MOLOTOV
DANCE AND DENSE DENSO
SURCO/UNIVERSAL
Dance and Dense Denso, the third album by Molotov, Mexico's most controversial band, has a title that translates as “dance and punch yourself.” That same-named track not only kicks off the album but also neatly reflects the band's punk-rock philosophy, which is musically hard-edged and lyrically sarcastic as hell. The album also features Molotov's strongest material since their '97 debut, Dnde Jugran las Nias? “Here We Kum” is a head-banging yet danceable number that features a hilarious chorus: “Here we kum, and we don't care mucho!” “E. Charles White” sounds like attendance being read in class, except the hyphenated surnames—which sound like they belong to make-believe Mexican aristocrats—are all sophisticated jokes that don't make any sense unless you speak Mexico City slang. Fortunately, half the lyrics on the album's best track, “Frijolero,” are in English. Spanish for “beaner,” “Frijolero” is a protest song in the same style as Sly Stone's “Don't Call Me Nigger, Whitey.” With “Frijolero,” Molotov pays homage to illegal immigrants and paints those who crusade against wetbacks as the ignorant racists they are. But that overtly political message is softened by Molotov's sense of humor, which blossoms in the song's tirade-filled chorus: “Don't call me a gringo, you fuckin' beaner/Stay on your side of that goddamn river,” they sneer. Then they hit back with the only possible answer: “No me llames frijolero, pinche gringo puetero. Chingado!!”—or “Don't call me beaner, you fuckin' gringo idiot. Fucker!”
Molotov perform at the Grove of Anaheim, 2200 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim, (714) 712-2700. Tues., 8 p.m. $27.50. All ages.
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).