Kinky's World Party

On Kinky’s second album, Atlas, the five-piece Mexican group’s music lives up to the record’s globe-spanning title, encompassing world-dance beats and more traditional Latin and rock rhythms. But Gilberto Cerezo, the group’s guitarist, vocalist and primary lyricist says that’s not where the name came from.

“We found it interesting that it was composed in many different places, so that by the end of the day, it was like a really big map; so we called it Atlas.” After writing in various airports, tour buses and hotels all over the world, the band recorded Atlas in a remote jungle region of Qunitana Roo, Mexico. Cerezo credits the influence of his bandmate’s for Kinky’s eclectic style.

“We thought, ‘if two heads are better than one, then five heads are better than two.’ … At the beginning, we were searching for a specific sound, like acid-jazz. But then it happened—I don’t know when or how—suddenly everybody was open to the ideas of everyone in the group.”

In stark contrast to certain types of romantic Latin music, Kinky’s lyrics, sung in both Spanish and English, are more in line with the magical realism of Mexican art films. And they’re often quirky, reminiscent of bands like Talking Heads and Cake. In fact, Cake vocalist John McCrea invited the group to join his variety-filled Unlimited Sunshine tour recently, and Kinky has now returned the favor by having McCrea contribute his distinctive spoken-word musical approach to an Atlas track called “The Headphonist.” At one point during this song, McCrea asks inquisitively, “What is the shape of silence?” This same observational approach pops up again in “Snapshot,” when Cerezo muses, “Moments are just like pictures.”

“There’s a lot of magic in the little details and the little things that are surrounding us all the time,” says Cerezo of Kinky’s distinctively micro-lyrical approach.

But if Latin pop singers are supposed to croon about love and dancehall musicians are supposed to concentrate on beats-per-minute, how did music fans react to this beautifully unusual outfit? “The way we were playing was more like a party, so everybody responded by dancing,” Cerezo recalls.

As Kinky takes its funky world party to Europe and the States, the band’s audience is becoming as diverse as its sound.