Café Tacuba (often spelled Café Tacvba) is a musical group from Naucalpan, Mexico. They were founded in 1989, and since then have had the same musical lineup:

• Rubén Isaac Albarrán, aka "Juan", "Pinche Juan" ("Fucking Juan"), "Cosme", "Anónimo" (Anonymous), "Nrü" (pronounced "dshyoo", in IPA), "Amparo Tonto Medardo In Lak’ech" (or "At Medardo ILK"), "G3", "Gallo Gasss", "Élfego Buendía", and "Sizu Yantra". (vocals)
• Emmanuel "Meme" del Real (keyboards, acoustic guitar, piano, programming, vocals, melodion)
• Joselo "Oso" Rangel (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals)
• Quique Rangel (bass, electric upright bass, vocals)

Mexican folk music player Alejandro Flores is considered the fifth tacubo. He has played the violin in almost every Café Tacuba's concert since 1994. Also, since the Cuatro Caminos world tour, Luis "El Children" Ledezma plays the drums in every concert but is not considered an official band member.

They have released five albums, which are, in order: Café Tacuba (1992), Re (1994), Avalancha de Éxitos ("Avalanche of Hits", 1996), Revés/Yo Soy (actually a two-album vocal/instrumental collection, winner of a Latin Grammy for Best Rock Album of 1999), and Cuatro Caminos ("Four Paths", the name of an intersection in Mexico City, 2003). Additionally, they have released an EP called Vale Campalla (a tribute to chilean band Los Tres, 2002), a best-of album/DVD entitled Tiempo Transcurrido(2001), Lo Esencial de Café Tacuba (a box set of Café Tacuba, Re, and Avalancha de Éxitos, 2001) and Un Viaje (live from their 15th anniversary concert, 2005). Every studio album released by the band so far has been produced by Gustavo Santaolalla except Cuatro Caminos which was produced by Santaloalla, Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Weezer) and Andrew Weiss (Ween).

They have contributed to movie soundtracks like Amores Perros, Y Tu Mamá También , Piedras Verdes and Vivir Mata as well as tribute CDs to "Jose Jose" and "Los Tigres del Norte". Café Tacuba also collaborated with different artists such as Plastilina Mosh, Kronos Quartet, David Byrne, Celso Piña, Inspektor, and Ofelia Medina. They have played live with Incubus, Beck and Los Tres.

Their music is extremely eclectic: "Chilanga Banda" has a hip-hop beat under a stream of incomprehensible Mexico City slang, "El Fin de la Infancia" a brass-heavy ska sound, and "Desperté" has a melody that could have been stolen from a soap opera. Indeed, it has been said that no two of their songs fit the same genre. Their music has been heavily influenced by Mexico's Native American population and folk music traditions, but also by American music and other bands on the Mexico City scene. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of their music is Albarrán's gratingly nasal voice, which, combined with his impressive lung capacity (as demonstrated on "La Ingrata", a parody of norteño music), makes for a very distinctive sound, which can be somewhat offputting to the uninitiated. They sing entirely in Spanish (with some Nahuatl and other Native American languages thrown in), but have a significant Anglophone following regardless.

Meme is known in the mexican electronica scene as "Dj Angustias" and works with Noiselab Collective.

Joselo released his first solo album entitled Oso in 2001.

Rubén played in an alternative instrumental band called Villa Jardín until 2001.

External links

• Café Tacuba's official site (parts of which are available in English)
• A long article in Hispanic Online (in English)