Tercer Mundo

Is mexican punk/hardcore still hyped? I'm out of touch with the scene today and I find it hard to keep up with all the new bands/flavour of the month. Although I remember that a few years ago suddenly everyone started to pay attention to all the amazing bands that came out of Mexico. Bands like Inservibles, Ratas Del Vaticano & Los Monjo were mentioned everywhere. A big role in that must be conferred to Cintas Pepe Records and its debut release: the amazing "Brutales Matanzas" compilation lp. I was lucky enough to score a copy directly from the label thanx to the hint of a friend. Otherwise I would have never heard of it. Its a shame that it was a one time limited press of only 300 copies since more people need to hear it. Probably the most solid compilation of all unknown new bands that surfaced out of the hardcore scene in a LONG time. It's not a surprise that it gained immediately a cult status and it's already a sought after collector item.

Last year Cintas Pepe released its third effort: the Tercer Mundo "s/t" 7". I didn't pay enough attention and I've discovered it only a few months ago. Thanx Quetzalcoatl I was able to get a copy from a distro recently for a fair price. Like all the other Cintas Pepe release it's limited to 300 copies and a lots of greedy collectors are lookin' for it. Tercer Mundo are two guys from Monterrey that used to be in Ratas Del Vaticano. This record captures perfectly the anger and the frustration of living in a country devastated by a violent & endless drug war. So in an era where punk/hardcore has become a parody of itself and where almost all modern punk/HC bands are full of careless cynic postmodern types or uber-militant crusty dudes that pretent to be some sort of saviours of the world while in reality they care only about tattoos and doing drugs, a band like Tercer Mundo is a breeze of fresh air. Normal young people that live in a shitty and dangerous environment that forces them to write music to release their rage and dissatisfaction. This sounds so raw and pissed off because it has been recorded in a recent version of what used to be the Medellin hopeless scenario in the early 90s. Indeed the comparsion with bands like BSN or Restos De Tragedia it's too easy to do. If you need more recent reference, think to Otan from Spain. 

As it goes for all the solid records out there, not only it sounds great, but it also looks awesome. Black ink over brown paper with a few hints of red. It comes with a small booklet with lyrics and lots of corpse pictures from the aforementioned drug war that's still not over. Now go party with your punk friends.