Category: cumbia

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Calle Mambo and Kumbia Boruka Team Up on Dance Floor Friendly “Acordéon Rebelde”

Formed back in 2013, Valparaiso, Chile-based dectet Calle Mambo blend the richness and diversity of Latin American folkloric music — quena, quenacho, cuatro, charango, tiple, timbal, zampoña, ronroco and more — with urban music and electronic production to create something unique and personal.

Lyon-based octet Kumbia Boruka features musicians from Mexico, Chile, Argentina and France but the band’s roots lie in Monterrey, Mexico, where cumbia is the sound of the streets — and where Mexican cumbia legend Celso Piña was born. Kumbia Boruka bandleader Hernán Cortés learned accordion from the legend and accompanied him on international tours. Fittingly, Kumbia Boruka’s sound is inspired by and reflects the sound of Monterrey and Mexico but they blend the classic cumbia sound with reggae, dub, tropical and psychedelia. The band’s arrangements feature an extensive rhythm section including guacharaca and congas, a brass section, and of course, the accordion.

The result is a bold, new take on cumbia that pairs power, tropical sounds with a fierce energy that embraces Latin American rhythms.

The Chilean dectet and the French octet teamed up for “Acordéon rebelde.” Released last month, the collaboration is a Vulcan mind-meld between the two acts that boldly pushes the boundaries of cumbia with subtle nods to surf rock and tropicalia while showcasing both acts knack for crafting catchy hooks.

“Acordéon rebelde” was written as a tribute to the legendary Celso Piña. Both bands feature members, who have played with him during his “Cumbia Around the World” tour, which gives the song a deeply human connection to its subject while being indebted to him.

Calle Mambo will be embarking on a lengthy European Union tour. Tour dates, as always, will be below.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms
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News/Announcements: FME Announces 2025 Venue Showcase Lineups

FME announces the venue showcase lineups for the 2025 edition.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Zumba la Calavera Shares Breezy and Nostalgia-Inducing “Selva Gris En Mi Corazón”

Founded by Roberto Alfaro in Villa Alemana in the Valaparaíso region of Chilé back in 2018, Zumba la Calavera has spent their career exploring different styles of music while crafting songs that discuss Latin American social problems and get listeners to think.

The Chilean outfit’s debut EP, 2020’s Ruidos Modesto’s saw the band creating a sound that meshed elements of funk and rock while tackling global warming, the abandonment of the elderly when they cease to be profitable, the perverse incentives of the healthcare industry and corporate image washing through Teletón, a Mexican TV channel that derives its name from a Chilean telethon that raised money for children’s charities.

The band’s latest album Sistema Pachanguers was released earlier this year. The album is an ode to life’s unexpected nature and absurd twists of fate and Peruvian cuisine — because priorities, right? Sonically, the album sees the band at their most defiantly genre agnostic while featuring lyrics and vocals that range from sarcasm to reflection.

Sistema Pachanguers latest single “Selva Gris En Mi Corazón,” is a breezy, nostalgia-inducing bit of dance floor friendly cumbia that captures the bittersweet nostalgia of old lovers and memories of the taste of fish, salsa and ice-cold pilsners on hot days. It’s those small memories that make us human — and give us life.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: El Dusty, Ace1, Ratchetón and Harlay Team Up on a Flirty Banger

JOVM mainstay El Dusty is a Corpus Christi, TX-born and-based electronic music producer. He has developed a global following as the pioneer of nu-cumbia, which meshes the rich heritage of Latin music with hip-hop and electronic music. El Dusty’s unique sound is deeply rooted in his upbringing on the American-Mexican border, where Tejano anthems and Chicano soul frequently met the heavy bass lines of reggae and house music.

Renowned for his innovative use of the MPC2000 sampler and for his knowledge and love of deep cut Latin classic, the Corpus Christi-born and-based JOVM mainstay has collaborated with an electric array of artists and producers including Santa Fe Klan, Mexican Institute of Sound and Erick Rincón.

When he’s not in his studio at Americano Label, El Dusy is busy performing on stages around the world and working on major brand projects for Pepsi, Jack Daniels, Red Bull and others.

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Bilingual Salvadoran artist Ratchetón exploded into the Latin music scene with his FKi 1st and Isvir Beats co-produced debut single “Que Lo Que,” which amassed over 350,000 streams while jumpstarting a growing fanbase. His sophomore single “Callate” continued the momentum of his debut, while seeing him spit fiery Spanish bars over a hip-hop club bounce.

The rising Latin artist is currently working with FKi 1st and a collection of top-tonic producers and musicians on his highly-anticipated full-length debut.

Ratchetón and Harlay recently teamed up on the El Dusty and Ace1 co-produced “Aye Papi,” a swaggering banger that’s a loving tribute to the city’s vibrant cumbia scene and the city’s beautiful women that pairs El Dusty’s Tejano-infused nu-cumbia with Ace1’s Larry Levan-like keyboards to create a song that will make you approach that pretty young thing and try to dance with them.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Combo Chimbita Shares Trippy and Meditative House-like “Dímelo”

Acclaimed New York-based Latinx group Combo Chimbita — Carolina Oliveros (vocals, guacharaca), Prince of Queens (synths, bass), Niño Lento (guitar) and Dilemastronauta (drums) — features members of New York-based Colombian folk collective Bulla en el Barrio, and in some way is a sort of related side project.

Combo Chimbita have publicly cited Sun Ra‘s Afro-futurism as a deep influence on their work and overall aesthetic — with the New York-based Latinx group crafting their own take, one, which they’ve dubbed Tropical Futurism. “The idea that the future doesn’t necessarily have to be this super white Western high-tech Star Wars stuff; that the indigenous ideas and culture of people of color, people of Latin America, can also represent a magical and substantial future,” Combo Chimbita explain. “It’s a vision that maybe a lot of people don’t necessarily think about often. The old and deep knowledge that indigenous people have of the land has been neglected for many years as part of capitalism and colonization.”

The band can trace the origins of their genre-defying global sound, which features elements of cumbia, electro pop and Afro-futurism to their late night, experimental jam-driven, year-long residency at renowned, Park Slope, Brooklyn-based world music club Barbés.  Those exploratory jam sessions eventually lead to their self-recorded full-length debut, 2016’s El Corridor del Jaguar. 

2016’s Lily Wen-produced sophomore album Abya Yala found the band further establishing their Afro-futurism-inspired take on cumbia and other traditional Colombian folk styles. Eventually, the acclaimed New York-based outfit caught the attention of ANTI- Records, who signed the band to the label and released their third album 2019’s Ahomale and their fourth album 2022’s IRE.

Recently Combo Chimbita signed to New York-based label Wonderwheel Recordings, who released their latest single “Dímelo,” their first release on the label, and the second in a series of recordings they did with renowned producer Victor Axelrod, a.k.a. Ticklah. “Dímelo” is a dreamy and mediative bit of Larry Levan era-like cumbia featuring a glistening cumbia-influenced rhythm guitar, jazz-influenced hi-hat driven drumming and a strutting bass line, shimmering synth arpeggio bursts and a remarkably catchy hook seemingly guided by Oliveros’ hypnotic wailing.

“Dímelo is an internal dialogue, a sonic representation of what it feels and sounds like to choose yourself. ‘Cuando por fin yo me elegí (I finally chose myself)’ is a phrase that repeats consistently throughout the track. “It’s an honest song,” says Carolina Oliveros, “that speaks on what it means to understand that for however much you may love someone, you can’t force them to love you the same way- that that is love you have to give yourself.”

For the band, in many ways, it’s the first trade in a return to the band’s roots and a hint of what’s to come from them sonically.  

The track will be available on 7″ alongside a remix by Busy Twist in March.

Directed by Andrea Buritica, the accompanying video for “Dímelo” features th members in front of the band in front of projections of VHS fuzz, New York, lighting storms, flowers and more. It emphasizes the trippy yet meditative nature of the song.

New Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays Los Bitchos Share Glistening “Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie”

Acclaimed London-based instrumental outfit and JOVM mainstays Los Bitchos — Australian-born, Serra Petale (guitar); Uruguayan-born Agustina Ruiz (keytar); Swedish-born, Josefine Jonsson (bass) and London-born Nic Crawshaw (drums) — released their highly-anticipated sophomore album, the Oli Barton-Wood-produced Talkie Talkie through City Slang last week.

Deriving its name from a fictional club of the same name, Talkie Talkie is a late-night paradise, brimming with freedom and possibility; a place where partygoers can escape reality by getting caught in the groove and dancing it all away or daydream along to the invigorating soundscape. 

Recorded over a short but intense month-long series of sessions at London’s RAK Studios and Lightship 95, sonically, the album will transport the listener into a world where funk, disco, Latin and Turkish rhythms collide in a euphoric fusion fueled by adventurous experimentation and their endearingly puckish spirit. If 2022’s Let The Festivities Begin was the rowdy build up to the big night out with your homies, Talkie Talkie is the equivalent of rocking out to the groove on the dance floor. 

The album’s material is anchored in a vivid cinematic universe that takes inspiration from the band’s favorite aesthetic era — the ’80s. Think less self-serious men, gated reverb and more campy, hi-fi pop songwriting that glistens with moxie and verve. The quartet especially wanted to tap into the sonic innovation of the period, where analog and digital techniques collided to create polished texture and depth. 

The album features: 

  • “La Bomba,” a hook-driven 80s Turkish psych pop-inspired bop anchored around a shuffling dance floor rhythm, a twangy and looping guitar line, a disco-influenced bass line, some video game-like beats paired with glistening synths and ecstatic shouts. 

  • “Don’t Change,” a breezy and blissful jam anchored around a languid and reverb-drenched Spanish-tinged, psych rock-inspired guitar line, stomping percussion, glistening and atmospheric synths and an arpeggiated, funky synth bass line. It’s the perfect soundtrack for frolicking at the beach, of dreaming of heading to the beach with your best pals — or for riding a ferry and dreaming that you were on a super expensive yacht drinking mimosas. 

  • “Kiki, You Complete Me” and “1K!.” Both tracks see the band reveling in the shimmering guitar tones and shuffling guacharaca rhythms of cumbia — but in mischievously different directions: “Kiki, You Complete Me” has a clean, 80s studio polish-like sound and a cinematic quality that evokes the opening sequence of Nintendo video games like  Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda or Blades of Steel — or of an incredibly cheesy but wildly entertaining action movie starring Carl Weathers, Bill Duke or someone like that, complete with a blazing guitar solo. 

Talkie Talkie‘s latest single “Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie” much like its immediate predecessor features a clean, 80s studio polished sound and features bursts of twinkling synth, wobbling and percussive bass, glistening Slowhand-era Clapton-like guitar lines paired with a steady and forceful backbeat. Mantra-like vocals are shouted out around the hook. Sonically, “Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie” sounds as though it could have been part of the score of an episode of Miami Vice.

“‘Talkie Talkie, Charlie Charlie’ feels like driving around Miami in the ‘80s, Grand Theft Auto style, or chatting to friends on old landlines or walkie talkies,” the JOVM mainstays explain. “It was the first song we recorded for the album and the first time working with our producer Oli Barton-Wood. We had such an incredible time in the studio and ran wild with some electronic drum sounds and some impromptu vocals. We love the blend of sparkly synths and smooth guitars along with bold, fat drums and bass lines. This song ended up inspiring the album title, Talkie Talkie, which has a cheeky ring to it. We could imagine it in neon lights outside our imaginary club. We had a great time with some retro phones and ‘90s bedroom setups, and dancing our lives away!”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Formed back in 2016, the Austin-based outfit Superfónicos — Jaime Ospina (vocals, gaita, percussion), Nicolás Sanchez Castro (bass, melodica, vibes backing vocals), Nick Tozzo (Congas, tambor alegre, timbales, percussion), Daniel Sanchez (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Chris “Zumbi” Richards (trombone, bombardino), Evan Marley Hegarty (keys), Erick Bohoroquez (guitar, backing vocals), and Andreas Villegas (guitar, backing vocals) — have specialized in a sound that features elements of Colombian funk, cumbia and Afrobeat, informed by the fact that most of the band’s members have deep roots in Colombia.

While highlight the country’s Caribbean coastal sounds, it is also a celebration of the human spirit, telling stories of the displaced, folkloric tales form the countryside, and the reminder to let go and embrace experiences that are more connected to the earth and our ancestors.

The band has played Austin City Limits Festival twice — in 2018 and 2021. They’ve also shared stages with the likes of Ozomatli, Aterciopelados, Jungle Fire, Grupo Fantasma, Brownout, Meridian Brothers, Sudan Archives and Allah-Las.

2018’s Suelta EP was recorded with Black Pumas‘ founder Adrian Quesada, 2019’s Cumbealo EP was record with Spoon‘s Jim Eno, and their full-length debut, the recently released Renaceré was recorded with Grupo Fantasma’s, Caramelo Haze’s and Money Chicha‘s Beto Martinez.

Renaceré translates into English as “I will be reborn” and thematically, the album’s material touches upon rebirth resilience and the cyclical nature of life through the lens of their unique take on Colombian Roots fusion, which owes as much to Africa and the Americas, as it does to Colombia — and the bandmembers’ Colombian heritage. According to the band’s Jamie Ospina, “This record is a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit and life. We all went through hard times in the last 4 years but here we are; breathing, singing, dancing and what not.” Nicolás adds, “The cycle of life and the concept of rebirth play heavily into the theme of the record. Many ups and downs happened during this period, for the band and society as a whole, but ultimately we came out of the process stronger, like a blade forged in the flames.”

The album’s recording process spanned several years, beginning just before COVID-19 lockdowns and concluding earlier this year. Most of the album was recorded at Beto Martinez’s Lechehouse Music, where Martinez captured the sounds and textures of Colombia’s Caribbean Coast with gaita flue and tambor alegre. “We also use the Bombardino (Euphonium) on many tunes. It is commonly used in Colombian Cumbia arrangements but is not as common stateside,” the band says. Additional recording took place at Public Hi-Fi with Spoon’s Jim Eno and Electric Deluxe with Aaron Glemboski.

Renaceré latest single “La Verdad” is a lush and strutting bit of psychedelic cumbia anchored around buzzing and twinkilng keys, shuffling rhythms, expressive horn bursts paired with an incredibly catchy hook and chorus. The song’s narrator tells a tale about a juglar (a troubadour) searching for his lost love and losing his mind. Ultimately, the song — and its narrator — suggests that those who are deemed crazy often hold the truth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Two Cumbia-Inspired Bops from JOVM Mainstays Los Bitchos

Earlier this year, acclaimed London-based instrumental outfit and JOVM mainstays Los Bitchos — Australian-born, Serra Petale (guitar); Uruguayan-born Agustina Ruiz (keytar); Swedish-born, Josefine Jonsson (bass) and London-born Nic Crawshaw (drums) — announced that their highly-anticipated sophomore album, the Oli Barton-Wood-produced Talkie Talkie will be released through City Slang on August 30, 2024.

Deriving its name from a fictional club of the same name, Talkie Talkie is a late-night paradise, brimming with freedom and possibility; a place where partygoers can escape reality by getting caught in the groove and dancing it all away or daydream along to the invigorating soundscape. 

Recorded over a short but intense month-long series of sessions at London’s RAK Studios and Lightship 95, sonically, the album will transport the listener into a world where funk, disco, Latin and Turkish rhythms collide in a euphoric fusion fueled by adventurous experimentation and their endearingly puckish spirit. If 2022’s Let The Festivities Begin was the rowdy build up to the big night out with your homies, Talkie Talkie is the equivalent of rocking out to the groove on the dance floor. 

The album’s material is anchored in a vivid cinematic universe that takes inspiration from the band’s favorite aesthetic era — the ’80s. Think less self-serious men, gated reverb and more campy, hi-fi pop songwriting that glistens with moxie and verve. The quartet especially wanted to tap into the sonic innovation of the period, where analog and digital techniques collided to create polished texture and depth. 

The album will feature the previously released:

  • “La Bomba,” a hook-driven 80s Turkish psych pop-inspired bop anchored around a shuffling dance floor rhythm, a twangy and looping guitar line, a disco-influenced bass line, some video game-like beats paired with glistening synths and ecstatic shouts. 

  • “Don’t Change,” a breezy and blissful jam anchored around a languid and reverb-drenched Spanish-tinged, psych rock-inspired guitar line, stomping percussion, glistening and atmospheric synths and an arpeggiated, funky synth bass line. It’s the perfect soundtrack for frolicking at the beach, of dreaming of heading to the beach with your best pals — or for riding a ferry and dreaming that you were on a super expensive yacht drinking mimosas. 

Today, the acclaimed London-based outfit shares the dual single “Kiki, You Complete Me” and “1K!.” Both tracks see the band reveling in the shimmering guitar tones and shuffling guacharaca rhythms of cumbia — but in mischievously different directions: “Kiki, You Complete Me” has a clean, 80s studio polish-like sound and a cinematic quality that evokes the opening sequence of Nintendo video games like Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda or Blades of Steel — or of an incredibly cheesy but wildly entertaining action movie starring Carl Weathers, Bill Duke or someone like that, complete with a blazing guitar solo.

“This track feels like the opening sequence of a comic book series,” the JOVM mainstays say. “The tom sounds we went for are outrageous, like the ‘pows’ and ‘thwacks’ of a comic strip punctuating the music… think Batman meets Bitchos! Towards the end of the song we extended this chuggy, tension building section and brought out a guitar solo before ending on the comic/video game theme vibe refrain.”

Directed by Tom Brewins, the accompanying video for “Kiki, You Complete Me” follows the quartet as they go to an arcade, where they play a video game called Los BItchos Miami Drive, which features their 16 bit video game counterparts in a a car racing game that brings back memories of Pole Position.

“We’ve leaned into the 16 bit video game aesthetic for the video,” Los Bitchos explain. “Serra has always dreamed of writing music for video games.. We’ve started playing this song live at festivals this year and it’s definitely one of the songs we’re all most enjoying playing.”

“1K!’ is a shimmery, summery yet somewhat straightforward take on cumbia that evokes lazy-because-of-the-intense-heat summer afternoons and early evenings, anchored around a languid guitar line and stripped back, traditional-inspired percussion.

“This is a really shimmery, summer tune. There’s even a can of drink being opened at some point, you can feel the heat and carefree vibes,” the band says. “I imagine a gathering with friends, maybe a BBQ, some drinks, people popping by. The drums are quite stripped back for this track, more percussion led.”

Shot by Madeline Northway on grainy Super 8, the accompanying video for “1K!” captures the quartet’s endearingly puckish spirit and best gal pal vibes, as they head off to a local pool to hang out, drink a cold Coca Cola and bullshit, giggle and attempt to stay cool on a hot summer day.

women who kick ass by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Dreckig Shares Propulsive and Dreamy “Non Zero Sum”

Portland, OR-based electro pop duo Dreckig — married couple Papi Fimbres and Shana Lindbeck — derive their project’s name from the German word for dirty. Believing that destiny led them to meet each other, the project is fueled by the duo’s desire to honor their respective Mexican and German heritages in a new and collaborative way. 

Sonically, the duo have crafted a sound that meshes cumbia rhythms, motorik groove-driven krautrock and electronic music — with lyrics written and sung in Spanish, English and German. 

The Portland-based duo’s third album, Digital Exposure was released last year through San Francisco-based Broken Clover Records. The album sees the duo continuing their ongoing collaboration with Pinewave Studio‘s Johann Wagner. The album thematically touches on social constructs, our impact on the environment and embracing every day life. 

Last year, I wrote about album single “La Ballena,“a slow-burning and lysergic song featuring oscillating synths, fluttering and looping flute, cumbia rhythms and a relentless motorik groove paired with lyrics chanted and crooned in a sonorous Spanish. While sonically being a feverish synthesis of Kraftwerk and Meridian Brothers, “La Ballena” for me conjures an image of a dancer on narcotics, gently swaying to the song.

The album’s latest single “Non Zero Sum” sees the duo pairing skittering cumbia rhythms with glistening Kraftwerk-inspired synths and blown out beats to create a sensual, sinuous bed for their ethereal harmonizing in Spanish. “Non Zero Sum” manages to bring a trippy synthesis of Trans Europe Express-era Kraftwerk and Señor Coconut‘s El Baile Alemán.

Directed and edited by Alicia J. Rose, the accompanying video for “Non Zero Sum” sees the duo as space age Druids changing in the woods and drumming in a disco wonderland, complete with kaleidoscopic effects.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Cuarto Mundo Shares a Woozy, Club Friendly Banger

Deriving their name from a phrase that translates into English as “Fourth World,” an outdated term coined to describe the various groups of the planet’s indigenous people, French electronic duo Cuarto Mundo features:

  • Thomas Lavernhe, a French-born and-based musician, who has a lengthy career playing in a number of different bands and solo projects.
  • Chilean-born, French-based DJ Cosmo Gonik, who once toured with acclaimed outfit Arcade Fire.

Cuarto Mundo sees Lavernhe and Gonik drawing from traditional sounds and styles across the world to shape a mind-bending journey to music’s mysterious — and perhaps mystical roots.

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site over the past year or so, you may recall that I’ve written about two previously released Cuarto Mundo singles:

  • “Sabi Lulu,” a slickly produced and mischievously anachronistic track that features electronic production centered around skittering beats and glistening synths paired with a traditional, percussive melody from West Java, Indonesia, written by Mang Koko. 
  • “La Cumbia Del Tarot” is a slow-burning bit of psychedelic cumbia featuring traditional cumbia instrumentation, shuffling rhythms, wobbling and twinkling synth arpeggios. Written as a tribute to Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s The Holy Mountain, the track features a guest spot from the famed director’s son, Adan Jodorowsky, who contributes vocals. The end result is a meditative and trippy synthesis of the ancient and the modern.

The duo’s latest single “La Psycho Cumbia Del Tarot” is an expansive and woozy reworking (of sorts) of the aforementioned “La Cumbia Del Tarot” that retains elements of the original: shuffling rhythms, looping guitar lines thumping beats and twinkling synths in the song’s slow-burning intro and outro. The song’s middle section is club rocking and trippy bit of house centered around percussive polyrhythm, oscillating synths, sampled horn and skittering beats. All three parts are held together by Adan Jodorowsky’s sonorous baritone and cumbia rhythm. While continuing to be a synthesis of the folkloric and contemporary, “La Psycho Cumbia Del Tarot” may arguably be the most dance floor friendly song the French duo has released to date.