History of Punk in Mexico

There is a new book out about the history of punk in Mexico, and El Universal has a story on it. They also have a music blog post where you can check out youtube videos of several of the classic Mexican punk bands. I haven't seen the book yet, but it is supposed to be available at El Chopo. I'm going today to see if I can find it!

Psicodencia - Cahui 7"

Front cover

Psicodencia were a fairly unique punk band from Mexico City in the 1990s. Prior to finding this record, I had not heard of the band, but the cover intrigued me and so I decided to pick it up. To my ears, Psicodencia's style is reminiscent of the 80s Chicago punk sound, especially some of the later records from the Effigies. They are slightly more experimental and complex than most punk bands I've heard from Mexico, which for me is a definite plus.

Rear cover

From the information I can find, they formed in 1990, went through a number of lineup changes, and then finally stopped playing in 1999. Their earliest release was the 5-track Cahui 7" that came out in 1990. In addition to the 7", they also released three compilation tracks, one each on each of the three volumes of the "El punk no está muerto" series. Psicodencia's final recording was a 13-track demo called "Evo" released around 1995. I like the 7" so much that I'd really like to get a copy of this Evo demo, but I'm guessing that will be pretty difficult.

insert

 Check out the tracks on the Cahui 7" on youtube:
1. La gente sigue riendo
2. Cuanto me podrá costar?
3. Policía, no me dejas existir
4. 2-14, 3-28
5. Lárgate a tu tierra

You can also check out Psicodencia's compilation tracks from the "El punk no está muerto" series.
1. Q2 (Vol. 1)
2. Sol de kuwait (Vol. 2)
3. Monotonia (Vol. 3)

Finally, Psicodencia has an old myspace page up with a few tracks that I can only guess are from the Evo demo. Check out those tracks here.

I was lucky enough to find the Cahui 7" at Retroactivo Records.