Trip-hop eccentric tricky may get a lot of respect for his dissonant, hybrid mood music, but there's an even madder fusion experiment going on south of the border. Call it technotropical chic: Fusing elements of alternative rock, jazz, samba, bolero, hardcore punk, classic rock, soul and disco, Mexico City's Cafe Tacuba are making the kind of music Esquivel might have made if he had belonged to Generation Equis. Tacuba's last album, Re, made definitive statements about Mexico's rapidly expanding youth culture with a wildly eclectic array of pop tunes that combined MTV attitude and traditional lore.

Although Avalancha de Exitos (Avalanche of Hits) is much shorter and less ambitious than its predecessor, it shows a clear evolution of the band's Violent Femmes-meet-Beck magical-realist melodicism. Daringly, the record consists entirely of covers of both obscure and legendary Latin pop and rock songs, reinterpreted with Phishlike ingenuity. The signature tune "Chilanga Banda" ("Mexico City Crew") features lead singer Anonimo's verbal pyrotechnics – he raps in bizarre Mexican slang about a bored youth getting drunk and laid – over a spare, trip-hoppy soundtrack. "Metamorfosis" baits you with minimalist Joy Division drone, then slowly turns anthemic, climaxing with what sounds like a synthesized, orchestral "I Am the Walrus" outtake.

Anonimo, who has changed his name five times since the group first appeared in the early '90s, is a screeching, yelping poet who likes his irony served sunny side up. He drives Tacuba's soul, while the brothers Joselo and Quique Rangel, on guitar and bass, respectively, give up the folk. On "Ojala Que Llueva Cafe" ("I Hope It Rains Coffee"), they turn a meringue classic into a country hoedown, Mexican style. Keyboardist Emmanuel del Real fleshes out the wacky wall of sound with Steely Dan lushness, especially on the bolero "No Me Comprendes" ("You Don't Understand Me"), a postmodern nod to Jobim bossa nova. Even musical world traveler David Byrne pops up here, doing backing vocals on "No Controles." If, like him, you believe the future of rock is something completely exotic and unexpected, try kicking back with Avalancha de Exitos. (RS 754)

ED MORALES