Yerba Buena, "Solito Me Quede," President Alien.(Sound Recording Review)

Yerba Buena, "Solito Me Quede," President Alien (Razor and Tie)

It's a tribute (or not) to my generation that one may distinguish between Eminem taking a bong hit on the cover of Rolling Stone and one of Yerba Buena's worthies taking a bong hit on the cover of President Alien. You just know ol' Slim Shady is poised and feathered to do something nasty ... but the bro' in Yerba Buena ("wild weed") is merely cranking up for party time. And so it would seem that the multi-cultural agglomeration that is Yerba Buena would have you believe: nothin' wrong with some weed and a righteous party, mon. And party they do. From the opener "Guajira (I Love U 2 Much)" through the closing "Solar," Yerba Buena delivers a feverish onslaught of Caribbean, mostly Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban, dance music, liberally dosed with hip-hop, rap, African pop, and New York street sensibilities. Unlike The Thrills' pseudo feel-good ambiance or Starsailor's self-professed age of sappy happy, Yerba Buena needs no explanation--the relentless, bootie-wagging beat says it all.

Yerba Buena seems to be Xiomara Laugart (vocals), El Chino (vocals), Pedro Martinez (vocals, percussion), Cucu Diamantes (vocals), Ron Blake (sax, flute, vocals), Rashawn Ross (trumpet, vocals), guiding light Andres Levin (keys, bass), Sebastian Steinberg (bass--late of Neil Finn's 7 Worlds Collide), Terreon "Tank" Gully (drums), and Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez (drums/vocals)--although the ...