Tragedias y Esperanzas En Tiempos de Internet, Los Niños Estelares
Independiente, Puerto Rico
Rating: 68
By Carlos Reyes
There are bands that can’t go unnoticed, and then there’s Los Niños Estelares. When we were first introduced to the band, we couldn’t help to think they had escaped from a zoo, or some kind of mental facility (for former intellectuals). In an effort to figure out what was in front of us, we described them as “a Tropical fusion between Calle 13, Tosh.0 and Flight of the Concords.” Many months have passed by us, and we’re still clueless. Any sort of unclassifiable art merits recognition, but when such art allows itself to be appreciated without coming to terms with any genre tags, things tend to get very interesting.
Tragedias y Esperanzas En Tiempos de Internet is the duo’s third release, and their very first short-length. When first approaching this album two things come to mind. First, a critique on their aesthetic disproportion as they’re the owners of one of the worst album covers we’ve seen recently. Second, is my personal agony to try to figure out if these guys are geeks, douchebags, or misunderstood geniuses. It's not particularly bad news, but this new album does very little to resolve my dilemmas. However, this doesn’t change the fact that I’m beginning to appreciate Los Niños Estelares as way more than your average rebels-without-cause, and more as a form of entertainment.
The five tracks on this quirky, genre-defying EP are chapters of social distraction and national destruction. Without falling into the realm of over-sentimentalist ‘theme music’, the EP’s opening track “Cuando Va A Caer La Bomba” tackles on the issue of a new Puerto Rican generation unwilling to compromise their lives to a form of totalitarian government. The 60-day student strike at the University of Puerto Rico resulted in the most significant movement powered by young adults on the island.
As they so explicitly point out, they see poverty as a form of slavery, and eventually have a hard time backing up their humorous argument. Throughout the album they do get very romantic about new media, and that’s where the album’s biggest strengths are (but nowhere near Capullo’s Informatica Romantica Para Avanzados). The rest of the tracks are fun for the most part, “Pari Bus” is particularly charming: who wouldn’t want to become a Party Bus. Also interesting, is their skuzzy cover of “Tatooine” by Jeremy Messersmith, which seems so out there. I won’t give myself another chance to define Los Niños Estelares because certainly, I don’t know. Tragedias y Esperanzas is full of ideas, some are bright, others are more like bad habits… yet again, the duo already knew that.