Maquiladora albums

2010

WIRIKUTA – 81%

        Though very obscure and unknown for even the most die hard music fan, when anyone mentions Americana or country music in the 21st century I always think of Maquiladora. This band has always been good at slow and haunting music, and Wirikuta is that to the extreme. The best examples are probably “Gut Check” and “Bottom of the Still”. “Stay Shallow, Stay Toward the Light” has some of the strangest lyrics I have ever heard. As off putting as it can be at times, it is still very interesting folk-country rock with a definite influence of the avant-garde. Two of the songs approach ten-minute lengths and have noise/horroresque backgrounds, the best being “Eat the Past Eat The Fear” which stops the album dead in its tracks at song number five. The attitude of the music, like the obvious pun in the band’s name, is a little critical of our current culture but rightfully so. It is not radio friendly and has no intention of mass consumption; it’s refreshing to hear music just be itself. Music that can establish a mood and successfully sustain it over the course of an album is rare, luckily that is the case here. A great album to dream to.

 
 Greatest Tracks: Beyond What You See, We Are not in this Together, Eat the Past Eat the Fear