The Mexican Institute of Sound - Mexico Maxico Print
New Albums - Electronica & Hip Hop Albums
Written by Jordan White   

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The Mexican Institute of Sound, funnily enough, is not an initiative by the Mexican tourist board to promote maracas and panpipes, but an effort by one man – DJ Camilo Lara – to give you a lesson or two in the art of the Latino remix!

Keeping to his Latin roots, it’s no surprise that the track listings are, in fact, in Spanish.  Therefore I write for you today to interpret music and to translate language. Aren’t you lucky?

Opening number, "Bienvenidos a Mi Disco" (Welcome to My Record), sets the tone of the album.  While every other song these days is being digitally enhanced, DJ Camilo is doing the opposite and adding a vintage sound to his production.  Add to that a Spanish monologue, some electro blips and a funky beat, and you end up with something very unique and curious indeed.

"Mirando a Las Muchachas" (Watching Girls’) takes a sample from Andy Williams’ classic "Music to Watch Girls By" and manages to make it sound older than the original.  Think of scratching a vinyl and then playing it on a Gramophone... talk about digitally de-mastering. "Cybermambo" (Must I?) combines electro-pop with traditional Mexican fanfare.  It’s that simple, it’s that brilliant.

"Jaja Pipi" provides much hilarity to the English ear.  You would think it refers to somebody wetting themselves. You wouldn’t be too far off - translated; Pipi literally means small penis.  But in a foreign language, with some retro synth chords, it just sounds cool and clever.

Skip straight to track 14 if its 3am and you still are still fairly-straight - this psychedelic reggaton is music’s way of giving you a helping hand…and on that note I shall now close my eyes and think of flying gramophones.

8/10