Album Review: Rio by Aterciopelados

Colombian rock band explores nature on seventh studio albumOver a driving, electronic groove that sounds like updated B-52s minus the cheese factor, Aterciopelados singer Andrea Echeverri goes to the heart and soul of what her band is all about in the song “Bandera” (“Flag”). “Who said that a piece of fabric closes doors and borders?” she sings, in Spanish, about halfway into the group’s new album, Río. It’s classic Aterciopelados, and one of the many highlights of these environmental prayers, songs of peace and odes to motherhood.

Full Review >>

Following a five-year sabbatical, Aterciopelados staged an acclaimed comeback in 2006 with Oye, a Latin Grammy-winning album on which they returned to the Caribbean folklore-inflected rock of their mid- to late-'90s prime. Río, the follow-up album to Oye, is similarly styled, more reminiscent of La Pipa de la Paz (1997), the album that firmly established Aterciopelados as one of the leading alternative rock bands in Latin America, than subsequent efforts such as Caribe Atómico (1998) or Gozo Poderoso (2001) on which the band more freely experimented with different styles, particularly electronica. While Oye and Río are generally similar in style, they differ in a couple ways.

Full Review >>