The Iguanas

The Iguanas are snaky. You’ll hear sensuous New Orleans and Tex-Mex dance rhythms (twin saxes, bajo sexto—Mexican rhythm guitar, guitar, accordion, bass and drums, songs in both English and Spanish and a nod to Professor Longhair with some sweet whistling (“Machete y Maiz”). They get funky à la Daniel Lanois—“Let the tear drops rise, let a river run through my eyes / I won’t feel no pain, when she comes home with that sugar cane / ’Cause she’s burning down the cane fields with her love” (“Sugar Cane”). Terrific production by Justin Niebank has tuned the multi-culti quintet so it feels as much like an Americana low-rider American Graffiti machine as you could want. Especially delightful is “9 Volt Heart,” a wonderful ballad-kiss to growing up with that plastic silver nine-volt radio when the DJ was your best pal.