Tape Music / EMI, Mexico
Rating: 80 ★★★★
by Jean-Stephane Beriot
Those of us not fully immersed in Mexico’s independent scene might not understand the expectation for the debut album by She’s a Tease, apparently, one of the most anticipated albums in years. Outside, they were virtually unknown; it’s fair to say that to the rest of the world, they were officially born with “Datos Intimos”, an indisputable anthem of 21st century love. Monterrey is home of the new school of cool Mexican bands, She’s a Tease might be the most hip, mad-decent friendly act in the country. Once you pass their image and the trends, there’s a tremendously talented band behind Millonaria, home of some of the oddest and coolest ideas put into record this year.
She’s a Tease is comprised of four cool kids who were probably never hardcore rockers and embrace their Americanized subculture by making cool universal tunes on a back-to-back scheme, not distinguishing language or rhythms from each other. At any price, at any cause, the band merges genres without measure. “Why”is the outcome of a bouncing ball that takes starts its voyage from the Happy-Fi headquarters, over to Vanilla Ice’s main mansion, up to Toy Selectah’s sound system and back to the pumping heart of a complicated chick, “Why does your love hurt so much? Tell me why.”
Not only are they skillful and strict with their use of synths and disco strings, they treat these sounds as luxurious resources. While listening to “Pan y Vino” you can visualize a group of Hip Hop music-video dancers crawling in gold and liquid chocolate. Every time they try to approach urban music they end up somewhere in the Middle East, not such a bad idea at all when they “just got to get that gold.” Disco fever breathes in “Ciudad Abierta”, a dark mysterious track with epic hooks and some impressive air instrumentation. The song starts as a smoky nightlife piece and later reveals that it is actually a chant about the ‘missing’ keys to the once peaceful city of Monterrey, and the city's current smell to gunpowder, “plomo sobre Monterrey.”
The first amazing single “Fiebre de Jack” sings about the victims of the fever, the disco fever of course. The song starts in the hot dessert of Lawarence of Arabia and ends up on the even sweatier Saturday Night Fever, “ejercitos de juventud borracha y loca de fiebre.” Believe it or not, there’s an even catchier tune in the album. “Genio de los Deseos” rolls its magic on a shooting star foundation, commanding the beats and awe-inspiring dance-pop to maximum strength (disco in blue jeans). By the end of this album, you can’t help but feel you’re under the ecstasy of disco. Millonaria is worthy of much of its hype; it’s a mirror ball, an achievement.