SuperPipes, Pipe Llorens
Delhotel, Mexico
Rating: 75
By Carlos Reyes
“Soy el niño mas indie-rock, tambien me gusta Indiana Jones.” Coahuila’s bad boy Pipe Llorens is one of the most interesting characters in Mexican rock today; we were first introduced to his captivating (and weird) world through the intriguing song “Indys,” which pretty much criticized the Mexican indie-rock scene, dissing (if you will) everyone from Saul Hernandez, to Austin TV, Vive Latino, Reactor, etc. The song was a bit too substantial for many of us, but still quite mesmerizing in the way it personalized a cheesy, but well-sustained regional thought where the Mexican scene pretty much ignored the healthier and more stimulating music coming out of El Norte.
When approaching his songs, it’s important to accept them as very pretentious pieces, it’s the only way to fully appreciate their irony and defective complexity. His latest EP SuperPipes is barely five minutes long, but that’s enough to bring up a superhero element to his already eccentric image. The title track shows up in a very guitar-clouded entrance, it quickly finds its own renaissance to a very uplifting hero-anthem, “gritando bien arriba, soy superman!, la gente me grita, andas mal!” It’s this kind of indefinite and self-aware combo what makes this act so appealing. “Manejando en mi carro con Ludwika Paleto, la condeza es mia cuando piso el pavimento,” see, he makes it rhyme (if you don’t know the actress you won’t get it), he also rhymes (Ximena) Sariñana with “araña” and exits his costume with a lovely “adios superpipes bye bye bye.”
Some would take his inclusion of popular names to the mix as opportunistic; we are rather amused by his cynical use of pop culture, this includes the presence of the Diego Santoy and Erika Pena as his top friends on MySpace, responsible for the double homicide scandal in Monterrey in 2006. Pipe Llorens can get bleak and confronting, as he did on his amazing and gigantic anti-anthem “No quiero ejercicios de respiracion, quiero pastillas.” SuperPipes is less confronting, but equally fascinating in its sound. “Dame Un Besito” is breezy and fun, almost resembling a young Beck or the soft moments by Plastilina Mosh. But beware, Pipe Llorens isn’t just concerned with provocative lyrics or catchy hooks, he is a rapper of all sorts, a stupendous pop executer, and a well-formulated joke.