Silla Eléctrica – Ritmo Suicida (Solo Para Punks)
Greil Marcus once wrote that the best punk rock can “convince you that you never have to hear anything else as long as you live,” that “each record seems to say everything there is to say.” It’s a wonderful idea, bestowing upon something so maligned and misunderstood the seemingly contradictory power of drawing creative energy from it’s ability to render irrelevant all that has come before, if only for the length of the songs’ brief spurts. While it’s easy to intellectualize the forceful nature of the music, however, such assessments tend to forget or to take for granted that punk’s power is largely ineffable, with its most successful moments transcending that which can be easily deconstructed and dissected.
Silla Eléctrica – Ritmo Suicida (Solo Para Punks)
Greil Marcus once wrote that the best punk rock can “convince you that you never have to hear anything else as long as you live,” that “each record seems to say everything there is to say.” It’s a wonderful idea, bestowing upon something so maligned and misunderstood the seemingly contradictory power of drawing creative energy from it’s ability to render irrelevant all that has come before, if only for the length of the songs’ brief spurts. While it’s easy to intellectualize the forceful nature of the music, however, such assessments tend to forget or to take for granted that punk’s power is largely ineffable, with its most successful moments transcending that which can be easily deconstructed and dissected.
An introduction like this isn’t meant to suggest that a band like Madrid’s Silla Eléctrica is necessarily bound for the genre’s pantheon (though the future is yet unwritten), only that they have managed to tap a vein previously mined by some who have. Theirs isn’t the easiest music to describe accurately – a high enough complement for a band playing a style of music that falls very easily into genre formulas – drawing from a wellspring of energy and producing songs that are too jangly and catchy to fall into hardcore’s camp, but too fast and aggressive to fall too close to pop-punk or any retro evocations of bygone bands.
Over the course of a handful of EP releases, Silla Eléctrica developed an approach that they’ve honed and expanded upon with their first full-length: garage rock guitars sped up to a thrashier pace, dual male and female vocals spitting out lyrics in a rapid-fire staccato, and each part of every song loaded down with hooks than many bands could concoct over the course of a whole career. The process of transitioning from short-form to longer releases is one that many punk bands can’t pull off gracefully, but Silla Eléctrica manages by their ability to drop back into the occasional mid-tempo song, showcasing their ability to remain versatile despite the fairly singular approach. These slower songs aren’t necessarily the best work the band has done, but provide a much-needed contrast.
Ultimately, Ritmo Suicida is something that needs to be experienced more than read about – the sheer visceral thrill of the songs says more than any dissector of other people’s art could. It’s difficult to say whether the band’s music will ever be considered some timeless classic, but they are definitely in touch with the sort of manic energy that helped define all of punk’s most effective manifestations. It’s distinct enough that it doesn’t hold up well to comparisons with other artists, but accessible enough that fans of a fairly wide variety of music could find something to latch onto. Whether or not they render the past irrelevant, Silla Eléctrica has hit their stride with their newest release, and it’s pretty damn hard to ignore.
