The Mexican band Kinky was headlining the Silver Lake Jubilee, and being front row at one of their concerts is like being in the middle of a mad dance party! The five guys threw about everything in their electronica-techno-rock-en-Espanol, and this is without talking about their exhilarating presence on stage, full of sexy dance moves,… well they have to live up to their moniker! Yeah, these Mexican guys are not really into traditional mariachi, fuck no! They bring a heavy dose of techno-pop-rock in their high-energy music, still very influenced by their roots, using tons of percussions, an accordion, and a trumpet.
They were hard to follow as there was not a dull moment on stage, with Gilberto Cerezo on vocals making fluid dance moves, Ulises Lozano behind a mountain of synth-keyboards, popping up like a devil jumping from his box with sunglasses and accordion adding a few more festive notes to the hard-dance party, Carlos Chairez on guitar (and the more sage on stage) contributing to vocals, Omar Gongora on drums and percussions, and Cesar Pliego on bass, wearing cowboy hat and boots, doing the maddest dance ever, turning on himself, or furiously tapping his foot on the ground like a wild horse.
All their songs had this intense dance feeling, with electronics, synths, guitars, trumpet, accordion, Brazilian percussion, and some other weird noises, as they were mixing with ease Cumbia and techno-disco beats, African congas and electronica beats, so good they could be sampled by Beck or be on any David Byrne's playlists.
Their songs were almost only sung in Spanish – I actually only understood a ‘Welcome to my world’ during their ‘Cornman’ song – and I may have been one of the few in the crowd who was not singing along when they played ‘Más’, their most known single, even used in a Nissan commercial and some movie soundtracks. The crowd loved them, jumping non-stop, responding to their powerful riotous-dance numbers.
The beats on some songs had a 80s-revival disco feeling, almost a Blondie feeling, whereas others had a funky feeling, but there was a lot going on at each minute of their dense carnival-esque set of 14 songs.
When they came back for an encore, the cowboy bassist lighted up a cigarette on stage, which made him look even more badass, and they played a few more of their Spanish party-rock anthems with the same sexy dynamism, fun use of accordion and fluid moves on stage.
Kinky is a powerful rage-dance-machine, installing a punk riot through an intense sweat party of international sounds, they make dance music I like (a rare thing), and are one of these bands probably even more enjoyable live than on record, so catch them if you can.
Setlist:
Inmovil
Perfecta
Alma de Neon
Hasta Quemar
Soun Da Mi Primer Amor
Despues Del After
Mas
Ejercicio
Cornman
Coqueta
Negro Dia
Mexican
Intoxicame
Muertos
