Café Tacvba

Most likely Mexico's most important Rock en Español band, Café Tacvba has blended electro-rock, ska, punk and Mexican folkloric music to the delight of fans and critics alike for nearly two decades.

Formed in Mexico City in 1989 by Rubén Albarrán (vocals), Emmanuel "Meme" Del Real (keyboard, guitar and vocals), and brothers Joselo Rangel (guitar and vocals) y Enrique "Quique" Rangel (bass), the musically-trained group was immediately like nothing else that had come before it. Their complex yet playful self-titled debut and its follow-up, the dark but elegant Re, were so unlike the music of their peers – La Lupita, Maná and Caifanes – as to catapult them out of the Mexican scene and onto the global stage.

Modern and artsy, the band is nonetheless puro mexicano as evidenced on two of their biggest hits, the frenetic, Norteño-infused Ingrata and the melancholy, bolero-inspired María. And while the majority of Tacvba's U.S. fan base consists of Spanish-speaking Latinos, their eclectic and perfectly contemporary sound has attracted thousands of cosmopolitan hipsters (read: white people) who have seen them on tour with Beck or playing festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza.

Café Tacvba's latest album, Sino (both "yesno" and/or "ifnot"), is their sixth studio record and most collaborative release to date. Lead singer Rubén Albarrán, aka Ixaya Mazatzin Tleyotl, whose sometimes grating vocals have turned off many would-be Tacvba fans, takes it down a notch, leaving room for his bandmates to take the band in new directions on many rolas. The album's best moments may be those where Meme and Joselo, while not always pitch-perfect, add their gentle touch.

A mostly traditional rock album – their second with a live drummer – Sino has more than a few pleasant surprises. Volver a Comenzar, which means "starting over, with its sweet melodies, jangly guitars and throbbing bassline, may be the closest these four Mexican lads have come to sounding like the British group to which they have so often been compared in Latin America: The Beatles.