Rolling Afro-Latin music thread 2013

This one is dedicated to La Lechera:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t9QNpSq7OM

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25016.10?XvvmSErT;;426

reggaeton lives....but only at smaller clubs rather than halls:

Pina Records La Formula: Zion y Lennox, Arcangel, Plan B, Rakim y Ken-Y, Lobo. Friday, February 15, 2013 - 9:00pm. Cococabana. 2031A university blvd., Hyattsville, MD near Washington DC

I think I still like reggaeton more than tropical bass

http://www.tropicalbass.com/2012/12/top-of-the-trops-best-of-tropical-bass-2012/

ANDRÉS:
Top Albums/EPs:
MKC – Caribbean Swagga
Sonodo Desconocido – Trópico Quasar
Maga Bo – Quilombo de Futuro
Cumba Mela – Remix Ep 1

Sonikgroove ft. Prince Osito – Better dan dem Remix EP
Kumbia Queers – Pecados Tropicales
So Shifty ft. Madera Limpia – Rumba EP
Sonido Guay Neñe – Copla Colectiva Digital
Suelta la voz – Copia Doble Systema
Chico Trujillo – Gran Pecador
Palenke Soultribe – Makako EP
Tropikore – Guarapo EP
Frikstailers – Guacha EP
Subatomic Soundsystem ft. Anthony B – Dem Cant stop we from Talkin EP

I posted this on the year-end critics list too:

2012 TOP TEN CD's
(From Latin Beat Magazine Online Contributors)
By Vicki Solá
1. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York a Puerto Rico / Marcha
2. Luis Mangual y su Conjunto Mangual / Sabor y Swing / Lujoso
3. Ray Castro's Conjunto Clasico / Este Es Mi Conjunto / RC Enter.
4. Bobby Sanabria Big Band / Multiverse / Jazzheads
5 Ralph Irizarry & Los Viejos De La Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS
6. CharanSalsa / Pa' Mi Pueblo / CharanSalsa
7. Ralphy Santi / Homenaje Al Bailador / Muziq
8. Don Sonero / La Verdadera Escena / Don Sonero Music
9. Chico Álvarez & Palomonte Afro-Cuban Big Band / El Montunero / Mafimba
10. La Guatekera Orquesta / Going Back to the Old School Salsa / Old School Salsa

By Nelson Rodriguez
1. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York A Puerto Rico / Marcha
2. Dorance Lorza y Sexteto Café / Rumbero De Corazon / DLR
3. Ralph Irizarry y Los Viejos de la Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS
4. Chico Alvarez & Palomonte Afro Cuban Big Band / El Montunero / Mafimba
5. La Excelencia / Ecos Del Barrio / Handle With Care
6. Pacific Mambo Orchestra / PMO / PMO
7. Tromboranga- Tromboranga Salsa Dura / Bloque 53
8. Marlow Rosado Y La Riqueña / Retro / Pink Chaos
9. Wilson 'Chembo' Corniel / Afro Blue Monk / American Showplace Music
10. Ralphy Santi / Homenaje A Los Bailadores / Muzik

By Elmer Gonzalez
1. Various Artists /La Música De Puerto Rico: Raíces Y Evolución (Box Set) - Casabe Records
2. Andy Montañez /Sueño / Morocho Records
3. Cheo Feliciano & Rubén Blades / Eba Say Ajá / Ariel Rivas Music
4. Sonora Latina / Con Clave Para Bailar / Sedajazz Records
5. Septeto Santiaguero / Vamos Pa' La Fiesta / Picap Records
6. Ralph Irizarry y Los Viejos de la Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS
7. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York A Puerto Rico / Marcha
8. Tromboranga Orquesta / Tromboranga Salsa Dura / Bloque 53
9. Tito García / Pa' Gozar / T&T Productions
10. Wilson Chembo Corniel / Afro Blue Monk / American Showplace Music

By Luis Tamargo
1. Manuel Galbán / Blue Cha Cha / Concord Picante
2. Carlos Varela / No es el Fin / Graffiti
3. Various Artists / Chico y Rita Soundtrack / Calle 54
4. Ninety Miles / Live at Cubadisc / Concord Picante
5. Elio Villafranca & Arturo Stable / Dos y Mas / Montéma
6. Alfredo Rodríguez / Sounds of Space / Mack Avenue
7. Clarise Assad / Home / Adventure
8. Ricardo Alvarez & Cubanísimo / Marketing / Alvarez Music
9. Waldemar Bastos / Classics of My Soul / Enja
10. José Lugo & Guasábara Combo / Poetic Justice / GC Music

By Guido Herrera
1. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York a Puerto Rico / Marcha
2. Cheo Feliciano / Ruben Blades / Eba Say Aja / Ariel Rivas Music
3. Bobby Sanabria / Multiverse / Jazzheads
4. Septeto Santiaguero / Vamos Pa' La Fiesta / Picap
5. Jose Lugo & Guasabara Combo / Poetic Justice / En Grande Music
6. Varios Artistas / Homenaje a Tite Curet: Sono Sono / Banco Popular
7. Ralph Irizarry y Los Viejos de la Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS
8. Papo Vazques & Mighty Pirates Troubadors / Oasis / Picaro Records
9. Wilson "Chembo" Corniel / Afro Blue Monk / American Showplace Music
10. Candi Sosa & Victor Cegarra / Boleros Meets Jazz / Candi Sosa Music

By Rudy Mangual
1. Eddie Montalvo / Desde Nueva York a Puerto Rico / Marcha
2. Jose Lugo & Guasabara Combo / Poetic Justice / En Grande Music
3. Septeto Santiaguero / Vamos Pa' La Fiesta / Picap Records
4. Papo Vazques & Mighty Pirates Troubadors / Oasis / Picaro Records
5. Ralph Irizarry y Los Viejos de la Salsa / Viejos Pero Sabrosos / BKS Records
6. Henry Cole & The Afrobeat Collective / Roots Before Branches / Henry Cole
7. Jaime Dubberly and Orquesta Dharma / Road Warrior / Higher Truth
8. Bloque 53 / Tumba Pachunga / Bloque 53
9. Chembo Corniel Quintet / Afro Blue Monk / American Showplace Music
10.Chico Alvarez & Palomonte Afro Cuban Big Band / El Montunero / Mafimba

I don't even know what tropical bass is.

I just discovered that Ivy Queen put out an album in 2012. Listening to it now. I seriously had no idea.

Not sure I can explain Tropical bass very well. Did not know about the Ivy Queen album either.

I just discovered that Latin Grammy nominee and Latin Beat magazine and website fave Eddie Montalvo is a conguero who played with Hector Lavoe.

This is not bad, I think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6PYolW-HHM

Vallenato-tinged, I guess.

Latin bugalu band Spanglish Fly will bring the sounds of '60s Spanish Harlem to the Millennium Stage this evening. 6 p.m. at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage,

This will also be video-streamed and archived if one is into this genre. I am, but have never heard of this group that is apparently bringing the style back

Missed that bugalu band last night. Will check out the video later

http://salsa.blog.lemonde.fr/2013/01/02/musique-latine-les-meilleurs-albums-de-2012/#xtor=RSS-32280322

Pupy; Sanabria; that Cheo & Blades one;

the above list is from a French site. The below one is from Descarga

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/best_of_2012

desgarga's best-of list

http://www.billboard.com/news/the-best-of-2012-the-year-in-music-1008045682.story#/column/year-in-music-2012/the-year-in-latin-2012-1008051142.story

Save for Shakira and Rivera, a multimedia powerhouse, testosterone overwhelmed the charts. So much so that among the top 20 tracks on the Latin Songs tally, there are only two females -- Natasha and America Sierra -- both featured guests on tracks by male artists.

Among the 50 titles on Latin Albums, only seven -- including Jesse & Joy -- are female.

I still need to check out some of those Latin Beat faves

I'm listening to the Bailatino album on descarga.com's list and--there's no tension in the music! Nothing! Blah. It checks off the boxes required by the genre, but it doesn't make me feel anything, in which case what's the point. Will just have to break down and buy some of those overpriced possibly pirated remastered from vinyl lost classics that Rareza keeps putting out. Still a better value than this is, I'd say.

Also, must find someone to hook me up to some tribal mixes. I am sure someone in my life can help me with that, I just need to figure out who it is.

Admit it salsa bands, you really want to be playing Latin jazz.

Sad isn't it.

Looks like I'm going to see Wisin y Yandel at Madison Square Garden on Friday night...

Wisin y Yandel's "Algo Me Gusta De Ti," a hit song from the album Lideres, is on top of the Latin Songs chart followed by Tito El Bambino's "Por Que Les Mientes" and Daddy Yankee's "Limbo." These three singles are also competing against each other in additional charts including Latin Pop Songs, Tropical Songs and Latin Airplay.

http://latinmusic.about.com/b/2013/01/03/jenni-rivera-and-urban-stars-dominate-billboards-latin-music-charts.htm

Rareza has put out a Conjunto Saoco compilation. This could be an interesting test case. If they don't have permission, you can be pretty sure they will be hearing from Henry and Orlando Fiol (whether or not Henry Fiol himself has copyright claims to the material, which I'm not sure about).

New La Sonora Poncena. New Plena Libre. Might actually be a some decent salsa albums this year, but I haven't had a chance to even listen to clips yet.

The email I got about the new Plena Libre scared me. It mentioned jazz. I hope a great plena and bomba band has not decided to just go Latin-jazz.

Actually, some of the jazz-influenced plena/bomba out of PR is pretty good, when the bands are rooted in plena and bomba. I like some of what Truco y Zaperoko and Los Pleneros de la 21 (who I think you like) have done along those lines.

Might actually be a some decent salsa albums this year

For all my pessimism, I am an eternal optimist, obviously.

The Kennedy Center is suddenly trying to make up for not including Latinos in its Honors event (and the K. Ctr. Director telling the head of a Latino group to f off) by scheduling a special Latino inaugural event hosted by Eva Langoria and featuring Ballet Hispanico and Rita Moreno and others (but no salsa, reggaeton, bachata, banda, etc)! Well at least Eddie Palmieri is coming there on a separate night. They have also formed a panel to address the issue of Latinos and the Honor Awards.

Oh, Kennedy Center has added an after-show with Frankie Negron.

I'm putting together a 70s New York mix, not nec big hits, but things that got played on radio in diff boroughs, grassroots dance clubs, block parties etc. Good dance beats, but not nec trying to crossover to disco. What Latin, Afro-Latin should I check?

Here's someone's guide to salsa and bugalu

http://libraryschool.campusguides.com/content.php?pid=410583&sid=3368220

Also think Rudiph and others have probably addressed this somewhere on ilx

ah cool thx

Hi dow, didn't see this until now. Hmmm. I don't really know salsa history on that level actually. I probably can't help with that.

If you have time, I suggest joining Yahoo's Salseros Corner (I think it is--I forget the name), the one "Richie Rumbero" runs anyway. Some people in that group might know that level of historical detail.

Salseros' Collective, that's it.

The Wisin y Yandel show was a lot of fun. Screaming throughout, but when Romeo Santos came out mid-set, it went up by I'd say an octave and a half, easy. The Latin ladies of NYC love Romeo Santos.

Yep. He's sold out Madison Square Garden both with Aventura and solo. In DC he's big enough to sell out a smaller than the Garden but still big arena.

I've started reading Chris Washburne's Sounding Salsa (it's my designated allergist office reading, so it will probably take me a while to finish since I most likely will only be reading it there) and I'm already learning things I didn't know before. I hadn't realized that the ground-breaking Noche Caliente records (which helped formulate salsa romantica) were originally released on K-Tel! That's hilarious to me somehow.

And Washburne makes some good points. He writes that Fania's success in Latin America was partly its undoing. Salsa caught on in such a big way that independent local labels sprang up.

I did listen to the new Plena Libre album on Spotify and it's pretty good, overall. Sorry to leave it as non-specific as that, but I would need to listen a few more times (and probably will) to possibly have more to say. Funny though, the more obviously jazz influenced tracks are the ones I liked least.

The album is entitled Corazon and there is some bad synth on it, and suddenly I realized they may be trying to do plena romantica. I don't think that's such a good idea. At least with any decent plena and bomba outfit you get rock solid percussion throughout.

Re-listening, for the moment, and the first two tracks seem "romantica" but the next two pick it up more and ditch the synth, or don't use it in an embarrassing way (to the point where I'm not noticing it).

The Plena Libre is on Spotify, btw.

I still think Michael Stuart's Back to da Barrio, Bannakumbi's Un Nuevo Dia, and maybe some of the artier, more album-oriented reggaeton projects that came out several years back, suggested a viable way forward for Puerto Rican salsa that ended up going overlooked. I don't think I have much company in this particular opinion.

I know. . . stuck CD.

I listened to the Plena Libre once so far. I like it too but it seems more salsa than the stripped down plena y bomba I recall from them and from other groups designated "plena."

still think Michael Stuart's Back to da Barrio, Bannakumbi's Un Nuevo Dia, and maybe some of the artier, more album-oriented reggaeton projects that came out several years back, suggested a viable way forward for Puerto Rican salsa that ended up going overlooked. I don't think I have much company in this particular opinion.

― _Rudipherous_, Monday, January 21, 2013 11:40 PM

What are the others suggesting? Do you mean the Latin Beat Magazine proponents of NYC revivalist salsa and latin-jazz or something else? Commercially in the US, it seems that bachata has largely replaced salsa romantica on commercial Latin radio. I do not know what the response has been in Puerto Rico itself.

Here's my review (photos also mine) of Wisin y Yandel at Madison Square Garden Friday night.

A while back I posted a video of one of my former teachers winning the Mayan as the follower in a same-sex couple. Here he is as a lead social dancing, though obviously aware he is on display. How does the follower here dance in that long skirt without tripping constantly?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t5pU7Ln0h8

Of course the usual disclaimer that I obviously don't dance nearly this well (and Eli is not even the person I studied with the most).

How does the follower here dance in that long skirt without tripping constantly?

I just realized she's probably wearing tights or something. Skirt would be kind of insane to wear otherwise, if it's even strictly a skirt. Never mind.

Mr. Mambo's salsa social in Washington Dc .... interesting

Yeah, I don't know if that means Eli is in DC now or what. He might have been visiting. When I was taking classes with him he divided his time between Philly and Hawaii (but I think mostly Philly at that point).

Honestly, his dancing seems a little technical at times. I don't get that much of a sense of feeling in it. Like, I'm sure I look totally sloppy and blah in comparison, but I'm just saying there are other prominent instructors whose dancing evokes more feeling for me (Tito Ortos being a favorite example).

I don't know, ultimately social dancing is about the experience of the partners involved. It's hard to know how it feels to them.

Experiment: Listened to some in the car on the way to work this morning and it didn't feel bouncy to me.

One reason beginners are bouncy is that they make jerky movements in an attempt to capture that elusive beat that keeps escaping from their step.

tech house, reggae and salsa have bounce to spare,

This seems too simplistic to me---while these 3 genres might have certain aspects that are more in common, oh than they would have with other genres, they are also very different. If I was a musician I think I could better explain the use of rhythm and why also some folks use the term "bouncy" to refer to certain melodies

We need that sometime ilxor stat guy quoted in the piece to explain where their "bounce" definition came from. Bounce is also used to describe a current DC go-go offshoot, and to describe New Orleans club music as well.

Washington Post critic just put the Roberto Fonseca album in his top 10 for the year. He's the youngish Cuban pianist who toured on his own and sat in with Buena Vista. I listened to a few songs on Spotify and was not wowed, but never did listen to the whole album.

NY Times jazz critic and Peter Margasak-- jazz and international and more critic at Chicago Reader like him

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/arts/music/roberto-fonseca-at-the-highline-ballroom.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/arts/music/roberto-fonseca-at-the-highline-ballroom.html

Oops on the links

http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/09/27/the-syncretic-sounds-of-cuban-pianist-roberto-fonseca

also, since both critics used the same word

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/syncretist

Finally listened to the whole Fonseca album. Eh. He jumps around from piano jazz to fusion and prog and there's a song with great Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara, and a song with Arabic chanting...but not much clave

songo?

Timba?

This could be good, but probably won't be:

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25291.10?DNe9t2MQ;;411

Much of their earlier work was great, but "Marking 34 years since their last release on the Combo Records label" says it all. I will listen if I can stream it somewhere, however.

x-post re Fonseca- not much songo or timba...just Latin-jazz and straight=ahead jazz and than various other things thrown in-- classical, Malian, middle Eastern

Oh fuck yeah to the coro on these Puerto Rico All Stars clips. Maybe they should move the coro to the front because I'm sorry, these old veterans managing the lead vocals are so far beyond their prime. . . Band sounds tight though.

Why do they never do a project that sounds like this, with this kind of a band, but with the best relatively younger singers upfront?

Still. Two versions of Usted Abuso? I love that song, but the Celia Cruz/Willie Colon recording is so perfect, why touch it?

Might actually get this one.

Hearing good male vocalists like Luisito Carrion and Pedro Brull singing Usted Abuso is actually interesting and novel.

Listen to the band here. This is what salsa coming out of NYC does not sound like ever any more.

It's happened before that good salsa albums get released near the end of the year.

And after my crack about the <<Blank>> All Stars. But this is a genuine all star group and they've already proven themselves in the past.

Still confused though. This might be a mixture of old and new recordings. This "Bomba del Corazon" sounds the same as the one I have.

These clips don't sound bad to me either, but something feels weird about jumping back into reggaeton business as usual when it's been so under the radar (under my radar anyway).

http://www.descarga.com/cgi-bin/db/25301.10?29d6U5Cs;;436

And some of this Juan Pablo Diaz sounds good. It's up on Spotify too. A little bit lighter than I'd prefer, but it's still tight and swinging. "A Pie" especially jumps out on first skim. There's a throwback to a Ruben Blades sort of sound with the strings, but it doesn't end up sounding pathetically derivative. Though I do hear some Blades in his delivery as well.

He's actually got more of a rapid fire thing going, at least some of the time, than Blades typically had/has from what I remember.

I will definitely for "A Pie."

Er, rep for.

Will check that out later, thanks.

In mostly non-salsa news and non Latin Grammy news, here's the regular grammys nominees for some awards:

Best Tropical Latin Album
3.0 - Marc Anthony

Como Te Voy A Olvidar - Los Angeles Azules

Pacific Mambo Orchestra - Pacific Mambo Orchestra

Sergio George Presents Salsa Giants - Various Artists

Corazón Profundo - Carlos Vives

Best Latin Jazz Album
La Noche Más Larga - Buika

Song For Maura - Paquito D'Rivera And Trio Corrente

Yo - Roberto Fonseca

Egg¿n - Omar Sosa

Latin Jazz-Jazz Latin - Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet

Best Latin Pop Album
Faith, Hope Y Amor - Frankie J

Viajero Frecuente - Ricardo Montaner

Vida - Draco Rosa

Syntek - Aleks Syntek

12 Historias - Tommy Torres

Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album
El Objeto Antes Llamado Disco - Café Tacvba

Ojo Por Ojo - El Tri

Chances - Illya Kuryaki And The Valderramas

Treinta Días - La Santa Cecilia

Repeat After Me - Los Amigos Invisibles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfxeO6O4WxI

something feels weird about jumping back into reggaeton business as usual when it's been so under the radar (under my radar anyway).

With Latin-pop radio so seemingly bachata-driven these days, reggaeton sounds like a throwback there and the folks who do it without utilizing Euro club beats just seem like outcasts. But others who know more might differ.

Still need to listen to Puerto Rico Allstars and to some other stuff mentioned upthread

Wonder if I should know Willie Gonzalez & Edgar Joel, salseros I think coming to the DC area for a gig?

from Washington Post critic's top pop singles list:

14. Marc Anthony, “Vivir Mi Vida”

A stadium chant-along about individuality courtesy of the deepest lungs on Earth.

I think I might have seen Edgar Joel once but don't remember. From what I've heard in recorded form I'd say he's okay, but wouldn't call this show a must-see.

The Anthony single is certainly massive, but I am not into it.

Big mass appeal amongst Latino audiences, but from what I gather online the hardcore salsero response is a bit lukewarm.

Not that those two categories don't intersect! But only very partially.

I've heard it on Latin pop radio amongst the bachata and club-beat stuff

I saw Natalie Lafourcade and band last night. A bit uneven but I liked the set. Not exactly Afro-Latin unless you consider boleros and indie-popped boleros with looped guitar plus trumpet Afro-latin.

I was at one of the New Mexican places where I usually by lunch and I again noticed that they were again playing music in the kitchen that sounded kind of like merengue or plena. I asked about it and I think one of the women working in the kitchen said simply "parranda." She also just said it was Mexican, at some point. (She doesn't really have a lot of English and normally works in the kitchen, but happened to come up to take my order. A younger guy who is normally at the counter and who sounds like a native English speaker, but I think is bilingual as well, couldn't help me with specifics.)

Anyway, it leads me to believe that maybe Mexico has a tradition of Christmas music for frame drums, like Puerto Rico (and probably Colombia, guessing from some Colombian song lyrics). But it seems kind of obscure. Maybe it's not even just Christmas music.

Here we go, except I'm pretty sure I would have recognized cumbia if that's what it had been. But the instrumentation was similar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lESZ-PDVTVg

I had heard the term in association with Puerto Rican X-mas traditions but wiki I see also says (without mentioning Mexico for some reason):

Parranda, Parranda de aguinaldo or Parang is an Afro-Venezuelan/Trinidadian musical form from the coastal area of the states Aragua and Carabobo in Venezuela. It is also popular in Trinidad as well.

In Puerto Rico, parrandas (or asaltos) are musical festivities in the Christmas season holidays.

and saw this in google:

Jenni Rivera La ultima parranda

Some people on salsaforums are talking about this band and it is indeed quite good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCTz7Sga8O8#t=125

Good female vocalists are obviously rare in salsa these days.

Is that Latin Beat Magazine (and website) defunct? My quick google search only finds December 2012/January 2013 content.

i finally saw my former students' afro-colombian ensemble the other night at our holiday party and it was AWESOME. lots of energy in the music, serious but relaxed players, killer beats, and super cool singing, like two female voices kind of hollering in unison. folk singing rather than pop singing.

anyway, this is them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zp_L1CFxnE

They sound good, at least as far as I can judge from that audio. I once caught part of a free performance by this local group that sometimes covers Afro-Colombian material:

http://www.malamanamusic.com/

here's a longer sample https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPytMjwLBg8

You've mentioned bits and pieces I think, but I've kind of lost the thread. Do you teach music? Are these former music students, or are they former student you taught in other capacities, while helping to inspire their interest in Afro-Colombian music?

They do sound good, and like they've rehearsed and played together a lot.

They are Colombian, were in my speech class several years ago, my teaching has had little/no effect on their music, but I hope it has had an effect on their speaking skills. They were top notch students! The bass drum (?) player and older lady singer are married. Not sure who everyone else is tbh.

Thanks, La Lechera. I may have gotten this crossed with your talking about playing that Chicago salsa comp. for some of your students (I hope I am not getting that wrong as well).

I checked out the Conjunto Sabrosura album and I'm afraid I am not that excited by it. Once again, I imagine someone marking off a checklist. Their music follows some sort of a roots/salsa dura template but I can't bring myself to like it just because it checks off all the right boxes. It's not moving me. I dunno, maybe it's just drawing too heavily on areas of salsa that don't mean that much to me.

The jazz critics poll (now associated with NPR and with the Village Voice & elsewhere in the past) also does a top Latin jazz category:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/bestmusic2013/2013/12/16/251761858/the-2013-npr-music-jazz-critics-poll

Latin
1. Michele Rosewoman, 30 Years: A Musical Celebration of Cuba in America (Advance Dance Disques) 19
2. Chucho Valdés, Border-Free (Jazz Village) 13
3. Miguel Zenón Oye!!! Live in Puerto Rico (Miel Music) 8
4 (tie). Alexis Cuadrado, A Lorca Soundscape (Sunnyside) 7
4 (tie). The Pedrito Martinez Group, The Pedrito MartinezGroup (Motéma) 7

Haven't actually gone through this yet, but Raquel Z. Rivera has a series of interesting looking posts on the connection between bachata and bolero, as well as Puerto Rican jibaro music:

http://cascabeldecobre.blogspot.com/2013/10/why-las-decimas-del-amargue-reason-1.html
http://cascabeldecobre.blogspot.com/2013/11/why-las-decimas-del-amargue-reason-2.html

I'm still not wowed by that Pedrito Martinez album

I like this. Seems to be new (2013 anyway):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHbOu2t1T4w

LOL at looking for English language coverage of what's happening in contemporary Dominican music.

http://latinmusic.about.com/od/playlists_merengue_bachata/tp/Top-Bachata-Songs-Of-2013.htm?nl=1

Ha, there's this. At least a different writer than the one they used to have.

http://latinmusic.about.com/od/playlists/tp/Best-Latin-Songs-of-2013.htm?nl=1

This was a great year for Latin music.

I want some of what this guy is smoking.

Rolling Afro-Latin Music All Stars - Tribute to Afro-Latin Music Thread 2014 (DVD incl.)