As this album came packaged with chili peppers and the disc's face sports a picture of a tortilla, I assumed that Bryson was the director of a mariachi or possibly salsa band. Boy, did I get fooled. Alejandro's Carniceria is abstract sound with a heavy emphasis on found ambient textures. Take, for example, the opening "Al Principio... (Genesis)". The track opens with a potpourri of rhythms accompanied by the sound of lively crowds. This builds until it gives way to a deep, underwater hum, undercut by half-tuned radio fuzz and whale songs. Eventually, this segues into a scratchy Latin orchestra recording and crying babies. Other tracks stage similar non-sequitur transitions, and sport names like "Soilent Gringos" and "Novias muertas en las ramas de almendros" -- which, if we are to trust the translation, means "Dead brides in the branches of the almond trees".

What's it all supposed to be about? I haven't the foggiest idea. As a whole, the disc sounds like a Hunter S. Thompson trip to Mexico. As such, it's terrifying, wrong and facinating. In "Rollin' with the Hollywood Psychos Santeros", a quavering guitar gasps its last before the track erupts into gunfire. From this chaos, a phat, Beastie Boys-style beat kicks in, over which is layered a bottomless bass rumble that sounds like the Devil's guts after a big plate of refried beans. This is combined with further snatches of guitar, whistles, and what sounds like a drunken cuckoo clock. And all of this comes before the track is even a third of the way through. This odd, disjointed approach matches Thompson's deranged recollections, in which lies, hallucinations, and reality become part of one seamless tale.

With this in mind, it's not great surprise that Bryson tips his hat to horror film maker Alejandro Jodorowsky (whose upcoming Abelcain will feature Marilyn Manson as the murderous Cain). There is a definite B-movie aesthetic at work here -- which is not to say that the album is shoddily constructed, but that it really doesn't have to make a grand artistic statement to be fun. While I wouldn't suggest throwing this album on at your next party, for those who enjoy taking a slightly twisted head-trip, it's a nice way to spend an hour.

(And just in case you wondered, I thought long and hard about whether to eat the peppers or not. In the end, I didn't, because the last thing I needed was to spend three days working off the effects of Guatemalan Insanity Peppers. Call me weak, but at least I didn't have to spend my weekend in the bathroom.)