Acosador de Media Noche(Episodio No.2), Alexico
Belafonte Melodías, Mexico
Rating: 70
by Pierre Lestruhaut
An adjective we’ve used quite often to describe Alexico is “interesting”. Because without still entering into the inevitable subjectivity of judging his qualities as a musician, there’s no denying he’s a very interesting character. The guy’s already built himself an enfant-terrible reputation, particularly for his idiosyncratic approach towards uncommon subjects of interest such as religion, blood and corpses in both his lyrics and the jaw-dropping video of the irresistible pop tune “Mis Amigos Y Yo Te Amamos”. Added to the fact that he’s also part of two other CF approved acts, the abrasively danceable Selma Oxor and the abrasively frenetical White Ninja, though his solo work falls more under the line of electronic production exercises.
Although, whereas most electronic musicians would rather focus in finding a particular palette of sounds or persistent thematic through which they can properly develop what could be called their own personal aesthetic, four years ago this guy from Monterrey seemed way more interested in being consistently inconsistent in his display of sounds and ideas. His debut album Dios Es Lo Máximo had him easily jumping from drone obsessive to dance floor pop enthusiast, from glitchy experimentation to musique concrète efforts, which kind of felt like a weird attempt to densify all experimental electronic music ever made in a 40 minute album. Fast forward to 2011, and the first thing that comes to mind while listening to the new Alexico record Acosador de Media Noche (Episodio No. 2) is an evident decision to shorten his sonic palette, valuing consistency over previous thick experimentation this time. It’s still something we wouldn’t qualify as particularly accessible, but if you make it past its half-IDM half-glitch introduction, you’ll be treated to some heavily pounding beats, a continuous deluge of catchy synth lines and some pretty weird lyrics sung in a dance-punk style, elements very reminiscent of the DFA catalog.
“Gordo Grande Y Marica” with only its title already seems to suggests that Alexico shares an ethos fitting with the ironic self-mockery of James Murphy, while lines like “¿Qué es lo que te ofrece un precoz después de 5 minutos? / Quiero intentar escuchar por qué no puedo follar” along with others like the repetition of “Tú quieres eyaculación, yo quiero menstruación” in “A Mí No Me Dieron El Don” could very well fall under that similar approach but oriented towards twisted sexual addiction, or they could also simply be dismissed as nonsensical repetition from a really eccentric artist. Overall the album works best when observed as a an enjoyable dance-punk trip, simply appreciating small details like the great “Na na na....” melody in “Nombre del Perro”, or the shift from the gritty and frenzy screaming to the docile synth soundscape closure in “La Sombra”. Because trying to understand and share Alexico’s worldview and intentions is something very few would probably claim to be easy to appreciate. With this guy most things are just really paper thin, even polarizing, though eventually quite "interesting."