After touring heavily with Puerto Rican garage rock band Davila 666, AJ Davila introduces himself as a solo act—just as powerful as the up-and-coming group from which he just recently split—on his debut solo album, Terror/Amor. Terror/Amor has the same San Juan, sunny, grunge-scene feel as Davila 666’s previous work, but Davila spins his own electric energy into the mix.
“Animal” opens the album with woozy synthetics, punchy lyrics and a droned out backup vocal that gives it the perfect amount of edge. The next two tracks, “Salvajes” and “Dura Como Piedra,” feature the same alt-punk feel, but the latter introduces small, subtly catchy hooks that lure you further into the album.
The next few tracks present the even stronger sound of Terror/Amor, garage punk with a beach rock twist, continuously introducing new beats and hooks in each track. “2333” is a summer evening’s anthem: easy, repetitive and unabashedly catchy. Once you hear the “veintitres, treinta y tres; veintitres, treinta y tres” chorus, it never leaves you. “Es Verano Ya” is the perfect bubblegum rock track. It’s one of the only songs that doesn’t use synthesizers, and the simplicity of a guitar, bass and drums along with an innocent melody make it the perfect middle track.
Much of the album has an excellent “Black Lips of Central America” feel to it, which is why the Black Lips' Cole Alexander’s appearance on the 11th track, “Michelle,” is almost too perfect. No, it’s not a Spanish-translated version of The Beatles’ 1965 French hit of the same name (I was excited, too), but it is an adorably happy track to which non-Spanish speakers will yearn to sing along.
Terror/Amor is a fantastic album, overall. Even without knowing the meanings of the lyrics, it’s nearly impossible to turn off and impossibly easy to listen to six times in a row (which I did). AJ Davila, whether working with a group or on his own, has amazing potential to infiltrate U.S. culture with a new kind of Latin music. This new wave of Hispanic rock is sure to make a splash if Americans keep their minds and ears open.
Rating: A
