As always, Harbourfront has put together a huge lineup of musical talent for the Mexico: Beyond Your Expectations fest running Friday to Sunday (July 17 to 19). There are plenty of traditional Mexican acts on the bill, but the most interesting are those that look to the future as much as the past.
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Of particular note are indie rockers Chikita Violenta (July 18, 8 pm), who record with Dave Newfeld (of Broken Social Scene fame) and are hooked up with Arts & Crafts’ Mexican branch. Richly textured guitar-heavy rock, with nods to spacey shoegazer pop.
Also mining the trippy side of rock are Montreal’s Psychotropical Orchestra, playing July 17, 8 pm. In their case, however, replace the indie pop references with hard rock and dubbed-out Latin funk.
Los de Abajo (July 17, 9:30 pm) are often described as “tropipunk” and are heavily influenced by ska as well as rock and Latin music. Political but danceable.
Grammy Award-winning Cafe Tacuba (July 18, 9 pm) have been rocking for 20 years and still manage to keep their garage-rock-influenced pop fresh and forward-thinking.
