Originally calling themselves "Alicia ya no vive aquí" (
Alice doesn't live here anymore), these four musicians from the northern
Mexico City suburb of
Ciudad Satélite started out as just another
garage band. Slowly they began to change their concept to embrace
Mexican culture and originality. They replaced their "rock instruments":
electric guitar and bass, for an acoustic guitar and "
tololoche." They wanted to "evolve" into a new idea: to play more
folkloric music mixed with their musical influences.
Their debut in 1989 in the
Mexico City bar scene, gathered them a
cult following, until signing with WEA Latina (
Warner Brothers Latin America) and releasing their self-titled debut in 1992. It was a commercial success, selling more than 350k copies, launching them as "
post-punk contemporaries".
Their second album, titled "Ré", was released in 1994, and was chosen as the best "
rock en español" album of all time by the
Village Voice. Keyboardist and programmer
Emmanuel del Real is accompanied by the Rangel brothers (Joselo on
guitar and background vocals and Enrique on
bass), while the frontman/vocalist/album art designer
Rubén Albarrán takes on a different name for each album (Juan for "Café Tacuba", Cosme for "Ré", Anónimo for "Avalancha de Exitos and Nru for "Reves/Yosoy"). The band members have described their sound as:
"La música que nos vino de todas las partes del mundo pasa por un filtro y luego se transforma en algo diferente"
(The music that arrived to us from all over the world passes through a filter and then is transformed into something different).
They played
Lollapalooza sometime during the 1990s (I can't remember exactly when though). Their third album "Avalancha de Exitos" was a
collection of 8 cover songs ranging from
Perez Prado's instrumental "
Perfidia" to
Botellita de Jerez's "
Alarmala de Tos" to
Flans' "
No Controles". They had to fight hard against their record company to release their latest production, "Reves/Yosoy". The double-album surpasses the label of "concept album." The
suits were pissing their pants, wanting to market an album that would make them
oodles and oodles of money.