Review: café tacvba — jei beibi

_Jei Beibi_, Café’s latest record is a collection of songs that neither sound original nor entertaining to the average listener that’s not a hard-core fan. _Los Tacvbos_ have been repeating

themselves for some years now creating the same pop-rock ballads since _Cuatro Caminos_, the record where _Café_ first presented their current sound that granted the critic’s approval,

despite hints that their sound was evolving something more interesting. _Jei Beibi_ is a bitter disappointment lyrically, musically, and stylistically. On the record, _Café_ present a somber

view of their world in a cheap, corny way. There’s no artistic exploration in the way _Los Tacvbos_ express their suffering through music. And whatever penurious situation they were in, it

seems it was self-inflicted: drugs, love affairs, and the ever-present anxiety of death. The song _el mundo en que nací_ is a predictable, cliché song filled with easy-to-write verses and a

subpar, bleak and forced, vocal delivery. _Los Tacvbos_ try, unsuccessfully, to submerge the listener in a lullaby-like song that wants to paint the (allegedly!) gloomy state of the world.

But at the same time, it is a multifaceted song where Emanuel expresses gratitude to his parents, excuses himself of all the future harm he may cause to his child, and finds a justification

to be a passive observer in this world. No matter the song’s good intention, that’s a song that should not make the cut on any record released by a major band, let alone _Café Tacvba’s_.

_Los Tacvbos_ seem to be conscious of their own decline in artistic quality. In several songs, they express the frustration of having exhausted the set of possible songs hidden in the

superset of all possible melodies and the anxiety of never being able to escape their artistic personas. _Los Tacvbos_ express the need to be in harmony with themselves and the need to run

away from their fame. It turns out, they are tired of living a lie. It turns out, the image of rebellious chaps was a façade. It turns out, they just want a peasant life. _Café_ is either

going trough a quite difficult moment of confusion and stress, or they are just betraying their former selves by negating their past life. But there’s one song which demonstrates that _Café

Tacvba_ as a band doesn’t give a fuck anymore. _Me gusta tu manera_ is a reggae/rap mix that can easily be Café’s worst attempt to put together a song. The lyrics are a repetitive,

meaningless mantra declaring that _me gusta tu manera de besar_ the way a horny teenager would do. This song is a half-baked attempt to evolve Café’s sound into the direction of the likes of

_Sonido Gallo Negro_ or _Dengue Dengue Dengue_. _Café Tacvba_ is not offering anything new and whatever advancement they tried to make on their sound, they failed to bring it to fruition.