Spanish Gold Reclaim Spirit of Classic MTV on ‘Out on the Street’

It may be trite to define a tune as “genre-bending,” but every once in a while, you come across the real deal. Such is the case with Spanish Gold‘s “Out on the Street,” a heady number that slinks along like Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me,” trading in synth-goofiness for tight bursts of Black Keys guitar.

Spanish Gold consists of My Morning Jacket drummer Patrick Hallahan, ex-Grupo Fantasma guitarist Adrian Quesada and guitarist/vocalist Dante Schwebel of Hacienda. The trio’s debut, South of Nowhere is out May 27th via BMG/Del Mar Records; the group self-produced the release with the help of Collin Dupuis (Jeff the Brotherhood, Bombino).

“We grew up with MTV when it was still a music channel,” Schwebel tells Rolling Stone. “The way that the programming crossed genres from R&B to hip-hop, rock, soul and pop music is how we approach records. It’s an album of all those styles — like watching a random hour of MTV programming circa 1986-1996.”