*** Niños con Bombas

DE TIEMPO EN EL MOMENTO DE LA EXPLOSION

(Grita!)

The bombs these Basque "kids" play with are sonic, though their lyrics -- about hating their lives in the city, feeling no control over their destinies, and the general emptiness of everything -- are nihilistic dizz-busters as well. For a trio, they raise a hell of a lot of noise. Niños con Bombas start with churning punk rock and trip their music brazenly through the fields of free jazz, avant-guitar, and the music hall. The stop-start melodies and riffs, the cheesy keyboard drop-ins, and the quick-change-artist vocal personae reveal a drive to be different and the smarts to do so without seeming pretentious. "Limbo Lingo" rocks hard. "Supernatural" lives up to its name. I can't understand most of what these arty punks are singing, but there are liner-note translations for us gringos. Anyway, their music expresses its own guts and glory.

-- Ted Drozdowski