Café Tacuba 101: Key albums by a key band

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• The return of Café Tacuba, Mexico's artsy roots rockers

Re
(1994) ★★★★
Tacuba's second album is a masterpiece that doesn't leave any stone unturned: from polkas to banda, from bossa to mambo, from Giorgio Moroder to Helmet and beyond. If you only buy one of their albums, get this one.

Avalancha de éxitos
(1996) ★★★★
Re's follow-up is a collection of covers of the songs the Tacubos grew up with. Key tracks: "Chilanga banda" (a Mexico City slang rap) and an amazing version of Juan Luis Guerra's "Ojalá que llueva café" turned into a son jarocho.

Revés/Yo Soy
(1999) ★★★★ ½
A double concept album, one half instrumental experimentation and the other half song-oriented. It freaked out many, but earned the band new followers. Grammy winner for Best Latin Rock Album.

Cuatro caminos
(2003) ★★★★
A new beginning: for the first time, the band used real drums and a ferocious electric guitar. It earned them another Grammy, this time for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album.

Sino
(2007) ★★★★
The synth-based tour-de-force '70s-era Who would've recorded had they been born in Mexico City.

"De este lado del camino"
(2012) ★★★
("This Side of the Road"), the new single off El objeto antes llamado disco (The Object Previously Known as Record) was released August 10 and it's a gem of a techno-ballad about loving oneself. The full album comes out in September.

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