Thirty years ago, the boundaries of Latin American rock were forever expanded with the release of Re , the second album by Mexican quartet Café Tacvba . At the time, other bands were also fusing mainstream rock idioms with the vast tapestry of traditional Latin folk. Tacvba outdid them all with Re — a sprawling, manic collection of 20 tracks that mirrors life in Mexico City and, by extension, the reckless energy around the continent.
Singer Rubén Albarrán (nicknamed Cosme on this particular session), keyboardist Emmanuel del Real, guitarist Joselo Rangel, and his bassist brother Quique dive gleefully into a mosh pit of punk, ska, funk, and grunge, but also pay fleeting tribute — both ironic and reverential — to mambo and bossa nova, huapango and norteño, bolero and balada. Re is unapologetic about its own whimsy: Its brand of magical realism is instinctive — even unconscious, perhaps. Not surprisingly, it sounds just as fresh and prescient as it did in July 1994; tracks like “La Ingrata,” “Las Flores,” and “El Baile Y El Salón” are still some of the band’s biggest hits.
After Re , Tacvba’s albums became even more ambitious: The experimental, double LP Revés/Yosoy (1999) is also the band’s most achingly beautiful. In 2007, Sino relished the chance to embrace progressive rock. The group is currently working on a new album, but Re remains the one that is the easiest to love.
Rolling Stone caught up with Del Real and Quique Rangel to reminisc.