Tag: Latin music

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Denver’s Kiltro Shares Trippy and Funky “Guanaco”

Years ago, Chilean-American singer/songwriter and guitarist Chris Bowers Castillo moved to the Chilean port city of Valparaíso and became a walking tour guide. “I would dress up as Wally and give tours to families and kids,” he remembers with a laugh. “It was great, because I got to know the city incredibly well. I’d walk for hours, then spend the rest of the day partying and drinking, probably way too much. But I also wrote lots of new songs.” 

When he got to to Denver, Bowers Castillo searched for a moniker that reflected the evocative and subtly rebellious musical concepts he had brewing and his head, and eventually settled on Kiltro. a Chilean slang word for a stray dog or a mutt. He then teamed up with Will Parkhill (bass) and Micheal Devincenzi (drums). He then recruited Fez García (percussion) to join the band for their live shows. “I wanted to do a project mixing different styles and aesthetics,” Castillo explains. “Valparaíso is my favorite city in the world and will always influence my music. There were street dogs everywhere, and I’m a mutt myself.” 

Slated for a June 2, 2023 release, the Denver-based outfit’s forthcoming sophomore album Underbelly reportedly represents a bold, new chapter for the band, with the material seeing the band fuse Latin roots music with American rock music. “When we first started the band, I was playing folk songs – focusing on my interior spaces and finding catharsis through melody,” Bowers Castillo says. “I’ve always been attracted to music that is melancholy and personal. Then we added the rhythmic component, and I realized that having a bit of noise and chaos can add emotional depth. Underbelly reflects everything that happens inside your soul when the world stops on its tracks.” “We tried a lot of new things on this record,” Kiltro’s Will Parkhill adds. “We were living through unprecedented times and coming to terms with all of it. The album is a reflection of that. At the end of the day, we wanted to create the kind of music that we didn’t hear anywhere else.”

The album’s first single “Guanaco” is built around a sinuous and propulsive groove paired with glistening guitars, Latin-influenced percussion, four-on-the-floor, Bowers Castillo’s gently cooed Spanish delivery and a sleek, almost dance floor friendly hook. Sonically, “Guanaco” sees the Denver-based outfit specializing in the sort of off-kilter funk reminiscent of Fear of Music–More Songs About Buildings and Food–Remain in Light-era Talking Heads but with a defiant, genre-defying flair.

 “A guanaco is a South American animal that is a bit like a llama. It’s known for spitting,” Bowers Castillo explains. “In Chile, it has another meaning, and is colloquially used to refer to police vehicles that shoot water at protestors. We wrote this song in the wake of the 2019 protests for a new constitution in Chile.  The line “ya viene el guanáco” means simply “here/now comes the guanáco,” which against a driving, melancholic backdrop, had an almost fairy tale quality to it. I felt it communicated a sense of foreboding and nervous anxiety. Taken more literally, it means a beast is coming, here.  Of course, a guanaco is not a terrifying thing, but a police line in riot gear with the machinery of dispersion and violence, is. 

He continues “To be clear, the aim was never to make an explicit political point. Rather, I wanted to capture that peculiar environment of communal tension and mounting emotional energy, be it conviction or catharsis, or fear. The album had yet to take shape in those months, but I was certain the song would make an apt intro to whatever came next. I hope you enjoy it.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Willy Hobal Shares Infectious Banger “Willy from the block”

Willy Hobal is a Dominican-born, Swiss-based singer/songwriter, actor and multi-disciplinary artist, who like countless artists and creatives have supported himself with a full-time job as a luxury hotel marketing specialist.

As a musician and recording artist, Hobal specializes in high energy, entertaining music featuring Caribbean rhythms meant to get people moving. Last year, Hobal exploded out of the gate with two singles, the Raniero Palm-produced “No Pares” and “Nadie me conoce,” which led to performances at the Somos Latinoamerica Festival in Lausanne, Switzerland and the Miss Universe Switzerland pageant.

Last summer, Hobal announced that he was working on his debut EP, VIRGO, which is slated for a summer 2023 release. The six-song effort explores the qualities of those born under the zodiac sign of Virgo, and to two zodiac signs that share similar qualities with Virgo. The EP is specifically for open minded people — and as Hobal says “for the black sheep, the people, who seek the freedom to be themselves through dance and music.”

The EP’s first single “Willy From The Block” is a swaggering, dance floor friendly banger that features a slick mixture of Europop and Dominican dembow rhythms — and a sonic nod to Jennifer Lopez‘s “Jenny From the Block.” Thematically, the song also draws a bit from Lopez’s smash hit with teh song encouraging the listener to work hard to overcome any of the obstacles they may have to face.

Fittingly, the accompanying video is a colorful, high energy visual that stars the Dominican-Swiss artist at a ranging house party with some ridiculous hip-hop cliches, including large piles of cash and a collection of incredibly attractive Virgos — who have the Virgo zodiac symbol on their heads.

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Claritzel Miyares and Adrian Ghiardo Team Up to Cover Bad Bunny’s “Amorfoda”

Claritzel Miyares is a Cuban-Spanish singer/songwriter, who first made waves with a 2012 appearance on La Voz (the Spanish version of The Voice), where she impressed the show’s judges with a unique blend of traditional Cuban music, Reggaeton and modern pop. Since her appearance on La Voz, the Cuban-Spanish artist has been busy: She has spent the past few years touring across the world, her native Spain and the Canary Islands with a 10-to-11 member backing band.

Last year, the Cuban-Spanish artist celebrated her tenth anniversary as a musician and performer with the release of two singles last year:

  • “Te Equivocaste,” a single released to widespread acclaim.

  • “Vive Y Deja Vivir,” which derives its title from a familiar phrase in Spanish and English — live and let live. The song, which features a highly accomplished cast of collaborators including her brother, Grammy Award– winning Carlos Miyares (sax), Alejandro Delgado (trumpet), Eduardo Sandoval (trombone) and Carlos Reyes Compota (percussion). Naturally, the song is rooted in a much-needed message of peace, respect and understanding. “It really is an honour for me to collaborate with such impressive award winning musicians. I feel we have formed a dream team for this single and have produced a masterpiece with this record. The message is very important too,” Claritizel Miyares said in press notes at the time. “Most Cuban songs are about love and relationships but this has a much wider meaning. I want to encourage people to ‘live and let live’ and stop fighting about things in the world.”

Miyares closed out last year with a piano-led cover of Bad Bunny‘s “Amorfado” with master pianist and producer Adrián Ghiardo that retains the swagger and heartache of the original but paired with an old school pop/jazz feel and the Cuban-Spanish artist’s incredibly expressive and soulful delivery. While further continuing upon her unique blend of Cuban traditional music, pop and Reggaeton, Miyares’ rendition of the Bad Bunny hit is a perfect vehicle to introduce her soulful and expressive vocal to North American audiences.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Larry & Joe Perform “Caballo Viejo”

https://youtu.be/FgWg67OUyJ8

Larry & Joe is a new duo that performs a fusion of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music on harp, banjo, cautro, fiddle, maracas, guitar, upright bass and whatever else they decide to throw into the van. The duo features:

  • Joe Troop, a North Carolina-based Grammy-nominated bluegrass and old-time musician, who spent over a decade in South America with his acclaimed “latingrass” band Che Apalache. With the pandemic, Troop got stranded in his old stomping grounds and as a result, his primary project was forced into hiatus. Troop shifted into action, working with asylum seeking migrants.

  • Larry Bellorín, a Monagas, Venezuela-born, North Carolina-based Llanera music legend, and asylum seeking migrant. Bellorín works construction to makes ends meet, and writes and performs music in whatever spare time allowed.

Currently based in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, Troop and Bellorín are versatile multi-instrumentalists and singer/songwriters on a mission to prove that music has no borders, that music is the universal language. Their work is a distinct blend of their musical and cultural inheritances and traditions paired with storytelling about the ways that music and social movements coalesce.

The duo’s debut single is a subtle re-imagining of “Caaballo Viejo,” one of the most beloved and popular Venezuelan songs of all time. The song features the duo on their primary instruments: Bellorín on harp, Troop on banjo and vocals. While featuring a wildly different yet gorgeous arrangement, that gives the song a bluegrass twang, the Bellarín and Troop rendition is still centered around a timeless and deeply human heartache and longing that somehow effortlessly translates in every language.

The duo is playing a show at River Spirt Music, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY on January 28, 2023. For tickets and other information, check out the link: https://cliveshows.com/events/rsm-larry-joe/

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.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: Javier Moreno and Los Amigos Perform “La Escalera” at Masterlink Studios

Javier Moreno is an emerging Barcelona-born and-based singer/songwriter and guitarist. Along with his backing band Los Amigos which features musicians from Spain, Cuba, Brazil and Peru, Moreno has spent the past 12 years touring extensively throughout London and the rest of the UK.

Although Moreno has returned to Barcelona to work on his forthcoming Joe Dworniak-produced third album, earlier this year, Moreno and his backing band recorded a live session at Masterlink Studios in Guildford, UK. The two song session features “Despedida” off last year’s Uno EP and “La Escalera” a shuffling groove-based cumbia that’s a feel good summer banger paired with an unfitting message.

The live footage of the band performing “La Escalera” was shot in a single take and captures their live energy and unbreakable simpatico.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Chicago’s Así Así Shares a Hypnotic New Single

Chicago-based indie outfit Así Así — Fernando de Buen (vocals, guitar), Ben Geissel (drums), Celeen Rusk (vocals, keys) and Sam Coplin (bass) — can trace their origins back to 2018, as the continuation of a previous project, El Mañana, which was originally founded in Mexico City before the band’s members relocated to Chicago. Whether as El Mañana or Así Así, the Chicago-based band is a part of the city’s growing Latin rock scene — and has played at a number of venues across the Chicago area. 

Así Así’s sound sees the quartet and blending elements of rock, dance and Latin with arrangements that feature acoustic and electronic drums, synths, guitars paired with propulsive grooves frequently create material that’s haunting yet upbeat and catchy. 

Their debut single “Carne Molida” was released back in 2020 and received coverage in Remezcla, Filter Mexico and Indie Rocks, as well as airplay on Mexico City’s Reactor, 105.75FM.

Recorded at Palisade Studios, the Chicago-based outfit’s Fernando de Buen and Marcus Reese co-produced album Mal Otras is slated for release later this year. Last month, I wrote about album single “Yo La Sé” is a dreamy and expansive track featuring a driving, motorik-like groove, glistening guitars, de Buen’s plaintive vocals and an uneasy bass outro. While the song evokes the sensation of waking up from an unpleasant and incredibly vivid dream, the song thematically focuses on a familiar sensation of all of us now — a deep-seated frustration over the seemingly never-ending stream of terrible news.

The Chicago-based quartet’s latest single “Me Quedo Ahí” is a trippy song heavily indebted to 70s and 80s psychedelic cumbia with hints of the indie rock that they band has been known for with the song featuring glistening keys, reverb-drenched guitars, a strutting bass line, and shuffling rhythms paired de Buen’s dreamy vocals and a glistening guitar solo. The end result is a song that may arguably be their trippiest yet most danceable song to date.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Chicago’s Así Así Shares an Uneasy and Feverish Single

Chicago-based indie outfit Así Así — Fernando de Buen (vocals, guitar), Ben Geissel (drums), Celeen Rusk (vocals, keys) and Sam Coplin (bass) — can trace their origins back to 2018, as the continuation of a previous project, El Mañana, which was originally started in Mexico City. Whether as El Mañana or Así Así, the Chicago-based band is a part of the city’s growing Latin rock scene — and has played at a number of venues across the Chicago area.

Así Así’s sound sees them and blending elements of rock, dance and Latin with arrangements that feature acoustic and electronic drums, synths, guitars paired with propulsive grooves frequently create material that’s haunting yet upbeat and catchy.

Their debut single “Carne Molida” was released back in 2020 and received coverage in Remezcla, Filter Mexico and Indie Rocks, as well as airplay on Mexico City’s Reactor, 105.75FM.

Recorded at Palisade Studios, the Chicago-based outfit’s Fernando de Buen and Marcus Reese co-produced album Mal Otras is slated for release later this year. The album’s first single “Yo La Sé” is a dreamy and expansive track featuring a driving, motorik-like groove, glistening guitars, de Buen’s plaintive vocals and an uneasy bass outro. While the song evokes the sensation of waking up from an unpleasant and incredibly vivid dream. Thematically the song focuses on a familiar sensation for all of us — a deep-seated frustration over the seemingly never-ending stream of terrible news.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Emerging Artist Poppa Chi Shares Swaggering New Bop

Bryan Manazanres is an emerging Los Angeles-based Nicaraguan-American emcee, poet, photographer, director and entrepreneur, best known as Poppa Chi. His debut single, the Elijah Williams-produced “Me Dicen/The Say” pairs Manazanres’ features dense, rapid-fire Spanish and Spanglish flow over a sleek production that pairs shuffling Reggaeton and trap beats with a wobbling piano sample. The end result is a self-assured headbanger that’s simultaneously club and arena friendly.

Co-directed by Manazanres and Sayder Vision, the accompanying visual for “Me Dicen/They Say” follows the emerging Los Angeles-based artist as he drives around his town and in a number of different sets up — including a wall full of gold and silver records, a 90s Puff Daddy-like room and more.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Agua Tinta’s Coquettish and Summery Bop “El Fuego”

Agua Tinta is an emerging Mexican singer/songwriter, who can trace the origins of her career back to 2015 when she wrote her first song on a piano. Tinta then went on to attend Berklee College of Music, where she studied Songwriting and Contemporary Writing and Production.

Since attending Berklee College, Tinta’s work sees her meshing Mexican folk music with contemporary pop paired with lyrics that draw from her own experiences and those of others.

The emerging Mexican artist’s latest single “El Fuego” is a breezy and summery love song about the push and pull of new love that pairs Tinta’s coquettish delivery with a production that meshes reggaeton and electro pop beats with mariachi horns. The end result is a song that to my ears recalls Selena and Daddy Yankee — with a decided pop accessibility.

The accompanying video for “El Fuego” follows Tinta as she hangs out with her girlfriends and has an adorable and flirtatious meet cute. The video manages to capture the sweetly coquettish nature of the song.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Jacqueline Loor is a Miami-born, Cuban-Ecuadorian singer/songwriter, currently based in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Loor has released a handful of singles that have received placement in movies and in TV — “Burn It Down” appeared on The CW’s Batwoman and “No Me Digas” appeared in the award-winning short film Un Pequeño Corte which was part of PBS’ LATINXPERIENCE.

Loor’s latest single “Nada Mas” sees the rising Tenerife-based artist collaborating with Bogotá, Colombia-based guitarist, songwriter and producer Enrique Lloreda. Featuring a slick reggaeton-inspired pop production centered around shimmering and looping guitar, skittering tweeter and woofer rattling beats paired with Loor’s sultry vocals, “Nada Mas” is a dance floor friendly, feminist anthem featuring a fed up narrator, who’s tired of waiting time on a deadbeats, fuckbois and the like.

As Loor explains, the song is meant to inspire and empower women to not settle for any man who doesn’t treat them right.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Brussels’ Romina Palmeri Releases a Gorgeous Bachata Ballad

Romina Palmeri is a Brussels-born and-based, Italian-Belgian singer/songwriter and dancer, who can trace the origins of her music career to her childhood: growing up in a family of musicians and performers, Palmeri was surrounded by the music and rhythms of the Mediterranean and of her Italian heritage. At a very young age, the Italian-Belgian artist trained in classical dance and hip-hop and began singing.

After studying sports and animation in high school, Palmeri’s love of the stage and of performing led her to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where she earned a Master’s Degree in theater and speech. Upon graduation, she landed several roles as an actor including Solange in Lucy Mattot’s A coups de ciseaux de couture, a montage of Jean Genet’s Les Bonnes. Since 2016, the Brussels-born and-based artist has landed roles in Festival Bruxellons! productions of musicals like Evita, Sunset Boulevard and My Fair Lady. Palmeri has also played Studio 100’s and Ketnet’s Mega Mindy.

In late 2019, the Italian-Belgian artist played Yvette in Bertolt Brecht’s Mére Courage et set enfants, directed by Christine Delmotte. She then joined the cast of the musical Notre Dame de Paris, playing the roles of Esmeralda and Fluer-de-Lys. And since last year, she has has been the understudy for the roles of Maria, Elvira and Isabel for he musical, Don Juan.

Despite what seems like an already busy schedule, Palmeri has managed a music career: she has contributed backing vocals to several albums by Francesco Palmeri and Frédéric François‘ 2013 effort Amor Latino. She is currently working and recording her own original material, as well as covers in French, Spanish, Italian and English.

Earlier this year, Palmeri released a gorgeous cover of Selena’s “Dame un beso.” Building upon the momentum of that cover, the Italian-Belgian’s latest single is an original track, “Dulce Miel,” written in the traditional bachata ballad style. Centered around shimmering acoustic guitars and bachata rhythms, “Dulce Miel” is roomy enough for Palmeri’s gorgeous and expressive pop star-like vocals. As a native Queens boy, the song brought back memories of hearing bachata out of the windows of local house parties — but as Palmeri explains, the song is a passionate love song with a very simple message: love always wins.

Directed by Georges Vanev, the recently released and sensual video for “Dulce Miel” stars Palmeri and Julio César Gutarra as a beautiful, young couple, who are madly in love.