Staight Outta Mexicantown

The new single from Las Rayas Blancas -- aka The White Stripes -- hits record stores Feb. 19. It's called Conquista and it's the Spanish language version of Conquest, the band's Patti Page cover song from the Stripe's great Icky Thump CD. (See Page's way cool original version here.) Truth be told, Conquest is probably my least favorite track on the disc -- kinda cheesy, borderline corny, not to mention whiffs of annoying pomo white boy irony -- the song sticks out as novelty, especially given the whoop ass and oh-so-sincere guitar licks wonderfully gracing the rest of the album. But, hey, even mediocre White Stripes is better than most. Especially in glorious Espanol.

Conquista is Icky Thump's second instance of delving into all things Latino and pop. As I blogged some months back, the band's first single from the CD not only served up some monster Led Zep inspired guitar riffs, but found the time to critique current U.S. immigration policies, set the song's video in a Mexican border town, and expose the absurd folly of building a wall to keep out immigrants just wanting to work. If your puzzled by Jack White's interest in all things Latino, realize homeboy grew up in the poor, working class Detroit Raza barrio literally called Mexicantown. Very badass. An honorary homie.

Mun2 features the debut of the remixed Conquista video (directed by Diane Martel), altered with the newly dubbed Spanish language lyrics dropped in. Today at 4pm. Jack White will be interviewed afterwards. Here's a sneak of the vid...