Records from a diverse community of Latin musicians in the Americas and around the world can be found on Bandcamp. Each month, Maria Barrios covers the best in cumbia, Afro-Latin dance music, Latin soul, bossa nova, and everything in between. May’s edition features psychedelic pop from Madrid, a new album from a foundational figure in global bass, a celebration of a 60s Peruvian rock and roll pioneer, devilish cumbias, and more.
Daga Voladora
Los Manantiales
Vinyl LP
Madrid-based singer Cristina Plaza returns after eight years with a beautiful solo album under her Daga Voladora moniker. “I thought that going to the countryside would influence me, but I’m a shitty urbanite,” Plaza told El País. “Everything came to be when I was back in a moldy basement with a jack hammer drilling in my ear.” Plaza’s humor and candidness translates to the elegant sound of Los Manantiales, which, making my job easier, she describes as borrowing directly from bands like Stereolab, Galaxie 500, and Silver Apples. Comparisons aside, the songs in Los Manantiales have a life of their own. There is a delicate ode to getting lost with someone you love (“Lejos De La Multitud”), psychedelic pop (“Ceniza Plateada”), and existential musings (“Quise Ser”). Closing with the colossal “Catedral,” which any fan of the Clientele should immediately listen to, Los Manantiales has gone straight into my list of best records of the year.
Rolando Bruno y El Grupo Arévalo
Cosas Raras
Vinyl LP
The last time I saw Argentine musician Rolando Bruno was in 2005, when he was playing guitar for Los Peyotes, a garage rock band that became a hit amongst my friends with their insane song “El Humo Te Hace Mal”. The gig was in the basement of a worker-owned hotel and, even if I don’t remember many of the specifics (probably because it was nineteen years ago and I was high), Bruno’s guitar riffs and impeccable style created a lasting impression. Cosas Raras, Bruno’s third album with El Grupo Arévalo, is a melting pot of the musician’s varied influences. Cumbia villera, psych rock, merengue, sci-fi themes, and Arabic pop all find a home in Bruno’s world. Through flawless guitar melodies, Cosas Raras proves that cumbia and rock go hand in hand as a soundtrack to memorable parties and a vehicle for counterculture
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly
Mestizx
Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
With a combination of indigenous instruments, analog synthesizers, drum machines, and processed vocals, Amsterdam-based artists Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Frank Rosaly create a modern, prismatic homage to their roots on Mestizx. Born in Bolivia and raised in Brazil, Ferragutti imbues her vocals with love for Andean, Brazilian, and Latin protest music, exemplified on tracks such as “Balada Para La Corporatocracia” and “Turbulencia.” Rosaly, a first generation Puerto Rican-American percussionist, has a background deeply rooted in jazz and experimental music from his time in Chicago, with credits including Natural Information Society, Nicole Mitchell, and Wrekmeister Harmonies. The combination of these two voices yields a boundless sound where South American traditional music meets Afro-Cuban rhythms paired with accents of electronic and minimal music to create free-flowing, futuristic explorations.
Various Artists
Demoler! Demoler! Demoler!
Vinyl LP
Rebeca Llave was a teenager when she took her first job in the music industry, scouting for new talent for Distribuidora Peruana Sudamericana, a record label and distributor based in Lima, Perú. It wasn’t long before her commitment and good ear for music that appealed to the youth was noticed by her boss, who offered Llave the chance to run her own label. The result was Disperú (short for “Discos Perú”), a label that gave emergent bands the chance to record for the first time. Capturing the wild proto-punk of artists such as Los Saicos and Jean-Paul “El Troglodita,” as well as lesser-known gems such as the Hitchcock-inspired “Psicosis” and the brass-heavy (undoubtedly a nod to Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass) “Vírgenes Del Sol,” Llave promoted and preserved the unique sound of Peruvian rock n’ roll from the mid to late sixties. Demoler! Demoler! Demoler! speaks to her legacy as a tastemaker ahead of the curve.
Ritmo Satánico
Los Diablos Rojos
Vinyl LP
Whether describing the dangers of Satan or fully embracing him, many musical artists have developed an undeniably deep connection to the Devil, producing some unforgettable works of art along the way. Peruvian band Los Diablos Rojos (The Red Devils) knew, regardless of South America’s predominantly Catholic heritage, that a temporary allegiance with Satan was sure to yield some impeccable cumbias—and that if we are inevitably transgressing divine laws while on Earth, we may as well have a scorching soundtrack for our sins. The songs compiled on Ritmo Satánico, recorded between 1972 and 1980, speak to the undeniable legacy in tropical music in Perú, and the country’s ability to produce an endless amount of cumbia bangers. Led by composer and guitarist Marino Valencia, Los Diablos Rojos operated at a fertile time in Peru’s recording industry, when records sold by the millions and musicians toured and recorded almost continually with the backing of prominent labels such as MAG and Sono Radio. Competition amongst musicians was fierce, but Los Diablos Rojos had what it took to set themselves apart: a bulletproof repertoire that showed their ability to shift effortlessly between instrumental tracks with doses of psychedelia and love songs created to withstand the passing of time.
Solo Moderna
Daism
Vinyl LP, Vinyl
Back in the early 2000’s, advancements in communication and musical distribution gave artists around the world the chance to become more connected. DJs, booking agents, and artists old and new saw this as an opportunity to bridge the gap across continents and create a transnational musical scene named “global bass.” Influenced by house, hip-hop, and a myriad of other genres, producers remixed and created dancefloor-ready music aimed at honoring and promoting ancestral rhythms. Parties erupted everywhere, from Brazil to Berlin, and beats mutated in a conscious attempt to do away with the outdated and Eurocentric term “world music.”
Dutch producer and multi-instrumentalist Solo Moderna was there from the start. Known for his blend of Balkan music, cumbia, and African rhythms, Solo Moderna teamed up with Dutch singer Krager and French-Colombian record label Galletas Calientes to deliver a hard-to-classify, fantastic mashup of electronic music and distorted tropical beats. With an arsenal of synthesizers, lyrics filled with neologisms, and samples ranging from bird sounds to full horn sections, Solo Moderna brings forth an eclectic and decidedly multi-cultural mix, with enough punch to put aside, for a moment, the hypothetical question: “Does it belong in a Latin music column if it isn’t made by a Latin artist?” If it helps bring people together, I’d say the answer is “Yes.”
Angélica García
Gemelo
Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
I would be remiss not to give another shout-out to Angelica García’s latest album, Gemelo, having worked on a Q&A with the artist earlier this month. Born during a time of personal crisis, Gemelo showcases García’s boundary-pushing experimental pop. There is joy and rebirth (“Color de Dolor” and “Paloma”), urgent, growling vocals (“Y Grito,” “El Que”), and the self-realization that comes after heartbreak (“Intuición,” “Gemini”)—all carefully processed through layers of electronic embellishments. Through powerful, multi-faceted performances, Garcia delivers her best work to date.
