The Best Latin Music You Don't Know
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9 MUSIC The Best Latin Music CHILE You Don’t Ana Tijoux Born in France SOUND during the Old-school Pinochet Know rap dictatorship, Our annual guide to breakthrough Tijoux began musical acts from the U.S. and (nearly) every DOWNLOAD rhyming corner of the Spanish-speaking world. “1977” in French before By Grace Bastidas moving back to Chile and forming the hip-hop group Makiza. After striking out on her own in 2006, she WE WOULD TOTALLY pretend that putting collaborated with Julieta Venegas on the Mexican ORDS. together this package required months of tedious C E research, except we cannot lie: Discovering the singer’s hit song “Eres Para R Mí,” captivating a new legion A L newest rock en español darlings from Argentina N of fans with her jazzy voice IO or identifying the next Juanes by way of Mexico and old-school beats. She C is sort of what we live for. And lucky for us, there’s channels the golden age of rap on her recently released no shortage of Latin talent out there. Although we U.S. debut, 1977 (Nacional don’t discriminate on the basis of genre, country or Records), a tribute to the year of her birth. gender, it seems like this year there’s a surplus of H: COURTESY OF NA musically gifted Latinas with a fierce fashion sense. P Okay, so maybe we’re a little biased toward that particular demographic. Can you blame us? PHOTOGRA 38 LATINA.COM ■ JUNE/JULY 2010 9 MUSIC ARGENTINA So!a Tosello Ever since making her SOUND professional Soulful debut at age 8, Latin jazz Cordoba-born CHILE Sofia Tosello hasn’t stopped DOWNLOAD Valentina Fel evolving. A “La Clarosa Your body will fan of Duke Cruz” know you’re Ellington and SOUND listening to Fel’s Ella Fitzgerald, the 29-year-old Electro- defiant rhymes moved to New York City more gypsy rap long before your than a decade ago to study brain catches jazz. But while playing with up to it on the different Latin ensembles DOWNLOAD dance floor. throughout the Big Apple, she “Sin Control Much like her became enraptured by her Mi Diversión” Lizard King homeland’s folk music and labelmate Santigold, the began mixing tango with Santiago native links genres— Cuban bolero, Brazilian bossa in her case, electro, dub, rock, nova and Peruvian vals. hip-hop and flamenco—to Her new album, Alma y Luna create an unexpected sound (Sunnyside Records), is steeped in attitude. Her self- a collage of all of these sounds titled debut is in the works. and the reason she was invited to perform at a Mercedes Sosa tribute concert last year. ARGENTINA Banda de Turistas Though the members of this quintet are only in their early 20s, O R D S . C their dreamy pop evokes the 1960s. Credit this retro sensibility E SOUND (they’re big fans of disco bands such as Liquid Liquid and the R Psychedelic A L Super Furry Animals) for earning them the LAMC Artist Discovery N pop IO Award at last summer’s Latin Alternative Music Conference in C New York City. The accolade helped propel the February release of their U.S. debut, Magical Radiophonic Heart (Nacional DOWNLOAD Records), which was compiled from their two previous Argentine T R O L ; N A “Días de N albums and supported by the likes of Coldplay, who recently Prosperidad” invited the porteños to open for their Buenos Aires concert. E ; © C O V STE E O L O R E S D L E F T: P T O M K W I S E F R O C LO C H S , P PHOTOGRA 9 USA MUSIC Rana Santacruz Whether you categorize SOUND his music as Mezcal- Mexican spiked Celtic folk bluegrass or Irish mariachi, Rana Santacruz is DOWNLOAD “El Funeral in a class all de Tacho” his own. The Brooklyn troubadour with Mexico City roots brews a cross-cultural concoction full of Celtic rhythms and ranchera regrets that are pulled together by banjos, jaranas, violins and other acoustic instruments. The 13 tales in his debut album, Chicavasco, take their queue from the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez and tell of funerals, peacocks and ghosts. N C O H E M DA A H : P PHOTOGRA 42 LATINA.COM ■ JUNE/JULY 2010 9 USA Fancy Me Yet After snatching a big-time record deal and racking up three Latin Grammy nominations as MUSIC SOUND a Spanish-singing alt-rock soloist, 22-year-old Yeah Yeah Natasha Dueñas (formerly JD Natasha) craved Yeahs, Miami-style the collaborative effort of a band. In mid-2009, the Cuban-and-Argentinean vocalist reinvented herself and formed the Miami-based indie pop trio Fancy Me Yet with guitarist Alex Gaynor DOWNLOAD “Amusing and drummer Chris Bernard. Since then, Me” they’ve been making waves across Florida with their swelling rock riffs and unflinching vocals. Their new EP, Skip the Previews, gets down to business with unabashed energy meant to get you moving. SPAIN Huecco The long dreadlocks are the SOUND first sign that Iván Fusion SA. Sevillano, aka N without A M confusion Huecco, isn’t looking to fit in. L O A L And judging by his B A 2006 self-titled P DOWNLOAD “Reina de los album that went I L A ; V gold in Spain, he A Angelotes” D doesn’t have to. O PUERTO RICO N Often compared to Manu Chao DOR Suturee for his pan-Latin fusion, he A contorts rock, rumba and cumbia A Lurking behind the beautifully CC into “rumbia” while singing in E somber folk songs of Suturee B E Spanish, French and Portuguese. R SOUND are Julian Brau and Rebecca Healing His latest CD, Assalto (Warner A ; Adorno, a boy and girl duo that N folk pop Music Spain), was produced by craft soothing sounds meant to the multitalented Thom Russo ease the pain, as the band’s (Alejandro Sanz, Aterciopelados, E Q U I J O C name suggests. In their self- I DOWNLOAD Maná) and continues the musical N A “Afraid titled album, the pair’s haunting J assault with a crisscrossing of : English-language vocals and P of Hands” flamenco, hip-hop and punk in soft acoustic guitars set T O cathartic tracks like the socially- M a mood that strays far away from their home conscious “Se Acabaron las of sunny San Juan and into bleaker territory, Lágrimas,” a call for domestic allowing listeners ample space to reflect. H S , F R O abuse victims to break free. P A follow-up CD is in the works, and should be even more atmospheric now that the group has relocated to New York City. PHOTOGRA 44 LATINA.COM ■ JUNE/JULY 2010 9 MUSIC COLOMBIA Eka Influenced by soulful singers SOUND such as Totó la Afro- Momposina Colombian Soukous and Angélique Kidjo, Eka’s founder, Erika Muñoz, DOWNLOAD “Corre que combines Afro- Te Corre” Colombian rhythms and congolese soukous in the same pot and stirs them with her booming voice. And though the Barranquilla native still tours around the world as part of the electro-Latin band Sidestepper, she celebrates her Caribbean roots in this new musical project. EZ. N MEXICO D Y M A R T I Carla Morrison N E W Much like her ; K idols, country star N SOUND FU Patsy Cline and Minimalist E N pop with ranchera queen RE a country Lola Beltrán, heart Morrison closes all emotional distance S T U D I O ; between her and E DOWNLOAD the listener. Her D R A N “Esta soft, yearning ALO Soledad” lyrics pull at the P O heartstrings in T her debut EP, Aprendiendo a PERU Aprender, a selection of delicate DOÑO/ N O pop songs that are big on L . Autobus sentiment yet simple at their core. F Since forming in 2006, Autobus has Aside from a microphone, the D R E S SOUND played all the major venues in Lima, Tecate native uses little else than AN Vintage opening for international acts such as the her vintage Casio keyboard, : P pop rock Killers, Soul Asylum and Franz Ferdinand. a tambourine and guitar to bring T O with an The quintet’s Brit-tinged pop rock has them to life. Fans include fellow M electro even earned them high-profile exposure musician Natalia Lafourcade, twist on national television and heavy rotation who was so impressed by her H S , F R O on MTV Peru. Their self-titled LP, compatriot that she’s producing P a melodious road trip driven by potent her upcoming first full-length DOWNLOAD singing and good vibes, has stretched the feature, Mientras Tú Dormías. “El Duelo” band’s fanbase way beyond the Andes. PHOTOGRA 46 LATINA.COM ■ JUNE/JULY 2010 9 MUSIC ARGENTINA No Lo Soporto Legendary Soda Stereo frontman SOUND Gustavo Cerati New wave put this leggy indie rock pop-rock threesome on Argentina’s DOWNLOAD musical map “Nunca Iré” when he praised them in a local I. newspaper in 2006. The following CC ETU year they won Best Independent N E B Artist at Los Premios MTV. Fast- N forward to the present: The ladies IA have finally landed stateside with M the 2009 digital release of their H : D A second album, Avión (Warner/ P Chappell), which has Cerati lending his voice to the instant hit “Nunca Iré.” PHOTOGRA 48 LATINA.COM ■ JUNE/JULY 2010 9 VENEZUELA Jóvenes y Sexys Young, sexy and MUSIC irresistible, Lorena SOUND Orlando (“Loocila”) Sticky and Ezequiel and sweet lo-fi pop Bertho (“Cheky”) are the awesome twosome behind this folksy pop DOWNLOAD “El Reloj” outfit resonating all the way from Caracas.