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“There’s no stopping the froggies from hopping”. Tia Rosa’s psychic elevator goes up to Misterio Lounge 3000, the palace of their self described Electronic Frog Pop. In late 2021, Sam Ortiz (Cáustica Espástica), JJ (Vats) and Gabriel Guiterrez (Lysol, American Nudism, Vats) got together, adopting the popular brand of pre-packaged pan dulce Tia Rosa as their band name. Following a string of self released cassettes and domestic tours in 2022 they spent most of last year recording these eight tracks between their homes in colonia Asturias and colonia Navarte, Mexico City.
Misterio Lounge 3000 reaches behind the mirror, charming the sinister 80’s minimal electronic/post punk of Algebra Suicide onto programmed latin rhythms and experimental/new age soundscapes common in 70’s cosmic music. There’s lots of room to groove here and each track feels like a new stop down an expansive astral hallway. “Kelly” drives close with its crunchy guitar and radio interference, “Elevador Síquico” captures the sway of joyous pixelated flowers. “Glass Frog” begins with sampled frogs and ends in a delightful psychedelic freakout. “La Oscuridad” and “Floating Hour” build on the mysterious lounge feel with their respective smooth flute and sax solos.
From start to finish Misterio bounces softly like a Miró painting come to life. Mutant elevator music for obscure prophets, flute lovers and froggy dancers alike. A freakadelic electro oddity for the ages. It’s the new strange sensation and it’s happening now. Frog pop is here. Tia Rosa has delivered.
Our take: The new label Inscrutable Records brings us the debut vinyl from this exciting new band based in Mexico City. Tia Rosa—a three-piece named after a brand of prepackaged baked goods—sounds like nothing I’ve heard before, a unique mash-up of early Rough Trade-style bedsit dub, space age bachelor pad music, Latin jazz, French ye-ye pop, and probably a bunch of other stuff I’m not cultured enough to recognize. That’s a lot to throw in the pot, but despite the cacophony of influences, Tia Rosa’s music is also full of space, evoking the wide-open vistas of dub and 70s German kosmiche. While the songs on Misterio Lounge 3000 vary widely, most feature programmed Latin rhythms that sound distinctive even apart from the creativity the other instruments bring to the table. I think of Latin music as very human, alive, and physical, but the stiff, mechanical rhythms and synthetic sounds give Tia Rosa’s music this intriguing layer of irony… sort of like when Devo covered rock and roll standards like “Satisfaction” and “Working in the Coal Mine” in their trademark robotic style. Bass and vocals are the other key elements, the former often engaging in Fall-influenced wanderings around dark and repetitive grooves while the latter’s sultry-but-coy style reminds me of Gal Costa. Alongside those core elements, Tia Rosa offers a buffet of sounds, from a bevy of synth patches (many of which have the aforementioned retro-futurist feel) to brief cameos from flute, trumpet, and sax on the latter half of the album. There are moments like the first half of “Laberinto” that sound fully avant-garde, but Tia Rosa’s music is also full of melody and extremely pleasant to listen to, never shoving hooks down your throat like pop music, but enticing you to listen with a calmer, more meditative energy. When I first listened to Misterio Lounge 3000 it sounded like it was beamed in from another planet, but even as the novelty has faded with repeated listens, the universe Tia Rosa creates with their music inspires wonder.