top 100 reasons that El Gran Silencio's Super Riddim Internacional Vol. 1 is the best album of the year, #'s 50-59

50. How 1971 they rock it during the 20 seconds of heavy metal madness that erupts in the middle of “Huapanator,” otherwise a perfectly lovely little slice of fairly traditional instrumental (accent on “mental”) cumbia.

51. The title of “Huapanator.” It doesn’t mean a damn thing, but it’s fun to say. You should try it. Wherever you are, jump up from your computer and yell “Huapanator!” It’s pronounced like it’s spelled. Just scream it, as loud as you can. Scream it over and over, even into the teeth of your boss slavemaster overseer when he and/or she comes to order you to stop, just screech it, wail it, use it as your resignation letter, “Huapanator! Huapanator!” This will be remembered longer than anything else you actually did at your job. Plus, the next week when you realize the economy is shit and you can’t get that other better grassisgreener job you’ve always wanted but there’s a reason you can’t get it, it doesn’t exist, crap on a stick you should have known that you dumbass—you can always go back and blame it on me, say “I read that I should do it on this blog.” Then she and/or he and/or it will fire you all over again for reading blogs at work, what are you stupid?

52. How sexy and jazzy the horns are in “Recordar Es Vivir”!

53. How hardcore they sound when they totally spaz out on “Ya,” which is only 1:14 long but more exciting than the entire albums of Elephant plus Elephunk put together. Plus the Gus Van Sant movie, I’m guessing, although I haven’t seen it and don’t want to. It’s been a really long time since he made a good movie, innit? Was he ever really that good, other than his ability to use really cool shots of Portland all the time? And don’t be talking about Good Will Hunting, that movie was shite, Damon and Affleck were fine, Robin Williams was great, actually all the acting was great, he’s okay with actors is Van Sant…but I’m sorry, the Minnie Driver character barely existed outside of the blowjob joke, there was no way she’d love him that much when he treated her like that, I call bullshit on that, Damon was just mad that his own girlfriend with the same name left him for Lars Ulrich, and personal revenge by a screenwriter is something a good director would have filtered out. Anyway, this record is better than that too.

54. How these songs all follow each other at the end of the album, helping to dispel all that “this album kind of peters out at the end but otherwise blah blah blah” crap. There is no petering out on an El Gran Silencio album.

55. All the Bollywoodism that has infected the hip-hop and dance communities is here too: “El Espejo” starts with that diwaali beat, kind of, played entirely on Mexican percussion instruments.

56. “Recuerdo y Lluvia” starts out like “House of the Rising Sun,” which we played in junior high jazz band (yes me on 1st chair trombone) without knowing that it was about a brothel.

57. Best moment on that song, maybe the whole album which is saying a lot, comes at 3:45 after the drum/guitar breakdown, where Tony and Cano rap in unison for 14 measures straight, not really rap but sing-songing regular eighth-notes, without breathing or rhythmic variation, 21 seconds which doesn’t sound like much but you try it, I have, it’s really really tough, it sounds really tough.

58. When that’s all done, they break into “Ay, ay, ay, ay,” which is completely earned.

59. They are clearly the best band in North America and also the world.