Kinky

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Bio

Gilberto Cerezo - vocals-guitar-scratches
Ulises Lozano - keyboard-programming-vocals
Carlos Chairez - guitar-vocals
Omar Gongora - drums-percussion-vocals
Cesar Pliego - bass-vocals

A saucy five-piece with a penchant for creating momentous, multi-layered electro-pop love songs that pulse with the energy of live norteño and cumbia sounds, Kinky are charming heartthrobs for an increasingly global groove conscious public. They're also among an all but endangered breed of bands that are eclectic without artifice, which is as a result of their genuine cross-section of musical roots and interests.

"All of us have very different influences in music," says Ulises Lozano, who, in the studio, becomes an unofficial leader of sorts for the band. "Me, I'm more into electronic music. Omar listens to a lot of Latin and jazz music, while Gil and Carlos are more into the rock and trip-hop style."

All five members of Kinky (who range in age from 22 to 3l) are from Monterrey, Mexico and knew each other for years from playing around town. "Because Monterrey is not that big of a city, most musicians know each other from playing in different bands, or from school," explains Ulises.

Formed in 1998, Kinky first caught the ear of U.K. producer Chris Allison (whose credits include work with The Beta Band and Coldplay) a year later. Allison heard an early demo of the track "San Antonio" while working on an album for Plastilina Mosh, another great band from Monterrey. "The song had a kind of haunting feel to it, which you can't exactly put your finger on," remembers Allison, "but it was quite original in both song construction and feel." Impressed with the high standard of the demo, Allison encouraged them to keep writing and sending songs to him.

Kinky then stormed the Battle of the Bands in New York at the annual LAMC (Latin Alternative Music Conference) in August 2000, beating out ten other finalists to win the contest for outstanding, unsigned Latin American bands. Shortly thereafter and amidst vying attention from other labels, Chris Allison officially signed Kinky to his London-based Sonic360 group of labels and headed into the studio in Monterrey with them to produce their debut, self-titled album. Through a licensing deal in the U.S. and Canada, Kinky joined Nettwerk's roster of artists in 2000.

Ever since winning the Battle of the Bands and recording their album, Kinky has continued to build on their reputation of being amazing live performers. 2001 was a busy year that included memorable dates in Colombia, France, Mexico and England. All but eliminating the gap between audience and artist, their wildly infectious stage show, which frequently finds band members swapping instruments, ignites the room (whether a nightclub or rock venue) into a spirited, participatory celebration. After one of several sold-out gigs at London's Cargo Club, the London Metro called them "a demented fusion of funky guitar licks, electronic beats, housey grooves, and stomping electro rock."

While Kinky the band is, first and foremost, a live group out to rock the house, KINKY as an album also has a firm foot into the world of electronic dance music, thanks largely to the witty and technically precise programming led in the studio by Ulises. Few bands merge the worlds of rock and dance with such unfettered ease.

As the opening rager "Mas" throws down wicked live bass guitar and B-boy hip-hop breaks, it's apparent that Kinky are fluent in a borderless kind of funk. "Vamos queriendo más y más/Más y más, más y más," demands Gil, as a confident swagger of percussion and guitars surround him - "We want more and more/More and more, more and more." A choice anthem to express the lust for life of these five young musicians.

They readily admit they're kinky, of course - but that doesn't mean that these players are sleazy. "Soun Tha Mi Primer Amor" ("You're My First Love") bounces with a sweet and beguiling innocence, while "Sambita" is a wistful song to a lost paramour that's made a lasting impression: "Your face is tattooed on my eyelids and every time I close my eyes I see you there". Truth told, it seems as though Kinky is in love with love rather than with anything, well, kinky.

Their witty observations on life and love are often taken from everyday life, but Gil's lyrics bear the audible influence of his love of contemporary Latin American authors such as Gabriel Garcia Márquez and the literary style of magic realism. Everyday institutions of Monterrey are portrayed with an enchanted light - such as the acrobatic vendor that they immortalize on "Cornman," an old man who sings and does backflips to entice his customers to purchase his corn. In "San Antonio," Gil sings to a local saint that, when hung upside down, helps women catch boyfriends.

Within the sonic twists and tumbles of the album, Kinky manage to capture the peaks and valleys of the clubbing experience. This ranges from the wondrous highs of discovering new angles on life ("Mirando de Lado," about the perspectives of looking sideways) to the dizzying exhaustion of overdone hedonism ("Noche De Toxinas"). In the latter, Gil sings, Reality is the cheapest version of what I feel", ("La realidad es la versión austera de lo que siento"), recalling the feeling of staying up to usher in one too many mornings.

"Ejercicio #16" leads listeners through a session of light calisthenics in a course of disco aerobics that could have easily been taught in Studio 54. "The Great Spot" is a sublimely chilled slice of minimal techno that would sound intimately at home on dance floors the world over. Its sparse yet elegant layers of rhythm neatly references the sophisticated electronic programming of innovative artists like France's St. Germain and Germany's Ian Pooley (whom Ulises points out as true favorites).

Kinky transcends boundaries with an untainted joie de vivre . Their focus on the universal principles of funk help to serve up a sensual musical feast that you can't help but devour.