Raixes

Just a few hours drive south from the Texan border, the Mexican city of Monterrey already has a reputation for crossover music. It was the home of Control Machete, the best-selling hip-hop stars who edged towards the mainstream and even recorded with Rubén González from Buena Vista. One of Control's members, Toy Selectah, now runs the record label that has signed a new Monterrey hopeful, Tuzeint. He's clearly something of an all-rounder. As Enrique Toussaint he is credited with ‘composition, production, guitar, vocals, djembé and percussion’ on a set that mixes R&B and pop influences with local instruments, including the small, guitar-like jarana jarocha and leona, along with extra percussion, flute and trumpet. Tuzeint's ultra-cool, laid-back vocals are matched against rhythm patterns that often switch within the songs, and instrumental passages dominated by the trumpet work of Alan Fajardo. There's plenty of variety here, from the gently stomping backing of ‘Mujer Divina’ to the delicate guitar work and loping rhythms on the more melancholy ‘Velvet’, or the tight, edgy percussion work on ‘Todolollevo’. But what's lacking is the emotion and exuberance of so much great Mexican music.