When he wrote ‘Living with War’ in 2006, Neil Young said (and I paraphrase from memory) that he had to write this album because he got tired of waiting for the young generation to make this kind of statement and take a stand,… Young generation? Taking a stand? He certainly would not be able to say this if he had been listening to Outernational, the New York, politically-engaged and Tom-Morello-endorsed band, who just put their first album out on bandcamp.
‘Todos Somos Ilegales: We Are All Illegals’ may be talking about another kind of war, the one going on at the border, but the feisty energy carried with a gentle but determined fist in the air is there from start to finish, along with an invigorating and genuine vehemence, and a part reserved to satirical humor.
The album opens with half-melancholic, half-triumphant Mariachi trumpets, as if it was the beginning of a western adventure inviting to the revolt and protest, and continues with an exuberant mix of Latino rhythms, ska, reggae, punk, dub, polka, mariachi and a dash of hip hop. Undoubtedly, Miles Solay’s delivery finds its place between Joe Strummer’s and Eugene Hütz’s, and may venture at times so close to the original, like on ‘First Among Equals’, ‘Ladies of the Night’, or the Reggae-ska ‘Buried and Done’, that Solay’s vocals just make visualize a young Strummer.
And when I mentioned Tom Morello, I was not kidding as he produced a few songs on the album and even joins the group on several songs, like on the album theme song ‘We are all Illegals’, which definitively carries a Rage-Against-the Machine aura, thanks to the way Solay shouts ‘a new way and a new day’, and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith’s work on drums. Morello is again on vocals and guitar for a joyous and accordion-waltz-ified cover of Woody Guthrie’s ‘Deportees (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)’, way more playful and lively than the original. And, on a side note, a year or so ago, the band had made the song available as a free download in response to Arizona’s law targeting illegal immigrants.
They also get some help from ex-member of the legendary, political ska-punk-rock band Tijuana No! Ceci Bastida on the tender ‘Canta El Rio’, and from Bob Avakian (the Chairman of the US Revolutionary Communist Party!) on ‘Across the Borderline’, a song written by Ry Cooder, John Hiatt and James Luther Dickinson.
The short interludes between the songs bring gravitas and humor, with monologues in Spanish, and even dialogues from Tommy Lee Jones’ drama ‘The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrades', or excerpts from the popular satirical and unapologetic cartoon South Park.
The album closes with the Morello-produced ‘Que Queremos’, a beautiful Spanish song energized by harmonium and trumpets, which could have found a place on a Gogogl Bordello album.
There is an undeniable and refreshing passion all along the album, an outspoken fervor for what they believe in, revolution, justice, and a better world in which borders do not exist. Their music seems to reflect this same idea, with international influences and a mission each of them seem to carry with pride on their sleeves. Just listen to this Clash-inspired album by Eugene-Hütz’s little brothers, and, of course, support them by downloading it here: