I spent a few years living in McAllen and Austin Texas in the mid 90’s. McAllen was a pretty weird spot at the time, with the only thing that was vaguely punk was a cafe and the Neurosis show that happened during the couple years that I was there. I learned a lot about Mexico when I was there – and I mailordered whatever Mexican records I could find during my time there. At the same time I was very interested in the Zapatista revolution at the time in Chiapas – at the southern tip of Mexico. Fast forward nearly twenty five years later and Huraña from Chiapas, Mexico come blasting through your speakers with reverb soaked, slightly jangly punk. Now I’m not particularly fond of the reverb on vocals, but here it works better – perhaps it’s because it’s a non-English language song or because higher pitched vocals work in the mix a bit better with the reverb treatment. At points this 7″ brings The Cramps to mind, but if The Cramps were a hardcore punk band; I think it’s the pacing of the songs and the strong sonic identity where there’s not a lot of deviation between the songs that is bringing that comparison to mind. It also brings to mind some of the more pleasingly ramshackle bands from Italy and elsewhere around the world, as well as fellow Mexican band XYX, mostly on “Fue Una Buena Noche” which also has a skronking saxaphone on it. In my opinion, I hope to hear more from the band, I want to see where they go from here, and I’m really interested to see where their sound develops and how that shows up on their next recordings.