P&J&...Latin Music???

Um, Rockist Scientist to thread...

First off -- the other Jody Rosen is here! Matter and antimatter will collapse!

Secondly, my sense of Latin music in the very broad sense is how the last decades have seen borders shift and collapse as much as certain styles have developed. Rockist Scientist here will have much to say about salsa, Matt C/Begs2Differ and Chuck plenty about roc en español and so forth on these boards. But a band like Mars Volta ended up on the poll, their two chief members at least are Latino, they have a strong love of salsa rhythms. In LA I'm willing to bet you're going to see a slew of Chicano bands starting to emerge with obsessive loves of Morrissey, the Cure and the like; there's already enough punk and hardcore bands from over the many moons. But observations like mine are skimming surfaces others could say more about.

Love, Jody Rosen

Scott Seward and I both voted for El Gran Silencio, as did a few other critics. We managed to get it all the way up to #164. I voted for two Spanish-language singles that no one else voted for AT ALL, and one English-language single by a Mexican-American singer that no one else voted for AT ALL. So I did my part, but maybe I was just wrong. Maybe that stuff just sucked, and I should have been spending my time on alt.country.laptop.pop.

Besides Cafe Tacuba, no one KNEW or, really, CARED what went on in Mexican/C.American/S.American music this year. This is pretty much a true statement I think. They're the Mexican band to namedrop if you have to pick one. Most people didn't feel the need to go even that far, and if they went that far they didn't go any farther. Great records were released this year by Natalia Lafourcade, Control Machete, Molotov, Plastilina Mosh, and Los Tucanes de Tijuana, among other bands just from Mexico. (Argentina was quiet this year.)

Yeah, Rockist Scientist to thread, I'd like to hear his take on what he would have liked to see up there.

Yay high!

My argument was less that (in fact, not that at all, just poorly phrased on my end) than it was noting that a band that speaks of an open love of same did end up on the poll, an admittedly singular example from the looks of it, and that J. Rosen's original question asking 'what about Latin music' is already mutating into a larger one -- what is Latin music?

I actually think the whole issue has a whole fucklot to do with Latin music not getting played on mainstream pop radio, even in NYC and LA.

I got an email from Jose Marquez of the great electro/tweepop duo Pepito the other day; he thought it would be funny to book some of SF's best-known Latin danceclubs to promote their new record Everything Changes. "Hey, I thought there was going to be a 16-person orquestra here! Who is this couple with shitloads of synths singing about dodgeball and politics? THAT'S NOT LATIN MUSIC!"

By the way, Everything Changes is my #1 for 2004 so far, but the new Allison Moorer is right up there, as is Joyce's record Just a Little Bit Crazy. God bless Brazil for that last one.

*and it doesn't matter whether or not Latin music falls under that banner - in fact I'm sure much of it doesn't - if it's perceived as that. But that 'if' is the question I'm asking really.

A-fucking-men! Woke up in time to put Buscando America (sp?) on P&J. A little late.

Of course now, as haikunym or whatever his new name is, would point out, it's going to be Mexicans who are demographically dominant (in the U.S.) for some time to come.

Soca and Calypso singer David Rudder is often very political so based upon his lyrics he sometimes gets crossover attention, but now that's he's on a small label he rarely gets attention no matter the subject matter of his lyrics.

Tico, not sure how Latin music is perceived. I guess a lot of salsa (to speak about a particular genre) is "functional and frothy party music." It's dance music (obviously). In the 70's, a lot more salsa had lyrics which dealt with larger social issues than the lyrics typically do now.

Coming to salsa now is a little like coming to rock music now: it's an old genre and most people would probably agree that this isn't it's most vital era. That doesn't mean I don't find plenty of salsa from the 90's on that I like.

But honestly, I haven't heard one salsa album from the past year that I think should have been on a list like P&J. Of course, I'm not a critic so I don't get review copies; I haven't been using any P2P sources (though that has just recently changed); and I can only afford to buy so much music. Actually, the most impressive salsa album from 2003 was a compilation of rare material from the 70's: Lost Classics of Salsa, Vol. 1. Other salsa fans I know (mostly virtually) seems to think the last two or three years have been pretty dry.

I've read that a lot of Colombians from the predominantly black Pacific coast area (which has its own distinctive styles, sometimes borrowing from current African pop) are moving into Cali, Colombia, which is a world center of salsa. I'm hoping that this will either breathe more life into salsa (and Cali has already been a source for some of the best salsa over the past decade or so), or possibly lead to a new genre. (For that matter, I haven't even heard this coastal Afro-Colombian music, and I'm curious about that as well.)

I'm going to see Peru Negro tonight. They're a traditional Afro-Peruvian ensemble who were melding folky strumming and African-rooted percussion long before David Byrne started putting out Susanna Baca cds and getting her to tour the US. Eva Allyon who is also part of this gnere helped produced the Peru Negro cd(which is being marketed in the US by the rock,paper,scissors pr firm). They're funky enough for me, but maybe not for some who like more rockin' less NPR/National Geographic sounds...

Rockist, I'm curious about the Afro-Columbian music also. I can't find that Afro-Criollo cd on Palenque that got some world music press ink about a year ago.

Interesting that one of the biggest Spanish-language pop heartthrobs these days is Alexandre Pires, a Brazilian dude who sings in Spanish sometimes to make lots of money in the S.Am. market.

Eddie Palmieri: Ritmo Caliente
Los Soneros del Barrio: Siguiendo La Tradicion
Yerba Buena: President Alien
Ry Cooder & Manuel Galban: Mambo Sinuendo [if that counts]
Various: Salsa Dura de Cali [which compiles old stuff anyway]
Elio Villafranca: Incantations/Encantaciones [I'm not big on Latin jazz though]

A few critical favorites (more or less in the genres that interest me) I missed:

Truko & Zaperoko: Musica Universal
Cesar Pedroso: Que Cosas Tiene La Vida
Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca: Ay Valeria!
Ivan Cáceres Y Su Bongolandia: Roots of Acid Salsa
Celia Cruz: [whatever the posthumous release was]

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDSUB040402041439151503&sql=Aie7zefuk8gf2

I was listening to the stuff a lot more in the mid '90s (one year I think Caifanes, Fobia, Maldita Vecindad, and Santa Sabina all made my top ten -- I may have also voted for Lisa M and Xuxa that year; maybe also Cafe Tacuba's debut album, which by the way is the least boring thing they ever did; I forget!; I also voted for Selena and Chico Science album somewhere around then, R.I.P.), but I haven't been really excited about the stuff for years. This year I voted for a Molotov single in tenth place, but that's it. Anyway, I don't have time to go much into this here right now -- I still hear Latin records I like, and even write about them(Jenni Rivera's album last year was really good!), but the stuff hardly strikes me as the center of the universe, like it did between 1982 and 1985 or so. Los Fabulosos Cadillacs's "El Matador" was one of the greatest singles of the '90s, but they peaked years ago. Aterciopalados were best on their first two, and punkiest, albums. Caifanes were great for three albums, when they were a quintet; their fourth was bland, and Jaguares are worse. Anyway, I'm leaving tons of stuff out. If I have time sometime, maybe I'll go into more detail...

LFC haven't had a new album out in a while, and their last one was very pop/jazz-inflected, but Fabulosos Calavera from 1997 is one of the greatest albums I've ever heard. It's got death-metal slammed right up against blues walks, ska and punk, experimental in a really fun way. It post-dates "El Matador," which is, as Chuck says, one of the greatest singles of all time.

Again, I have to vote for Argentina as the country we up here know the least about musically. Bersuit Vergabarat's albums Libertinaje and Hijos del Culo are unfuckwithable in terms of weird songwriting and bizarre musical mashups; their singer may be an asshole, but he's an asshole in the cause of good. Plus the band is tighter than Boca Juniors' defense.

As for Yerba Buena...I saw them open for Cafe Tacuba at Prospect Park last summer. They were a blast; a real tight party band, but a bit too slick for my taste. (Cafe Tacuba, incidentally, was spectacular.) Anyway, I have the YB album and have been meaning to revisit it.

Incidentally, there was and possibly still is a free Yerba Buena mp3 on amazon.com, if you download anything at all.

x-post, I missed seeing Yerba Buena live this summer because I wasn't feeling well the night they played nearby.

Long pause. Somewhere, a car crashes, and an elephant knits a splendid wool cap for her lover, so far away.

Okay, then, never mind. But still: next month: Super Riddim Internacional: Vol. 2!

Scott I must needs hear me some damn Opeth now. You bastard.

http://villagevoice.com/issues/0333/eddy.php

...and one more here:

http://villagevoice.com/issues/0346/eddy.php

I do also enjoy the albums Natalie Lafourcade, Kinky, and Yerba Buena put out lately, though none of them come close to blowing me away, especially the Yerba Buena (the rap parts of which are very NPR-hippie-vegetarian-style, but which has some good boogaloo parts to make up for it.) Also I like every Omar Sosa album I've heard (about five of them); Eugene Holley runs those down in this week's Voice...

Here's what the NY Times said:

September 12, 2005
Classic and Future Latin Sounds Along With Glimpses of the Past
By BEN RATLIFF, NY Times
"In 1975, during the peak era of salsa music's popularity in New York, Ralph Mercado put on the first New York Salsa Festival at Madison Square Garden. Mr. Mercado is one of the full-utility movers in American music, comparable to Norman Granz or George Wein in the jazz world; through management, promotion, nightclub managing and record producing, he has had an enormous influence in the international spread of New York's Latin music.

It seems that he also ordered a lot of backstage filming at the Garden through the years, and evidence of that ran on screens through most of the 30th edition of the concert on Saturday. It's not enough, at this event, to appreciate the music being played onstage, through clockwork rotations of multiple bands. Mr. Mercado usually tries to give you some larger picture, to make the bands' performances substantially different from an ordinary club gig. So beyond the stage appearances of Oscar D'Leon, La India, Tito Rojas, La Sonora Ponceña and N'Klabe - all with excellent bands - there were nearly constant video loops of eminent figures from Mr. Mercado's old client list (Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and Marc Anthony), mostly with Mr. Mercado looming somewhere in the frame.

N'Klabe, a salsa orchestra led by three young male singers, is like a boy band with integrity. Given the reason for their existence - bringing much-needed youth market to an aging genre with slogans like "I Love Salsa!" - they're better than you expect. Reggaetón has nearly eclipsed salsa on the radio, and for N'Klabe not to switch into reggaetón mode for any of its set seemed almost a radical act. It turned out to be an older, more charmingly diffident performer, Mr. Rojas, who nodded toward the revolution, bringing out a young reggaetonero to growl in rhythm at the end of his set.

Sonora Ponceña was founded in 1954 by the guitarist and singer Quique Lucca, and Mr. Lucca was onstage at the Garden in an honorary role, singing along with the choruses in a white suit at the back of the blue-suited band. But it is his son, the pianist Papo Lucca, who directs the band and drives its deep, bewitching midtempo swing. On the old hit "Hachero Pa' un Palo," the younger Mr. Lucca took a masterly solo, the night's one moment of real instrumental genius, expanding the song's harmony and then narrowing it back, expressing autonomy from the groove and then fealty to it.

La India, who came into Latin music in the 80's through the pop-and-hip-hop version of Latin music known as freestyle, came in large part to salute Celia Cruz. She's known as La Princesa de la Salsa, as opposed to Cruz's title of queen, and she has an enormous voice, given to soaring and melismatic note-bending rather than the percussive staccato of much salsa singing. Overdoing it is just what she does: she walloped everything she sang, including the old Celia Cruz numbers "Bemba Colora" and "Quimbara"; the musical climaxes were carefully plotted, four of them arranged equidistantly through the set.

The big disappointment of the night was that Victor Manuelle, the great sonero, or improvising lead vocalist, and the last great link in a disappearing chain, didn't make his promised appearance at the top of the bill. But the show ended with a "batalla de los soneros" anyway, with a cast of Mr. D'Leon, Ismael Miranda, Domingo Quiñones and José Alberto "El Canario" improvising over vamps about one another, about New York and about salsa history. By the end of a fairly uncompetitive half-hour, it was the laserlike tenor of the night's last-minute substitute, Mr. Miranda, who won out."

She's known as La Princesa de la Salsa

A disputed title. Not so much that there is anyone else people think should be given that label, just that La India doesn't deserve it.

Nope, not that particular show. It's possible we may have shortlisted it in the choices section, though. (Obviously there are tons of shows, in every genre, that I wish we had more room to cover.)

That Cococunt FM comp is great, Philip! (And everybody!) And Philip is right; it has nothing in common whatsoever with his icky Kraftwerk covers.

Has anyone else heard Liquits?

Fox Pan American Sports LLC is an international sports programming and production entity jointly owned by Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst and News Corporation's (NYSE:NWS) Fox Sports International.

(Why am I promoting a Fox Network event?)

So I keep seeing Duranguense cds in my local Target and Best Buy. I think that's Mexican music from the Durango region. I see that "Dr. Phil" posted about it here on Aug. 22, 2005 and elsewhere. I need to check out some samples. One artist/cd he recommended was described elsewhere as follows:

"Diana Reyes is a rarity-a female solo artist in the male-dominated duranguense area of regional Mexican music. Reyes isn't the only woman singing duranguense; Armando Terrazas, founder of Chicago's long-running los Horóscopos de Durango, made a daring and commercially successful move when-after years of overseeing male-oriented lineups-he decided to put his daughers Vicky and Marisol Terrazas right up front. But it is safe to say that historically, las mujeres (women) have been the exception instead of the rule in durganguense, which receives a very pop-minded treatment from Reyes on "La Reina del Pasito Duranguense" ("The Queen of Duranguense"). The Mexican singer, for the most part, doesn't use duranguense for traditionally ranchera purposes on this 2005 release; Reyes caters to those who like their duranguense laced with a big dose of Latin pop. Try to envision a duranguense interpretation of Selena, Ana Bárbara or Priscila y sus Balas de Plata; that is essentially where Reyes is coming from on hooky, infectious, pop-drenched tracks like "Que Me Ame Mas" ("May He Love Me More"), "Como Una Mariposa" ("Like A Butterfly"), "Mentiras" ("Lies") and "El Me Mintio" ("He Lied To Me"). Some might describe this type of regional Mexican ear candy as a "guility pleasure," but then, there's no reason to feel guility about enjoying ear candy as long as it's well done-and Reyes, like Bárbara, definitely provides above-average ear candy (although unlike Bárbara, she isn't working in the grupero realm). "La Reina del Pasito Duranguense" isn't as eclectic or far-reaching as albums by los Horóscopos de Durango; nonetheless, this memorable, pleasing disc is well worth obtaining if one is seeking something fresh from duranguense." ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

That said, Curmudgeon, listen to whatever Banda Lamento Show you can! Those guys are energetic and weird. And a good comp is 15 Duranguneses de Corazon (I think), which has a cover of "Chiquitita" and a song that lifts the melody of "Under the Boardwalk" without actually being same, I don't think; and there's a nice stretch in the middle where the bands' textures and approaches to Duranguense vary noticably.

103.1 has been playing the shit out of it, but I still love it.

"my parents – I'd been hungry to see Mexico City, and they decided we'd take a spring break vacation of a week in , but mostly Mexico City . So we arrive, and they're tired from the plane, and my sister's tired. They crash. I couldn't wait to savor this teeming center of Latin American culture, so I just walked right out of the hotel, turned right on Avenida Juárez, and walked and walked till I got to Zócalo. And there was this huge building that intrigued me -- I had no idea what it was -- across the plaza. And there was a man standing by the door. I said, "Cuál es este edificio?" – What's this building? And he said, "Es el Palacio Nacional!" – It's the National Palace . "Y si tienes suerte podrás verlo adentro." I said, wow. He's saying, if you're lucky and go in, you may see him. And I thought, him? So I went right in, mounted the stairs, and there was Diego Rivera painting. Just like the scene in the movie on his wife. Painting up there on a scaffolding, painting Aztec cities emerging from the waters of Lake Texcoco . And I was blown away. And then he noticed me staring at him, and he shot me this "¿Y usted qué ve?" What are you lookin' at, kid? look. So I answered with a smile that I hoped translated [as] "Algo sublime, señor!" Something sublime, sir!

I staggered back to the hotel, get in the elevator. And I'm alone in the elevator with Anthony Quinn. And he starts rapping, and I said, "Mr. Quinn, what are you here for?" And he said, "I'm doin' The Brave Bulls – it's a movie about bullfighting." Boom, he disappeared. Then I staggered back to my room and I realized I've seen two celebrities in 45 minutes. I wandered down to the dining hall. The Muzak was going strong and it was [sings bass line]. I asked this woman, "What's that?" She said: "Mambo!"

And that was it. I was locked in. As soon as I got back to El Paso I crossed the Río Bravo, went to Ciudad Juárez, stoked up on 78 shellacs by Pérez Prado, and I have been chasing the mambo beat ever since. There was just something about seeing Diego Rivera, and then having a chat with Anthony Quinn, and then hearing my first mambo, all within the first hour. And then later, when I was drafted into the United States Army, I had a buddy photograph me on Mexican soil, between the Juárez mountains and the Franklin mountains. And I'm on a Mexican hill, and I have three LPs in my hand, with the black face of Pérez Prado. And somehow I just wanted to be remembered with those LPs, but what I was doing unconsciously was swearing fealty forever to the cause of Latino music, black Latino music."

Farris Thompson and Sublette know so much about Spanish-language music it's scary. They also relate it in such an entertaining manner. I read a bunch of bloggers raving about Sublette's presentation at the EMP. In this afropop.org thing, he mostly just sits back and lets Thompson enthuse and explain.

Do you know anything about the Sonero Allstars-Dime Nague cd? Here's a review by Omar Walker at salsapower.com

"K.O. in the first round! That’s how this brand new release makes you feel after one listen. A group of musicians (band members from Los Van Van, Issac Delgado, Elio Revé, Jr., etc.) got together to pay homage to Elio Revé and the result is perhaps the best Changüi CD since Elio Revé and su Charangón in their prime.

Former Revé singer, Pascual Matos Aguirre ‘Sinsonte’ is the main vocalist, and damn, this kid can blow! With his nasal vocals, similar to ‘El Indio’ (another Charangón singer) he stands out among today soneros. "Nagüe" and "Explotó la rumba" are pure adrenaline rushes. Then there’s the trombone section, ripping though the CD with such force, that it seems their purpose is to knock your walls down.

"Dime Nagüe" feels like a tribute to Revé (there’s even a song in his memory) but sounds original at the same time. The best way to describe this recording is to imagine if La Charangón, Conjunto Libre, Los Van Van and La Perfecta had a child, this would be it. Man, Timba had better look out, because if this catches on …Ñó."

There was one track I heard from Oderquis Reve's solo album that I liked for a while, but I burned out on it. The only thing I really like was the coros in the latter third of the song. I didn't like the lead vocalist's voice or style. I don't even like the approach to melody, or something. It just seems jumbled to me. (My Puerto Rican salsera friend likes that album, though, and she generally doesn't like timba/contemporary Cuban music.)

Here's descarga.com's description of the Soneros All Stars album:

Wow! With the power of an unexpected slap in the face, ¡Dime Nagüe! just may be the hottest Cuban salsa-son release of the year. Seared with the stamp of Changüi, this hard-driving project is catapulted by the dynamic and superbly executed vocals of Pascual Matos Aguirre 'Sinsote' (Orquesta Revé) and a cast that includes timbaleros Samuel Formell (son of Van Van's Juan Formell) and Oderquis Revé, as well as treseros 'Papi' Oviedo, Miklos Bogdan 'Yanesito' and Jorge Luis Villa, this hard-to-find import CD is simply not to be missed. Non-stop panic inducing arrangements by bassist Arnaldo Jimenez... the rising star of modern Cuban dance music.

Producer Janne Miklos Bogdan has clearly assembled some of Cubas brightest musicians — they have been pulled from Los Van Van, Sierra Maestra, Elio Revé Jr., Isaac Delgado, and Cubanismo.
Do not hesitate, this one, folks, is a total Must-Have. It's just what is needed to make your summer sizzle; a reminder that the wells of Cuban music are always deeper than previously thought. If you have any doubts go ahead and listen to "Explotó La Rumba" penned by Andres Soza Revé.

What are some of your fave NY or Puerto Rican 2005 efforts other than that Miguel Diaz Echu Mingua one, which seems more Latin-Jazz than I thought for something that you like?

Otherwise, I could name individual songs, but I already sent you some of them (but mixed with some '04 things).

I mean, geez, what '05 songs really made an impression on me this summer? The Johnny Pacheco tribute to Celia Cruz (though a little too long), N'Klabe's "I Love Salsa" and "La Salsa de Puerto Rico," and? . . . I can't even think of any others off-hand.

You're right, Echu Mingua is definitely not salsa, but it's not mainstream Latin jazz either. It's closer to the end of jazz I like (e.g., Sun Ra, Sun Ra, and Sun Ra).

Also I might be underestimating that Puerto Rican All Stars album a little, another one I haven't listen to much. But it's hard not to compare these versions to the Marvin Santiago originals (where I'm familiar with them). I was just listening a little to the second disc though, and Oscar D'Leon sounds pretty good on that.

(Why does everybody have to be "All Stars" though?!)

Let me change the subject.

I took Matt/Haikunym's advice and am listening to Tejano band Intocable. I think, I that's what they are. I cannot keep all those genres down there straight--norteno, banda, etc. Gorgeous pop melodies, subtle accordion...

Gypsy:

Did you see that interview/feature piece on Luny Tunes by Jon Caramanica in the Sunday 12-5 NY Times? I thought I had linked to that somewhere. Maybe not. Real interesting discussion of their production approach.

RS:

Either in that article or elsewhere I read that a bunch of reggaeton rappers who performed together at an award show (Latin Grammys maybe) were all wearing t-shirts with old-school salsa soneros on them. Plus I keep seeing Fat Joe in a Hector Lavoe shirt.

I LOVE THIS! THIS WAS MY MAIN JAM FROM LAST YEAR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQysX5mE3I4

not that it came out last year, but it was my summer soundtrack.

Afro-Latin Music Thread 2010: La Resurrección (salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton, cumbia, etc.)