Shazam Around The World: Leftfield Sounds Of Latin America
Our new music explorations across the globe get a stopover in Latin America to gather a few samples of the continent’s cutting-edge talent. Beginning with Chilean born/German raised minimal techno Legend Ricardo Villalobos, about to be given a well-deserved tribute thanks to filmmaker Romuald Karmakar - who is completing a trilogy of documentaries about electronic music. After ‘196 bpm’ and ‘Between The devil & The Wide Blue Sea’ Karmakar dedicates his last installment to the influential DJ’s body of work. ‘Villalobos’ will preview at next week’s Venice Film Festival.
But if Villalobos is a well established European based artist, there are some other more obscure local propositions currently making waves across the Spanish speaking countries.
From Villalobos birthplace Santiago de Chile, a new female songwriter mixes Andean folk with alternative rock and claims to be creating melodramatic popular songs. Camila Moreno’s debut album ‘Almismotiempo’ (At the same time) is earning the Chilean chanteause a big following. ‘Millions’, the record’s highlight, is a fierce protest song against the corruption of pharmaceutical corporations.
Meanwhile in Mexico, ‘Bestia’ (Beast), the second album by alt-pop three piece Hello Seahorse, is collecting “best of the decade” reviews. Even the States are starting to warm-up to the trio’s well crafted tunes. The titled track was chosen as first single and the band launched a remix competition through their website to promote it. Mexican superstar Julieta Venegas answered the call and joined the efforts of hundreds of fans by hitting the mixing desk with excellent results. Her ‘Bestia’ remix is currently one of the toasts of the Spanish blogosphere.
Also part of Mexican alternative scene and former Julieta Venegas collaborator - the vocalist of rock band Porter - Juan Carlos Pereda, has launched a promising solo career under the name of Juan Son. The first fruits of this new venture are gathered in the album ‘Mermaid Sashimi’, a dazzling exercise in Avant-Pop and the first of many ongoing projects; including a new track produced by The Mars Volta’s Omar López Rodríguez.
