Like the Mexican deity they borrow their name from, Houston production duo Santa Muerte draws from reggaeton and industrial club music to create something new, irresistibly dark, and undeniably Latinx.
After launching their record label Majía earlier this year, Santa Muerte is moving on to the next phase of their plan to bring their sound to a global audience. Thankfully for us, that next chapter means more music and a ton of collaborations with the incredible roster of talent they’ve aligned themselves in the months since that initial push.
With their new website ready to launch, Santa Muerte is rolling out a bundle of songs that reminds us of the heat they’ve put out in the past while previewing the direction they plan on pushing in the future. In their words, “these tracks are going to be part of our yearly bootleg pack, but this time we invited our friends.” With friends like Lao from NAAFI, Endgame from Bala Club, and DEBIT & ATODAMADRE lending a hand, the bootleg pack is a delicious mutation of grime, Shakira vocals, and obscure dembow.
Highlights include Santa Muerte’s rework of 21 Savage’s “X Bitch;” the duo adds quick, industrial stabs to one of Metro Boomin’s most pared down beats. The result is a frenetic spin on an otherwise ominous, brooding track. Pair that with edits and remixes of songs from reggaeton OGs like Zion and Wisin y Yandel and it becomes more and more apparent that Panchitron and Sines are shaping the future of club music without losing sight of their reggaeton roots. It’s a formula that helped raise their profile in 2015, and now has them poised to bring their sound to a growing legion of fans.
Santa Muerte’s Bootlegs and Edits Vol. 4 is out now on Majía.