Shortly after we enlisted the help of Bolivian pop rock stalwart Avionica to get a more complete picture of the Bolivian music scene, I got hit up on Twitter with this compilation to dig deeper into the country’s vast musical landscape. Needless to say, I was very impressed with what I heard.
There’s a ton of Bolivian talent showcased in this collection. While our Best and Brightest column is more of a 101 introduction to the independent music scene, Futuro Del Universo dives much deeper on electronic styles. In these tracks, you’ll find everything from nu cumbia and techno to drone and ambient music; in other words, this is a dance floor-centric compilation that mines more experimental spaces.
Compilations can be a mixed bag, because artists often save their best tunes for their own releases and give the leftovers to compilations. As a rule, if more than half the tracks on a comp are great, then you have an amazing collection. Having said this, 90 percent of the music on Futuro Del Universo is fire – it’s eclectic but the quality overall is pretty high. The most exciting part for me was that I was unfamiliar with most of these names and they all kick ass.
Futuro Del Universo has artists ranging from Chuntu’s electro ambient, to Espíritu!’s groovier vibes, to Ciudad Satélite’s luminous buzzing synths and instrumental glow. In fact, the only name I was acquainted with was Villa Victoria Sound System, with their clash of cumbia and electronics.
A-plus comps are hard to come across, so don’t sleep on this.