Malditas Canciones

As usual, with Malditas Canciones, the first thing that inevitably impresses the listener about Argentine-born but Spain-based Coti Sorokin is his downright eerie resemblance to friend and mentor Andrés Calamaro. Granted, he is not alone: both in Argentina and Spain flocks of bands — Los Tipitos, Pereza, Fito & Fitipaldis, Los Enanitos Verdes, to name but a few — have modeled themselves after Calamaro. Still, Coti is almost clone-like in his sharing of every aspect of Calamaro's sound and poetics, from songwriting and singing style to musical influences, tone of voice, and thematic preoccupations. However, once one manages to get past the resemblance, it is only fair, as well as easy, to give Coti his due. He is, without a doubt, a thoroughly accomplished pop songwriter. It certainly shows in Malditas Canciones, an album Coti spent two years in the making, as he meticulously arranged, produced, and recorded almost all instruments and voices, all by himself. There are no surprises here, only further verification. The sound, expertly mixed by Tom Lord-Alge (Coldplay, Oasis, Aerosmith, Rolling Stones), recalls early Elvis Costello & the Attractions and 1980s Rolling Stones, as distilled by Calamaro and Ariel Rot, or their bands Los Rodríguez and Tequila. The lyrics deal with a rock & roll life of being on the road and writing songs, and its romantic and ideological hopes and disappointments, including a tribute to Argentine rock legend Charly García. Coti may never reach the unpredictable brilliance of Calamaro, but he makes up for it with sheer consistency. There is no filler or self-indulgence in Malditas Canciones, just a collection of very good, simple, but perfectly realized pop songs. A fine example of contemporary rock en español (as well as of the recent hybridization between Argentina and Spain's pop music), Malditas Canciones virtually becomes a double album in its online version, as it adds seven tracks to the original ten.