Rata Negra – “Problemas No” (Diseño Cover)
The exciting Madrid punk trio came out with a really great album called Justicia Cósmica last year, and today, they’re following it up with a the two-song EP La Hija Del Sepulturero. (The title translates to Gravedigger’s Daughter.) We’ve already heard the A-side “¿Qué Tendrá?,” and it rules. For the B-side, they’ve done something else. They’ve covered a mostly-forgotten Spanish-language new wave jam.
There’s not a whole lot of information online about Dineño, the Madrid synthpop duo who released the original “Problemas No” in 1983. At least according to their Discogs page, Diseño released two albums, both in the early ’80s, and it appears that they stopped recording in 1985. (One of the two members, Pablo Pinilla Rogado, has a pretty long list of credits.) The original “Problemas No” is a bright, sticky Spanish-language new wave song with a fast, rigid beat and a pretty slick chorus.
On their cover, Rata Negra turn “Problemas No” into a tight, furious postpunk rager. But they keep they hooks very much intact, and we even get a few tastes of ’80s-style keyboard in there. It’s a tough cover. You can hear both the Rata Negra original and the Diseño original below.
The La Hija Del Sepulturero EP is out now on La Vida Es Un Mus Discos, and you can get it at Bandcamp.