Studying in Monterrey, Mexico has been a monumental experience in my life. But this is a music magazine, and people don't really care about that, do they? Before I left for Mexico, a friend offered up some very pertinent advice. He simply said “Get to know the music.” It seems so simple to think about, but it would be so easy to neglect in all of the hustle and bustle of the study abroad process.

Upon some independent research, it became clear that Mexican pop music was nothing more than a Spanish representation of the dramatic love songs that we had in the US about 10 years ago. A cycle through the radio stations will yield song after song parroting Celine Dion’s crap that makes me so very ill. Okay so Mexican pop is out.

Also popular are Tejano, Norteño, and Ranchero, but as of now, I can’t really tell the difference between the three.

So imagine my chagrin when a friend invited me to see a band that he had been raving about for some time. The group was called Vaquero, and said friend promised me that it would be a show the likes of which I had never seen before. I was intrigued; and hopefully this would be the insight that I needed to get a glimpse of the seedy underbelly of Mexican indie-rock.