Rey Pila

Wall of Goth

Cult EP

Mexican rock band Rey Pila channels two different generations of music: eighties synth pop and early aughts indie rock. The latter is abetted by Julian Casablancas (The Strokes), who produces their EP Wall of Goth (out now via Cult). The four songs contained therein are replete with vocal hooks and instrumental breaks that help to carbon date their influences. However, the amalgam of these makes for an unusual, often fascinating, melange.

The trick today, of course, is that influences from yesteryear’s pop, especially often a pile-up of them from different eras, are the norm for many artists. In face of the fear of being written off as merely “retro” by publicists and the public (in which order?), bands seek to transcend an easy genre or era tag via a combining of signifiers the likes of which are found on Wall of Goth. Perhaps this is an opportune time to make the listener work a bit harder; since it is no longer enough to play “spot the influences” before rendering peremptory judgement, one may have to deal with artists like Rey Pila, who combine elements exuberantly, on their own merits rather than on the vintage of their effects pedals.