About Me
Imagine for a moment that you're a music critic. You're checking out the new CD by Los Mocosos, and you're thinking, "okay, this is fun. Some good old barrio-style rock." Then suddenly you're hearing reggae and funk and rap. Before you know it you're reaching for the hyphen key way too much: "a triumph of Latino-ska-funk-rock" just sounds silly, even if it's true.That's Los Mocosos. If America still prides itself on being a melting pot, then this just might be the ultimate American band. Born in San Francisco's Mission District, Los Mocosos comes from the tradition that brought us Santana, Malo, and War classic bands that crossed cultural borders as well as musical ones, and whose lyrics had something to say beyond the shaking of one's booty.The most impressive thing about Los Mocosos is that it they sound like the work of a baker (a pinch of this, a dash of that); it is the work of a band that has its own sound a multicultural sound that's so convincing because it reflects who they are. "In the Mission District, bands have always played a varied repertoire," says Greg Landau, the sought-after music and video producer who collaborated on the new record. "If people went to a wedding or community event, you would hear the traditional Latin, R&B, salsa, rock, and romantic ballads played one right after another. So Los Mocosos just synthesized it and found their own voice."It's an America that Los Mocosos have seen a lot of; they've toured with Los Lobos and played Washingon's Kennedy Center and New York's Central Park. They received a San Francisco Wammy Award (for Best International Band apparently they don't have a Best American Band category), a California Music Award (for Outstanding Latin Album), and were part of the groundbreaking compilation Escena Alterlatina: The Future Sound In Espa..ol, the only Latin rock compilation to ever crack the Billboard Latin charts. And just before recording American Us, they toured, perhaps inevitably, with Santana.The rise of interest in world music has changed the American musical landscape. Even Britney Spears uses a Near Eastern-tinged melody on her Top 20 hit "Toxic" now that's what they call "market penetration." Latin music has been part of American popular music since Bing Crosby sang with Xavier Cugat's band almost 60 years ago. But now it's been joined by Jamaican reggae and dub, Afro-Cuban son, and a literal world of other styles that have become so familiar that it's impossible to think of American popular music without them. Los Mocosos didn't have to create this wild new blend of cultures - that's America in the 21st century. But someone had to come along and figure out a way to tell this multicultural America to rock on. And that's American Us.
