Independiente, Costa Rica
Rating: 75
by Andrew Casillas
To (poorly) paraphrase Jon Landau, I have seen the future of Costa Rican low-fi surf-inspired rock and roll, and its name is Ave Negra. This two-piece rawkact ain’t ever going to be confused with Bruce Springsteen, but dammit if they don’t seem capable of melting a stack of Chrysalis records from time to time.
Razor-thin sounding, white noise-laden rock has made a big comeback over the past five years, but not many of these acts quite grasp the concept of thermodynamics. Sensaciones Juveniles, the band’s latest EP, sustains a breakneck pace for 10 full minutes without coming up for air because air is ostensibly for pussies. Not that this is rock and roll filtered through machismo—I mean, we already have one Davila 666. Instead, Ave Negra plays pure garage rock with the liberation of a thousand teenagers. This ain’t no place for the real world or anything.
Of course, these two aren’t The Hives either. Instead of using lo-fi techniques to sound like 2,000 men, Ave Negra disappointingly sounds like two. The sound quality lacks in spaces, and none of the songs really HIT. There’s certainly potential that they’re bound for a Nuggets-worthy gem one day, but none of these exactly match up with The Remains’ “Don’t Look Back.” But, for now, “Quita Penas” and “Tatatata Yayaya” will make for great block party cookout jams. The future, however, may be all theirs for the taking.
Tatatata Yayaya by avenegra