Alcalá Norte's album is one of the ones that has captured the most conversation in recent months, especially in the underground environment. Concerts with a sold-out bill, vinyl sales that have far exceeded expectations, a recommendation from Rosalía and an account from X that she can't stop creating.
There are voices that believe that theirs will not survive the hype, or that the account previously known as Twitter will end up killing it. But it seems unlikely that any unfortunate TT will end up in the future with the songs that make up his debut. The best proof that Alcalá Norte are not a hype is that you can write a review of their album without even mentioning what is one of the most powerful songs, '420N', my favorite from the first listen and our Song of the Day today.
Obviously the great anthem of the album will always be 'The Canyon Life', already a ready-made phrase with which we will live practically forever. But the personality that almost all the other compositions exude is impressive.
'The Blood of the Poor' talks about conscience and class struggle because only “eight families share bread, and if you earn an extra loaf it will be by chance.” 'The kids' appeals to Ronaldo, but also to La Marseillaise (“Allons enfants de la patrie, le jour de gloire est arrivé”). 'Supermán' talks about orders from Glovo carried on his back, and also from Ukraine and Tunisia. 'Westminster', one of the most apocalyptic, repeats: “I have God's secret decree in my hands”, as if it were a Nudozurdo hit. 'The King of the Jews' not only repeats “I feel a cold tingle” but also adds a second instrumental chorus made with a keyboard and which is pure new-wave. 'Don't cry, Dr G' talks about neo-Nazism as it is dedicated to Goebbels and boys with their haircuts. I have a special attachment to 'Elfo Street' because on one occasion I was looking at a little apartment on Elfo Street (SPOILER: it was shit). And so it could go on. It is impossible to confuse one Alcalá Norte song with another and that is the great asset that this not at all overrated album plays: the way in which we easily identify its 11 pieces. «Bakala norte mix» passed through Autotune included.
Our Song of the Day today, '420N', mixes politics and drug use, while the rhythmic base is completely frenetic. It has its connection with kraut and also with the type of dance rock that groups as different as Gang of Four or B-52's tried in the late 70s.
Rivas has confirmed that the triple meaning of “making pasta well” has been perfectly understood by his audience. He told this during an interview with our colleague Gabriel Cárcoba: «The song talks about making BHO, which is a type of hashish formed from a heated paste. You put that in a pot, and I make spaghetti in a pot. It's also pasta. The kids in the song also want to make money. I wanted to play with all three things in a single sentence and it didn't turn out well at all, because it can fit well into the eating and drug stuff, but I don't know if it fits so well into the money stuff. Then I realized that at bowling the crowd enjoys that phrase and shouts it, so I have grown very fond of it.
Do you want more? What about that refrain “in the gas chamber, we're going to get rich”?
