Pancho Ballard and the Banditos – Five Songs for Oscar (Self Released, 2010)
Hyperbolium
Posted On May 24, 2010
Pancho Ballard and the Banditos – Five Songs for Oscar (Self Released, 2010)
If Nick Lowe had felt despondent after the dissolution of Brinsley Schwarz, and while drowning his sorrows in a Mexican town had stumbled into a studio, the resulting music might have sounded like this UK band’s new five-song EP. The melodies are pure pop, but sung with the flair of a gringo trying on faux-Mexican drama, and a horn section that’s as authentically South-of-the-Border as Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. The songs cover masked Mexican wrestling, a relationship-restoring recipe (based on the writer Isabel Allende’s “reconciliation soup”), and a painter whose trade as a forger casts a shadow on his soul. This might play more as a joke if the band weren’t good, but they actually match up to their guarantee: “The best Mexican band to have come out of England!” Well, “Mexican,” anyway. Their self-titled debut album, heavier on the ‘60s guitars, country-rock and humor, is available for free on their website, but this EP, particularly “Lucha Libre” and “Soup Song,” more deeply fulfills the band’s promise.
Pancho Ballard and the Banditos’ Home Page
Pancho Ballard and the Banditos’ MySpace Page
