Yerba Buena - Island Life

If someone had told me at the beginning of 2005 that it would be the year to witness the release of a latin fusion concept album, I would have scoffed. I mean, the odds of that happening are probably the same as a parrot or a pitbull fronting a death metal band, or an American town electing an eighteen year old as its mayor, right? It’s a good thing I’m not a gambling man, because Island Life, Yerba Buena’s follow-up to their Grammy nominated President Alien, is billed as – yep, you guessed it – a latin fusion concept album. Featuring guest stars galore and a profusion of ass-shaking arrangements, it celebrates the confluence of New York’s Latin cultures in an energetic blend of hip-hop, merengue, cumbia, and other Latin styles. The song topics are just as varied. Bookended by broadcasts from fictional radio show host Dr. Aneub Abrey, they tap the vibrance of Latino society with good time jams, slice of life stories, and the now obligatory dig at President Bush (since, let’s face it, no self-respecting album would be complete without a poke at everyone’s favorite target du jour). At the end of it all, you truly feel as if you have been transported to a cultural nexus of New York, a cityscape superimposed with palm trees and sandy beaches and suffused with organic grooves, each sprouting from the other in that typically tropical superabundance. All this makes for a fascinating listen, but whether or not it qualifies as a concept album is unclear. Given the infuriatingly vague nature of the beast, it’s difficult to say if the title truly fits or is just some extra gloss to conceal the album’s dross. Then again, Island Life is so much fun, it doesn’t matter. [www.yerbabuenamusic.com]