La Barranca, an intense, proggy Mexico City band that draws meaningfully on the likes of Radiohead and King Crimson*, will be
playing its first New York show in almost three years at S.O.B.’s this
Sunday night (March 16). The band,
formed in 1995 by singer-guitarist José Manuel Aguilera (at right in
the photo), last played here in September 2005 — a memorable if
all-too-short set at Joe’s Pub. It also played a set for Lincoln
Center’s Out of Doors series, part of the Celebrate Mexico Now!
festival, as well as a wee-hours marathon at D’Antigua in Jackson
Heights, which I unfortunately wasn’t able to attend.

La Barranca — or at least the version that played New York in 2005
— effectively disbanded last summer. But Aguilera has since recorded a
new disc, Providencia, with his two original bandmates, bassist
Federico Fong and drummer Alfonso André. That rhythm section comes with
a solid-gold pedigree: Fong and André both played with the seminal
Mexican alt-rock band Caifanes. Fong has since been active with
Mexican-Jewish rap duo Hip-Hop Hoodios (a much better proposition than
you’re thinking it could be), while André is a member of Caifanes’ successor,
superstar Mexican band Jaguares.

With any luck, that’s the La Barranca lineup that will show up
here on Sunday night. But even if it isn’t, Aguilera is a riveting performer well worth getting to know.

* P.S. New Yorkers who might have been thinking about heading to Chicago for the King Crimson reunion shows at Park West in August — and I know of at least five offhand — can sit tight; according to an announcement made yesterday at DGMLive,
the band will now be playing three shows at the Nokia Theatre Times
Square, August 14-16. The new Crimson — guitarists Robert Fripp and
Adrian Belew (the latter onstage at B.B. King’s in Times Square as I
type this), bassist Tony Levin, and drummers Pat Mastelotto and Gavin
Harrison — will also hit Philadelphia’s Keswick Theater August 11 and
12.

Playlist (bulging, overdue…):

Mission of Burma – Signals, Calls & Marches, Vs. and The Horrible Truth About Burma (Matador super-deluxe reissues, due March 18)

Kurt Rosenwinkel – The Remedy: Live at the Village Vanguard (ArtistShare)

Shulamit Ran – Concerto da Camera II; East Wind; Inscriptions; Mirage; For an Actor; Private Game – Da Capo Chamber Players (Bridge)

Arabesque Music Ensemble – The Music of the Three Musketeers (Xaven)

Meshuggah – obZen (Nuclear Blast)

5ive – Hesperus (Tortuga)

Frederic Chopin – Etudes, Op. 10 & 25 – Yeol-Eum Son (Universal Classics; South Korea)

Gabriel Fauré – Cantique de Jean Racine – Oxford Camerata/Jeremy Summerly (Naxos) and Requiem – La Chapelle Royale, Ensemble Musique Oblique/Philippe Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi)

Josquin des Prés – Missa Sine Nomine; Missa Ad Fugam – Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips (Gimell)

Francis Poulenc – Gloria; Salve Regina; Quatre Motets pour un Temps de Penitence; Quatre Motets pour le Temps de Noël; Exultate Deo – Susan Gritton, Polyphony, Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Britten Sinfonia/Stephen Layton (Hyperion)

Cecil Taylor Quintet with John Carter – Nickelsdorf Konfrontationen ’87 (downloaded from here)

Antoní­n Dvořák – Rusalka – Renée Fleming, Eva
Urbanová, Dolora Zajick, Ben Heppner, Franz Hawlata, Kühn Mixed Chorus,
Czech Philharmonic/Charles Mackerras (London)

Grateful Dead – Dick’s Picks, Vol. 7: Alexandra Palace, London, England, Sept. 9-11, 1974 (Grateful Dead)

Sabbat – History of a Time to Come (Noise/Sanctuary reissue)

The Mars Volta – The Bedlam in Goliath (GSL/Universal)

Nasum – Doombringer (Relapse)

Kiss – Kissology, Vol. 3 (VH1 DVD) and Creatures of the Night (Mercury)

Giuseppe Verdi – La Traviata – Renée Fleming, Rolando Villazón,
Renato Bruson, Los Angeles Opera Chorus and Orchestra/James Conlon
(Decca DVD)

Roxy Music – The Thrill of It All (Virgin DVD)

Ikue Mori and Gamelan Dharma Swara – Bhima Swarga (Tzadik DVD)

Derek Bailey – New Sights Old Sounds (Incus)

Joëlle Léandre, Marilyn Crispell, Roy Campbell Jr. and Mat Maneri – DMG @ The Stone, Vol. 1: The Stone Quartet (DMG/ARC)

Zeena Parkins and Ikue Mori – Phantom Orchard (Mego)

Mephista – Black Narcissus (Tzadik)

DNA – DNA on DNA (No More)

La Barranca – Denzura (MW Records) and El Fluir (Fractal)

Carl Stone – Al Noor (InTone)

Steve Peters – The Webster Cycles – J.A. Deane (Cold Blue)

Anna Ternheim – Anna Ternheim (Decca)

Last Exit – Headfirst into the Flames (DMG/ARC reissue)

Opeth – The Roundhouse Tapes (Peaceville) and Watershed (Roadrunner, due June 3)