Some clips you just can’t wait to embed into your blog. Almost too beautiful to look at, the clip for Chancha Vía Circuito’s “Coplita” validates our interpretation of Canale’s spaceful music as folk magic. I once criticized the illustration of Río Arriba for being too catered to the Putumayo audience. Time has proven I was very wrong about that. These illustrations and animations by Paula Duró, featuring effects from Mariela Bond present a narration of folk as the source of mythological history and fantastical escapism. From the projection of a rainbow out of a woman’s heart, to the storyboards of families riding jaguars and dragons, this is a true feast for the eyes. This is the first release of Canales outside ZZK Records. Canale has instead, opten to fragment this release by region under the hands of Wonderwheel (US, Canada, Oceania), Crammed Discs (Europe & Asia), and Charco (Latin America).
Showing posts with label cumbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cumbia. Show all posts
Video: Chancha Vía Circuito ft. Miriam García - "Coplita"
Some clips you just can’t wait to embed into your blog. Almost too beautiful to look at, the clip for Chancha Vía Circuito’s “Coplita” validates our interpretation of Canale’s spaceful music as folk magic. I once criticized the illustration of Río Arriba for being too catered to the Putumayo audience. Time has proven I was very wrong about that. These illustrations and animations by Paula Duró, featuring effects from Mariela Bond present a narration of folk as the source of mythological history and fantastical escapism. From the projection of a rainbow out of a woman’s heart, to the storyboards of families riding jaguars and dragons, this is a true feast for the eyes. This is the first release of Canales outside ZZK Records. Canale has instead, opten to fragment this release by region under the hands of Wonderwheel (US, Canada, Oceania), Crammed Discs (Europe & Asia), and Charco (Latin America).
Frikstailers - En Son de Paz
ZZK Records, Argentina
Rating: 76
by Andrew Casillas
Good Goddamn, ZZK Records. Every year we get in a rush to finish reviewing “essential” records, and every year something gets overlooked. Well, I’m not letting this shit stand. This Frikstailers record has been languishing in my iPod, getting the occasional playing time every few weeks, and every time I think, “Jeez this is good, I need to finish my review.” And then I remember that Yeezus came out this year and how awesome it would be if it were just instrumentals. Rinse. Repeat.
But not this year. I’m here to again remind everyone that ZZK Records is still the most trill record label this side of Cash Money 1998-2002. And this year’s Frikstailers release is a worthy addition to the canon. The Argentina duo’s latest, En Son de Paz, is quintessential ZZK: wild, idiosyncratic, and catchy as all hell.
Of course, there are the highlights, starting with “Los Originarios Ver 2,” which recreates the madcap atmosphere from King Coya’s Cumbias de Villa Donde, but incorporating Frikstailers’ more traditional discoteca rhythms. “Hazlo Tu Mismo” brings the noise, blending reggaeton and Major Lazer down to the core, and then laying on jungle sounds—it’s like Jumanji come to life as something other than a terrible Robin Williams family film. “Batuqueando” is a dizzying ZZK throwback: trad-cumbia mixed with sound effects, but utilizing a military drumline sound takes this to another level. The beat builds and builds for what seems like hours, until it reaches fever pitch and all hell breaks loose. And then there’s “Otra Vez,” a bubbly, slow burning techno showcase perfect for all quinceñeras and Christmas parties that only serve pisco and tequila.
If not for a lagging back half, we might be looking at destacado territory, but as it is, this is just great, solid 2013 ZZK. And with apologies to Yeezus, this that prom shit, that what we do, don’t tell your mom shit, that red cup all on the lawn shit. Uh-huh, honey.
Los Wendys - Cumbia Nacar
Cumbia Nacar, Los WendysCaballito, Mexico
Rating: 67
by Carlos Reyes
With cultural appropriation comes a great amount of responsibility. How disappointed were you when you found out Gaby Kerpel was behind this video? Gimmicks are quick to spot, easy to sell, and difficult to grasp. For the introspective listener, trying to dissect an act’s intentions beyond what’s presented can be particularly frustrating. Conservative pessimists would throw everything that smells campy to the pit of kitsch music, but that’s no way of dealing with something so complex and sensitive. And so we take the assignment one band at a time. Conceived in New Mexico nearly seven years ago, Los Wendys is a good example of something that might have started as half a joke and has now developed into something promising.
Breakthrough cumbia/bass imprint Caballito (not to be confused with The Poni Republic) has released Los Wendys’ Cumbia Nacar, a groovy three-track EP that serves as a sustainable bridge toward the band’s anticipated full-length debut. These songs are hardly new for the attentive fans, but with the rising success of indie-gruperos Agrupación Cariño, the creative resurgence of Afrodita, and the viral spread of Chip Torres, the timing for this ad hoc release seems amply appropriate. Los Wendys’ big distinction from similar acts (Kumbia Queers, Los Labios) is their proposal/mystifying of a country-cumbia synthesis. The premise sounds like too much of a stretch (just like the fact they're named after the fast food restaurant chain), but their execution does add up to something.
Opening track “Caballito” is essentially a pop number riddled with cacophonous pipes, upbeat percussion, and horse sounds. As following tracks “Cumbia Nacar” and “Corvette” continue with that structure, one can’t help but wonder if Los Wendys are making costumes or actual songs. Cumbia music however, is an open, non-discriminatory genre that allows almost any slanting into its populism. No matter how discretely it is approached, it’s pretty hard to dislike Cumbia Nacar. Paulina Lasa (of Pau y Amigos) is great at enouncing/masquerading a voice that blurs the line of what’s province and what’s fresa. Other elements of the method need plenty of polishing, though (and will hopefully resolve with the promised LP). At such a short length (not even 15-minutes long), Cumbia Nacar serves Los Wendys well, an EP that breathes promise and momentum.
Fauna - Manshines
Manshines, FaunaZZK Records, Argentina
Rating: 76
by Pierre Lestruhaut
If you happened to undergo your teen years as an indie rock fan (with most of your friends being roughly into the same kind of music) in Latin America somewhere around 2005, then you probably were the kind of kid staying as far away as possible from all the dem bow and cumbia rhythms that could be emanating from any speakers. Yet six years after suffering at every possible reggaetón- and cumbia-infused party, indie rock fans like me now see ourselves facing weird looks for having Calle 13 on our iPods or blasting the latest hot banger of cumbia digital from our own speakers. And, of course, trying to justify why something like the ZZK crew makes this type of music sound more fresh, hip, and cool than any other popular act did back in 2005 isn’t particularly easy considering that not everyone shares a conception of coolness that includes DJ /rupture quotes, Pitchfork reviews, and artsy album covers.
But what’s also atypical about some of the producers and DJs from the ZZK crew, like Chancha Vía Circuito and El Remolón, is that they don’t precisely rework cumbia for dancing or partying purposes, but instead they do so in a much more downtempo fashion, making way for music that feels atmospheric and meditative. The latest release to come from the ZZK catalog though, Fauna’s Manshines, is here to remind us that ZZK records hasn’t completely forgotten their initial purpose of taking us to the dance floor. Before the passing of Federico Rodriguez (aka Catar_sys), the album was already in its post-production phase, and a few months later they were hitting us with the first single “Para Mí,” a dance floor banger of ragga-style vocals, dancehall inspired rhythms, and a crazy psychotropic video to go with it.
In tracks like opener “E” or “Hongo x Hongo,” we see the duo coming back to the ragga cumbia style they helped pioneer in their debut, La Manita de Fauna, dropping bass and synth lines that would fit more among the more populist cumbia villera style than with the ZZK catalog, while the rest of the album rarely slows down the tempo and sustains itself on a variety of rhythms like kuduro and dubstep that the duo allegedly picked up while touring heavily around the globe. It’s precisely that sense of variety that makes Manshines a tireless front-to-back listening experience, the kind of record that could keep any party going no matter how many skeptical rock fans might be in attendance.
Video: Super Guachin - "Me Fume El Fichin"
Commodore 64 chiptunes, cumbia villera, and Tommy gun dubstep comprise the juicy premise of Argentine audiovisual duo Super Guachin. This pair of youngsters has a serious affair with '80s and '90s nostalgia and is literally encoding 8-bit integers into folk archetypes. With this caliber of embeddable intellect, the duo is making a fair attempt to fill generational gaps by referencing the application and cultural awareness of portable and game consoles in the modern man. Super Guachin is also the latest inductee in the ZZK Records catalog, with whom they will release their debut EP, Piratas y Fichines. Leading track “Me Fume El Fichin” shows just how evocative the duo is with programmable and interactive media, while letting everyone know they are also pop futurists. If you’re up for other examples of Nintendo nostalgia, we recommend you check out Pepepe’s jaw-dropping take on Banda Limon’s “Abeja Reina”and Los Sonoreños’ “La Cumbia de Mario Bros.”
Javier Estrada - Ritmos del Mundo
Ritmos del Mundo Vol.1-4, Javier EstradaIndependiente/Mad Decent, Mexico
Rating: 77
by Carlos Reyes
Canada’s A Tribe Called Red and Mexico’s DJ Javier Estrada are responsible for one of the year’s most thrilling and spellbinding musical avalanches, “Indigenous Power.” Featuring a sample from Kanye West, this piece is the larger than life and all-absorbing landslide of 2011’s global pop. Before doomsday arrives and our planet aligns to the galactic equator, I’ll add my signature to the petition of shooting some essential records on a capsule to space for historic purposes. But before some secluded scholarly committee takes over the mission, I hope someone slips in a mix by DJ Estrada, perhaps within the booklet of any of the misguiding Putumayo compilations they’re likely to include.
Mixes, remixes, refixes, and originals from DJ Javier Estrada have been giving Soundcloud’s bandwidth a run for its money. Also catapulting his name to the frontlines of almost every relevant urban publication out there. The Monterrey-based DJ is building an impressive resume, melting genres and cultures alike with culinary effervescence in his series Ritmos del Mundo. Even more interesting is the fact he’s currently the melting pot of the nu-rural world villages, communities that include digital cumbia, guaracha, tribal, moombahton, ruidoson, and third world hip-hop. Estrada drops more mixes than we could possibly review or the general cumbia lover could hear, but he has recollected an impressive body of work in the four published volumes of Ritmos del Mundo. Whether injecting gravitational strength to The Police’s “Roxanne," outing Lalo Mora from his norteño cave in “Mi Casa Nueva,” or adding some bloody spills of his own in María y José’s “Violentao,” Estrada is a force of mammoth tropical bass and technological nature.
While his stylization and imaginative ownership of hits from Fito Olivares, Pitbull, or Gloria Estefan are expanding his popularity at a flashing pace, it’s in his semi-original pieces that Javier Estrada is truly bewitching. There is an evident progression in skill and ambition within each release. Vol.4, the latest, brings tracks like “Psychotic, Indian” and “Huitzilopochtly” that defy his modus operandi and really go to a deep level of personal quest and sonic proportion. Here he gets a distant glimpse of the dark experimental edges of Los Macuanos and Chancha Via Circuito. Estrada is still in limbo when it comes to approaching actual structures and space, but with the expert advice of Diplo and Toy Selectah, he seems destined for an even brighter future. All four volumes of Ritmos del Mundo belong to this year, which speaks a lot about Estrada’s flashing vision and forwardness. It might take us another quad of releases before we go back to report on his progress, but in the meantime we’re embracing the messiness and chaos of these four mixtapes, even approving of his “estas escuchando a DJ Estrada” watermark as something charming and commendable.
Video: Fauna - "Para Mi"
Fauna’s debut La Manita de Fauna (ZZK Records, 2008) was probably the first album to internationalize the label and to this day, stands as one of the landmark albums of digital cumbia. Last November, Fauna lost one of its members with the unsuspected passing away of Federico Rodriguez, aka Catar_Sys (who we can see in the video, along with an infamous Latin pop goddess). At the time of Federico’s death, the duo already had their new installment on the post-production phase; he has left us with a treasure. “Para Mi” is Fauna’s first single off new album Manshines, and we feel comfortable declaring it as Fauna’s absolute best song yet. Directors Javier Lourenco and Lucas Bottero have invited every member of the ZZK collective into an epic video that embraces the hybridity of the cosmopolitan kaleidoscope, and is bound to be one of the year’s best music videos.
Pedro Infame - The Tropical Incineration
The Tropical Incineration, Pedro InfameTropic-All, Mexico/Venezuela
Rating: 48
By Carlos Reyes
My friend Derek Evers (founder of Impose Magazine) would always say that prior to approaching an album we all should take music reviews slightly, and instead focus on the real signal of quality: its album cover. As a visual buff myself, I’ve seen this correlation move forward with plenty of success. But as any High-School hypothesis research paper would show, there are always exceptions. The second release by Venezuelan-born by-way of Mexico adept party-starter Pedro Infame features what’s arguably my favorite album cover of the year thus far (designed by Oscar Reyes), the music inside is unfortunately, not as accomplished. The shrewdly titled The Tropical Incineration suggests two things: the literal definition of an ON-FIRE social gathering, and the burning down of the DJ tropical commodity. It's neither.
With bold descriptive titles such as “I really fucking like big butts” or “Hands up for Mary” (his funky adaptation to Baby J’s underground anthem “Alza la mano si te gusta la marihuana”), one would assume to encounter a fearless record of Molotov-aptitudes, instead we get a middling collection of songs that don’t go very far from the desktop. Leaving expectations aside, we do get to see Pedro Infame’s qualities going a bit evil axing some brutal hard-rock into the party mix. In “Suck my hard” he embeds guitar riffs so aggressively, you can almost confuse them with dubstep. But even under this type of genre trialing, Infame only goes as far as where Lil Wayne took his Rebirth, and where Mel Gibson took his Apocalypto. This is an album preoccupied with a purpose that triumphs on its aesthetics and overall premise, but falls short on its artistry. The Aguascalientes-based producer is a first-class captain of the dancefloor, he's just needs to translate those skills into a functional, listenable album.
Toy Selectah - Mex Machine
Mex Machine, Toy Selectah Mad Decent, Mexico
Rating: 78
by Carlos Reyes
Monterrey filmmaker Rene U. Villarreal recently captivated the film festival circuit with his masterful debut Cumbia Callera, a film with minimal dialogue that through the magic of Cumbia (+ Son, Paseo & Puya), referenced everything from Cinderella, to 3-some erotica. Plenty has been said about Cumbia’s status as one of the new forms of global pop, and after witnessing its cultural rundown across various platforms, it’s time for a slight (if not shallow) re-contextualization of the cult phenomenon.
There are Cumbia-clerk scholars out there who would do a far better job outlining the health & credit report of the genre. I would however, arrive at the same landscape on an individual scale; there’s not a single profile more exciting to dissect than that of Toy Selectah. It might be a geographical matter, but Cumbia and all its mutations always seem to be pointing to Selectah as a sort of ultimate visionary. The legendary Mexican producer has built more bridges than anyone else in the world of Cumbia & Hip Hop, and those are the same channels that now find him celebrating the global-speaking Mex Machine, Toy’s best release to date.
After a few transitional releases (The Mex More, Bersa Discos, Sonidero Nacional), this 6-piece jukebox marks Toy Selectah’s career as a sort of career landmark in his role of music executioner & researcher. Mex Machine is a record in which percussion, harmonies, drums, beats, synths, excerpts & lines of speed melt into a global-sound village. Album opener “Sonidero Compay” shows the instinctive eclecticism that Selectah has embraced for many years (never discriminating genres or caring about indie vs. mainstream tags). Like a shamanistic workshop, "... Compay" is a piece that celebrates its cumbia-reggaetonesque vertebrate by embracing its own spiritual paradox. Despite always having both feet outside the norm, tracks like “La Ravertona” and “El Sabanero Raver” showcase a crowd-pleasing creator in absolute control over his medium.
Production-wise, Selectah employs a wide treatment to every piece in Mex Machine, mostly on the side of the hypnotic. There is physicality in every idea, and there’s plenty of room for exercise; hence, you could sense his music as foreign policy and realize it is of maverick caliber. The infrastructure in album-best “Half Colombian Half Mexican Bandit” is dualistic and celebratory to that extraordinary group of people in Monterrey (and other parts of Mexico) who see themselves as 'honorable' Colombians. Toy Selectah is Cumbia narrative. Whether it is Digital Cumbia, Hip Hop, Reggaeton, Rave, 3BALL or Ruidoson, Selectah is always ahead of the game as an artist, curator & tastemaker. Mex Machine succeeds in almost every artistic test it sets up, it’s a sonic minefield.
Video: Bomba Estéreo - "Ponte Bomb"
After a triumphant performance at Vive Latino, Bomba Estéreo is about to embark on an extensive U.S. tour and they’ve just premiered a weird looking, yet entertaining clip for “Ponte Bomb” (part of Levi’s Pioneer Revivival Sessions, and recently released as Ponte Bomb EP by Nacional Records). The Technotronic cover demanded an over-the-top set of images and plenty of movement, and that’s exactly what we get in this clip helmed by graffiti artist ‘Chanoir’. Li Saumet commands every frame with energetic wisdom, and when she isn’t in the frame, we get some fluffy creatures showing off their fur & dance moves. Everything is shamelessly low budget, but they’ve managed to visit the Yo Gabba Gabba weird cousins and squeeze them into RoseArt, impressive.
Jairomendez - Puta Rumba EP
Puta Rumba EP, JairomendezCocobass Records, Venezuela
Rating: 65
by Pierre Lestruhaut
The online description of Jairomendez’s Puta Rumba EP, tells the story of a Venezuelan “campesino” who started to grow a great affection towards electronic music and later decided to sell his cattle in order to buy equipment to make this type of music.
Coming from Cocobass, the online label that released María José's Violentato Single-EP while telling the story of how he was killed but resuscitated at the second day (take that Jesus!), Jairomendez’s travesty into becomng a DJ sounds a lot more like a post-millennial online joke than a Farrelly brothers screenplay happening in rural Venezuela. Still, that’s about enough to grab the attention of a lot of people curious enough to find out what a music project with the desire and potential to become an internet meme might sound like. Hell it might even feature its own campy take of South America’s unlikely YouTube viral hits.
But when you finally get to listen to this EP, after the initial WTF reaction, you’ll find out that there actually isn’t much in any of the seven tracks in Puta Rumba to help it build a reputation as internet phenomenon. Though it might have been a little too much to expect that the witticism of the “campesino” turned DJ approach would be in a way overseeing the album’s progression, there’s still not a single attempt at humor in it, either verbal or musical. What you get is an initial group of good songs that work pretty well as dancefloor staples with heavy stabbing beats, followed by a mash-up with label mate Mr. Iozo, where Beastie Boys rap over “Eye of the Tiger”. But where the album probably works better, both conceptually and musically, is in its two final tracks, accommodating cumbia and bolero along with hip-hop and jungle for the interest of online electronic music enthusiasts. The last one being a very interesting remix of Lucho Barrios.
Even though it is a bit far from channeling traditional latin rhythms for modern music revisionist purposes, which is what I ideally expected it to be, it might seem a little ridiculous to be judging something for what it isn’t rather than what it is. All I can say is Jairomendez doesn’t seem to be much more than your average good-not-great mash-up SoundCloud DJ. Or perhaps I’m just looking at it from the wrong perspective and it’s simply a very powerful statement about the importance of the memeficaton of musical projects in the digital era. As if Maria y José didn’t know how do to that better than anyone else.
But when you finally get to listen to this EP, after the initial WTF reaction, you’ll find out that there actually isn’t much in any of the seven tracks in Puta Rumba to help it build a reputation as internet phenomenon. Though it might have been a little too much to expect that the witticism of the “campesino” turned DJ approach would be in a way overseeing the album’s progression, there’s still not a single attempt at humor in it, either verbal or musical. What you get is an initial group of good songs that work pretty well as dancefloor staples with heavy stabbing beats, followed by a mash-up with label mate Mr. Iozo, where Beastie Boys rap over “Eye of the Tiger”. But where the album probably works better, both conceptually and musically, is in its two final tracks, accommodating cumbia and bolero along with hip-hop and jungle for the interest of online electronic music enthusiasts. The last one being a very interesting remix of Lucho Barrios.
Even though it is a bit far from channeling traditional latin rhythms for modern music revisionist purposes, which is what I ideally expected it to be, it might seem a little ridiculous to be judging something for what it isn’t rather than what it is. All I can say is Jairomendez doesn’t seem to be much more than your average good-not-great mash-up SoundCloud DJ. Or perhaps I’m just looking at it from the wrong perspective and it’s simply a very powerful statement about the importance of the memeficaton of musical projects in the digital era. As if Maria y José didn’t know how do to that better than anyone else.
MP3: Tego Calderón - "Tu le diste al switche" (Pernett's Cumbiambero Remix)
MP3: The Calefons - "Boochies" (feat. Dani Umpi and Bebe&Pichon) + "Sentimental Whoopie Mood"
Get three or more cumbia-loving chicks in a room and you pretty much have made your weekend fantasy into a reality. That’s pretty much what’s put into record with Argentina’s all-girl band The Calefons. They became a sort of MySpace sensation back on the day when MySpace was the ideal source for media (it’s still great for music). This is the kind of band that has no problem filling up any gig venue in Buenos Aires, their contagious funky cumbias melt in the dancefloor, along with body fluids. We’re actually years late with this one, the trio has been around for years, but it seems like they have yet to transcend outside South America. They released Lápiz Japonés in 2007, a great pop record less tropi-punky than Kumbia Queers, but more aggressive than Los Labios.
We came across “Boochies” by accident, and we’re obsessed with it. This random 'discovery' also translates into the song, it’s all over the place; it’s a mix of cumbia, reggaeton, musica andina, funk, hip hop, boleros and a spice of Asian. The song is a collaboration with the eccentric Dani Umpi and Bebe&Pichon, both from Uruguay. It's so outrageous we forgot to ask them about the meaning of “Boochies” (Snoochie Boochies?), but whatever they’re singing about, we’re in. We’re also attaching an extra song (in English) titled “Sentimental Whoopie Mood”, which sounds like The Ting Tings on crack. The Calefons are finishing up a brand new EP to be released next month.
MP3: Michel & Lilibeth - "Suerte y Muerte"
We might scare off every purist rocker among our readers with this one. Colombian blog El Amarill0 introduced us to Michel & Lilibeth, a peculiar and very underground champeta duo making huge buzz in Barranquilla. The infrastructure of the Colombian music industry is somewhat concerning for interesting acts like Michel & Lilibeth, who rely on word of mouth and local radio stations to spread their music. They’re so underground we couldn’t find any profile at any of the social networks. “Suerte y Muerte” is a half-baked hit, the kind of modest song that’s on its way to becoming a popular hit. It’s also a catchy and unexpected melodic piece in all its middling practices.
Its excess of everything is ultimately why the song works, that passionate cheesy intro justifies all of the song’s unexpected shifts. The upbeat vocals are so high they sound like jj, the actual sound is closer to Capullo and Bomba Estereo. The champeta goes through a cut-rate disco loop just as a guy in the song argues the sky is crying his pains. “Suerte y Muerte” has as much dramatic ambition as a telenovela, yet it’s got the personality and warmth of a block party. Despite getting hundreds of thousands of plays on YouTube already, no one has yet to find their identity.
Video: Sonido San Francisco - "El Género Romántico"
Daniel Klaüser - Ayarachi Mixtape
You can also dig around Don Conejo’s soundcloud for more traditional neo-cumbia, pay special attention to “A Lo Perrito,” a battle between Don Conejo, Snoop Dogg and Pibes Chorros.
MP3: Prepare To Meet Thy Broom - "El Abuelo Is Dead"
Here is an extracted piece from Coco Bass’ second release La Malilla Seca by Ciudad Juárez duo Prepare To Meet Thy Broom. “Una oda a las chicas, a la droga, a la ciudad que los vio nacer y los quiere ver morir.” They bring up a very sweaty, upbeat and yes, very violent execution of beats. In “El Abuelo Is Dead”, they work their magic around a time clicking sound device, soon turning it into a chased-by-the-monster cumbia. After this and that great Kibose EP by Maria y Jose, we like where Coco Bass is going. Download La Malilla Seca HERE, pay close attention to a very down-low yet epic-striking refix of Cypress Hill’s “Ilusiones.”
MP3: El Remolón vs MC Hammer vs Dabrye vs Zonora Point vs Rulio Enriquez (Un Mono Azul cocktail)
Buenos Aires-based DJ and producer, Un Mono Azul, got his start in the Mendoza “tropitech” (he calls it tropitech, I call it electropical) scene and since then has produced a lot of intriguing and expertly mixed and textured music employing a variety of genres that you might not expect to work well together. But Un Mono Azul makes them work, and you can hear for yourself in his recent compilation, Arca, which he describes as “14 of his remixes, edits, mash ups, and other accidents” and as “a way to rescue his little mutants from the end of this era, and from the hard disk of his laptop.”
This particular mash up is a slow grooving amalgam of sound that, despite having so much going on, manages to remain surprisingly quiet and minimalistic. It’s quite impressive, actually. Usually when I have a cocktail with too many ingredients, it makes me sick. But this cocktail goes down nice and easy. Watch out for Un Mono Azul’s Manimal EP to be out on Sub Klub Records soon. Download the ARCA compilation HERE.
♫♫♫ El Remolón vs MC Hammer vs Dabrye vs Zonora Point vs Rulio Enriquez (Un Mono Azul cocktail)
MySpace
MySpace
3ball MTY EP
When I talked to Toy Selectah at LAMC he couldn’t stop gushing over the young talent of the Monterrey tribal guarachero scene, saying that the fresh sounds that these youngsters are cooking up are inspiring to him. And when Toy Selectah is excited about something, you best get excited, too. After all, before the whole reggaeton crossover happened, he had already called it. Now tribal guarachero is poised to make some noise, with the recent success of digi-electro-whatever you want to call it-cumbia leaving the door wide open for an all-out takeover.
The leaders of the scene are Erick Rincón, Sheeqo Beat, and DJ Otto. Together, they are 3ball MTY and, with the help of their sensei of sorts, Toy Selectah, they have released their first EP with some insanely addictive jams to help you achieve a whole new level of dance floor ecstasy. Rincón’s “Amantes Guaracheros” with its loopy digi-beats and brisk handclaps emanates the kind of manic energy that can only belong to a teenage boy.
In Sheeqo Beat’s “No Pares (Madness Remix),” there’s a sound in the background that sounds exactly like the Gchat sound and totally made me check my Gmail tab when I was listening to the track on my headphones while running a search on dinosaurs on the National Geographic website. Granted, that probably isn’t the ideal setting for listening to this EP. You want to be in a dark and dank club for this one, kids. This is the kind of whirlwind music that keeps you spinning all night, getting drawn deeper and deeper into its gritty, hypersonic beats that won’t let you slow down, much less stop, until the club shuts it down and you emerge into the early morning dirty, sweaty, and disoriented. Download the EP on the Soundcloud player, or click HERE.
Stream: El Remolón - Pangeatico EP
It’s no secret El Remolon (Andres Schteingart) is our favorite crewmember from ZZK Records, his chromatic vision makes distinct catchy beats and that’s how we like our cumbia. We described his last release Pibe Cosmo as “a journey throughout the American continent” and have deeply enjoyed his B-Sides and Mixtapes, but it’s time for a new proper release, the much-anticipated Pangeatico EP. From one spin alone, this sounds as bouncy as one would expect, and energetic enough to correlate it with these mornings of futbol. The 6-track EP features Fantasma and Boogat, and Fonograma favorite Lido Pimienta, who’s been teaming up with many talented people lately, from his work with Los Espiritus, to Pernett and El Hijo de la Cumbia, to having a small guest appearance on one of the tracks in Javiera’s Mena. We’ll get into Pangeatico in depth later, but so far, we’re loving the artwork, its guests, and the intercontinental vibe in this, looks like a nice EP to follow his stellar debut.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)