MUSIC ARCHIVES

Court Jesters of Mexican Rap-Rawk Top Themselves With Other People’s Tunes

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Remember when rock music was fun, energetic, ballsy, and wild? Yeah, me neither. But Molotov do. They come from Mexico City, where there is mucho super-rock action and their new Con Todo Respeto is a covers record, which usually means “damn, we got no material,” but somehow it ends up being their best record—which is saying a lot, considering that this is a band with an album called Apocalypshit. The covers are insane: the Misfits’ “I Turned Into a Martian” reinvented as a pinpoint cumbia with creepy interpolated profane whispers; the Beastie Boys’ “Girls” turned into the Spanglishized “Chavas” (instead of “Jockin’ Mike D to my dismay,” there is a big chunky belch); a version of the Mex standard “Mi Abuela” with . . . no, now I’ve said too much. But it won’t be a big surprise that the hugest track is “Rock Me Amadeus,” here turned into rap-rawk monolith “Amateur.” The central riff was already awesome, but this one has sweat, grit, style, and guitars that sound like God—plus a video featuring an albino dude named Fabio, trying to win a surreal hot dog contest.

Highlights