & Mathematics – Black Samson, the Bastard Swordsman.

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Dalit Hadass Warshaw, Boston Modern Orchestra Project / Gil Rose – Sirens

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Howard Shore/Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France – Shore : Anthology

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

Quatuor Diotima – Boulez : Livre pour quatuor

LMNL – Rainbow

LMNL – Rainbow

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Strat Andriotis – Exits

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Richard Reed Parry – The Actor

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Tamara Stefanovich – Organised Delirium

Galan Trio – Embrace

Galan Trio – Embrace

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Jack Van Zandt – A Chaos of Light and Motion

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Tommy Crane – Reality Curated: Live at Ursa

Thomas DeLio – Anti-paysage

Thomas DeLio – Anti-paysage

No Hay Banda – Steven Kazuo Takasugi : Il Teatro Rosso

No Hay Banda – Steven Kazuo Takasugi : Il Teatro Rosso

Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra; Vancouver Chamber Choir – Christopher Tyler Nickel : Mass; Te Deum

Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra; Vancouver Chamber Choir – Christopher Tyler Nickel : Mass; Te Deum

Hypercube – The Force for Good

Hypercube – The Force for Good

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?

PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?

Duo AYA – Cycles

Duo AYA – Cycles

Papillon Social Club – Dur de la feuille

Papillon Social Club – Dur de la feuille

Coalescent Quartet – The Wall Between Us

Coalescent Quartet – The Wall Between Us

Samuel Bonnet Trio – Live in Harmony

Samuel Bonnet Trio – Live in Harmony

Marc-André Hamelin; Quatuor Takacs – Dvořák & Price : Piano Quintets

Marc-André Hamelin; Quatuor Takacs – Dvořák & Price : Piano Quintets

Subscribe to our newsletter