Active as a DJ since 2015, Colombian-raised, Mexican-based DJ Rosa Pistola has big credits to her name — performances at MoMA PS1, Glastonbury, Sonar, and Primavera Sound, among others, along with credits as an executive producer for music documentaries for NTS and Resident Advisor. A key figure in bringing the rhythms of Latin America’s underground to global stages, she has yet to make a bad record.
Perhaps aided by her background in experimental and noise music, Rosa Pistola often pushes the boundaries of club music, incorporating niche genres and fostering collaborations with underground musicians, resulting in fantastic hybrids like the reggaeton-meets-Mobb-Deep Tributo a la Mulata, the cumbia…
Category: latin
Less than a year after her luscious solo debut, Pacífico Maravilla, Nidia Góngora returns, this time as the frontwoman of Nuevos Ríos. Alongside her are members of her longtime group, Canalón de Timbiquí, and Toulouse-based Reco Reco, an ensemble that focuses on plugged-in renditions of South American styles. Together, the collective perform lively, electrified versions of music from Góngora and Canalón de Timbiquí’s finely honed repertoire, continuing to bear witness to the traditions and lifeways of the Pacific coast of Colombia for audiences worldwide.
Nuevos Ríos’ self-titled debut is nothing short of astonishing, a clear continuation of the work Góngora and her compatriots have long been doing, and yet something that feels wholly new.
Taracá is the 15th album by 17-time Latin Grammy winner, Uruguayan singer/songwriter Jorge Drexler. His first in four years, it marks his first time recording at home in two decades. Its contents offer a return to root sounds, in particular candombe. Candombe is a drum-based musical style that originated among the enslaved African population of capital Montevideo, and is based on Bantu African drumming. The musical style was racially marginalized and even banned over its existence (as were Brazilian samba and American blues) but survived, evolved, and in the 21st century, thrived. Like the aforementioned styles, candombe is at an ascendant moment in 21st century popular culture. Drexler plays homage to his recently deceased father here; to that end…
A blurry Facebook clip posted by salsa enthusiast Jesús Rojas in December of 2023 captures Venezuelan orchestra El Gran Grupo celebrating their 44th anniversary. Three years later the band is still doing what they love most: Playing salsa.
Born in the neighborhood of Petare — one of the largest shanty towns in Latin America — El Gran Grupo began as a sextet called Los Tigres del Ritmo. Dressed in vests and Oxford pants, rocking afros and thick mustaches, they looked a bit like a rock band. But instead of electric guitars, they wielded congas, güiro, and claves. Though they played mostly local gigs, the group caught the attention of well respected composer Orlando Briceño, who already had at least one record out as a salsa bandleader. Briceño saw…
The Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi embraces the imperfections and transience of creation. A potter might express wabi-sabi through the art of kintsugi, the mending of broken ceramics with lacquer mixed with dust from precious metals. Raúl Sotomayor expresses his version of wabi-sabi on the latest album from Sotomayor, his duo with sister Paulina, which represents a shift from seeking perfection to pushing sonic boundaries. “When I started making music, I tried to make everything sound clean and proper,” he said in a recent documentary on his creative process. “Now it’s how much can we clip it or distort it, or how much can we stretch it and it’s still gonna sound good?” The result is a record both calculated and chaotic, crafted by artists who have…
It’s safe to say that back in 2009 when punk rockers The Bronx released their self-titled debut by their mariachi alter-egos, no-one would have thought this enterprise would still be going 17 years later. What started as a playful experiment in paying tribute to the thriving mariachi tradition that has suffused their native Los Angeles, has become an identity all its own – vibrant and intoxicating.
And while this fourth Mariachi El Bronx record isn’t a huge leap from its predecessors, musically speaking, that’s not the point of this. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the music being celebrated here, it’s impossible not to be swept up in the sheer exuberance of ‘Forgive Or Forget’ and ‘El Borracho’, songs that take you somewhere else entirely, emotionally and geographically.
Dinamarca has a soft spot for vocalists. In 2019, he invited a host of artists to perform vocals on his LP Sol De Mi Vida, then went on to record a reggaeton EP with Bay Area singer La Favi, a trap single with rising Chilean rapper AKRIILA, and now this hyperpop/reggaeton hybrid with Ángel Ballesteros — lead singer of pop-perreo trio Meth Math. Earlier Dinamarca productions would have spoken to the hard and fast dembow of Meth Math tracks like “Mermelhada” from their last LP Chupetones, which was co-produced by Nick León. But as of 2018, Dinamarca has been kneading out the harder edges of his reggaeton rattle into something generally mellower and happier. His first foray with Meth Math leaned towards trap, while his solo debut album soñao pulled…
Cumbia is the sound of Latin America, with roots going back to the traditional folk sounds of centuries past, yet save for a select few names, some of the style’s greatest innovators remain virtual unknowns outside of their local area, save for the most dedicated of cumbia obsessives. Luckily for the rest of us, some of those obsessives have seen fit to bring Ranil’s output back into focus, with Analog Africa following up on their 2020 compilation, Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical, with an equally infectious collection of long-forgotten works from the Peruvian master.
…Galaxia Tropical is more than just a follow-up; it is a final tribute to a musical titan. Label founder Samy Ben Redjeb recounts a serendipitous 2019 trip where a taxi driver…
Syd dePalma’s Paris is dreamlike. Echoes abound, sculpting recognizable rock, folk, and pop stylings into imaginative new shapes. As he plays with light and shadow, the borders between fantasy and reality blur. The familiar soars. An eerie melancholy fills even the most straightforward of dePalma’s melodies, a desperation buried deep in the foundation of every line he sings. The lyrics are uncanny, the sounds constantly shifting. Only two years out from debut, El Lugar de Arder, Paris is a ferocious next step for dePalma, one that radiates surreal energy.
Vivid imagery abounds: of body parts, desire, tears, the sky, the ground, the city, the country. As lead singer on almost all tracks, dePalma makes for a compelling guide to his uncanny world.
Tucked into the Caribbean Sea are the islands of Guadeloupe, Dominica, and Saint Lucia. Guadeloupe is an overseas department of France, while Dominica and Saint Lucia are independent nations. All three boast volcanic beaches, high mountain peaks, and lush tropical landscapes — coral reefs, palm trees, and sapphire blue waves make them instantly mesmerizing. The island’s cultural histories, shaped by the displacement of native Arawak peoples, centuries of colonial conflict between Spain, France, and Britain, and the enslavement of West Africans, continue to shape their musical output. Today, modern mixtapes (largely circulating on YouTube) pulse with intercontinental influences such as Angolan kuduro, Portugal’s batida, and trap, to name a few.
Bandonegro is a Polish tango quartet. Over the course of their 15-year career, they have developed a style that, inspired by the legacy of Astor Piazzolla, combines elements of jazz and classical music. This formula has already won over audiences in Germany, Austria, France, Denmark, Switzerland and Japan.
This album, the group’s sixth, was recorded in Buenos Aires. The birthplace of tango, with its vibrant concert and dance hall scene, provided an unbeatable setting for its recording. Of the ten pieces included, nine were composed by double bassist Marcin Antkowiak.
Tanuevo (the title a play on the tango nuevo genre) features prominent musicians from the Argentine jazz circuit: guitarist Lucio Balduini…
Camila Meza offers one of her most sonically creative and personal albums with 2025’s Portal. Her first album since 2019’s Ambar, Portal was recorded following the birth of Meza’s first child, an experience that informs many of her songs. Rather than mix covers alongside originals, here Meza has for the first time written every song, lending the production a deeply intimate, handcrafted quality. These are flowing songs that find the Chilean guitarist and vocalist singing in both Spanish and English. She is equally as fluid stylistically, and much of the album has a cross-pollinated sound, bringing together her adept fusion and post-bop jazz chops with her ear for sun-dappled Brazilian and Latin pop traditions. Joining her is a cadre of equally gifted…
Following a four-year studio album silence, famed Cuban singer Raúl Paz returns with a good-natured set that leans into themes of identity and place – ruminating on his 15 years outside his homeland. The album marks his return to the French music scene and comes with his trademark blend of traditional Cuban son, European pop and singer-songwriter music. The project’s name is a playful reference to him being a guajiro, a person from rural areas of Cuba, as well as guajira music, with which he is associated.
On ‘La Mala’, Paz combines a choppy acoustic guitar line, crisp percussion, brass fanfares and an earworm chorus to great effect. He demonstrates his versatility across the record, moving from upbeat numbers like this,…
Juan Pastor‘s Afro-Peruvian jazz outfit Chinchano has undergone personnel changes since its 2014 inception, but the iteration on its fifth album is a keeper. While pianist Stu Mindeman has been with the project from the start, the bass and horn chairs have been occupied by different players. Now, the quintet on Memorias featuring bassist Matt Ulery, tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi, and percussionist Gian Luiggi Cortez Mejía feels like the most perfect realization to date of Pastor’s vision. For the drummer and cajón player, this incarnation offers a “more mature, introspective approach to blending Peruvian music with jazz,” and some of that can definitely be attributed to Laurenzi, whose attack is more smooth than abrasive.
As intimated by the title, the album’s thematic…
Active as a professional DJ in Japan since the late eighties, DJ Yoshizawa Dynamite is also a renowned remixer, compiler and producer. An avid record collector and an expert of Wamono music, Yoshizawa has published in 2015 the now-classic Wamono A to Z records guide book, which instantly sold-out. The book unveiled a myriad of beautiful and rare records from a highly prolific, but still then unknown, Japanese groove scene. He has also selected a large part of the music in our highly acclaimed Wamono compilations.
For this brand new chapter in the series, Yoshizawa explores King Records’ legendary catalog and unearths exceptional, rare and unknown musical gems. King Records has been releasing music since 1931 and is one of the most prestigious labels…
Six-piece La Chooma weave together a heady blend of instrumental sounds on Local Spirits, their full-length debut.
Built on layers of intricate percussion, rumbling basslines and wandering synth lines, they reference Afro-jazz, Latin music and more – but the intoxicating psychedelic vibes that they serve up owe as much to dub production as anything else.
The track ‘High Glow’ sees synth work that could have come from Afro-electro legend William Onyeabor atop a tight percussive groove and squelchy bass-tones. The effect is deeply hypnotic. Their wide-ranging cross-cultural sound is at times reminiscent of the blissed-out dub sonics of Puerto Rican dub aficionado Pachyman. Their sound could get a little samey, but…
…deluxe digital version of the album featuring three new tracks.
When New Zealand’s The Circling Sun released Spirits, their 2023 debut on Soundway, jazz fans weren’t prepared. A celebratory, spiritual intersection of Afro-Latin and spiritual jazz, 21st electronic grooves, atmospheres, a choir, and souled out charts, resonated across the South Pacific; the album was greeted with praise across the global jazz community.
Orbits, their followup, draws on the experience of touring over two years, expanding their confidence and creativity. Further, their primary influences here – Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra and Yusef Lateef – inspire the band to explore the subtleties in their own dynamic sound.
Le Collectif Tango Negro Ensemble honors the legacy of Juan Carlos Cáceres (1936–2015) with a double album, Tribute to Juan Carlos Cáceres, that reinterprets his most iconic works alongside previously unreleased compositions. A pioneer of what he called “tango negro” (black tango), Cáceres traced the African roots of Río de la Plata music, fusing jazz, candombe, milonga, and murga into a singular Afro-Argentine aesthetic.
The ensemble features a wide network of international artists from tango, jazz, and world music spheres. Guests include Horacio Burgos, Sedef Arçetin, Daniel Melingo, Chino Laborde, Olivier Manoury, Minino Garay, Natalio Mangalavite, Flaco Biondini, Paolo Fresu, Peppe Servillo, Fausto Beccalossi, and Javier Girotto.
Few guitarists can transform a single note into a melody that sings, burns and heals the way Carlos Santana can. This special collection of live performances-captured from rare and legendary radio broadcasts spanning key moments of his career-offers a front-row seat to the artistry of one of music’s true visionaries.
From the opening bars, Santana’s unmistakable tone pours out like liquid fire, blending Latin rhythms, rock urgency and jazz-inflected improvisation. Backed by his ever-evolving ensemble of world-class musicians, he turns each performance into a journey, shifting effortlessly from hypnotic grooves to soaring, transcendent solos. These recordings showcase the very heart of his genius: the ability to communicate…
Mon Laferte is one of Latin music’s great shape- shifters. The 14 tracks on FEMME FATALE, her followup to the experimental rhythm collision of 2023’s Autopoiética, take on the male myth of the femme fatale (Laferte has often been referred to as “the femme fatale of Latin Music”) and her own relationship to the term, and valiantly redeems it as feminist manifesto reflecting her intelligence, style, self-determined sexuality, and fiery heart. Her songs journey through introspection and darkness before cultural history loses authority to her self-determination, using metaphor, symbolism, and even mysticism in her lyrics. In late 2024 and in July 2025, Laferte played the femme fatale Sally Bowles in a Teatro Insurgentes production of Cabaret in Mexico City. For this recording…