We are living through an era where more music is available to us than ever – whether it be via social media, streaming, or apps. But despite this wealth of options, it can be difficult to cut through the industry hype, the homogenizing algorithms, and find something new and exciting.
In our weekly Nuevo Noise playlist, you’ll find some of our favorite releases of the week – from the most exciting new names in urbano, to the burgeoning SoCal neo-Chicano soul wave, and everything in between.
Consider this your genre-diverse guide to the most exciting releases from rising Latinx artists each week. Follow our Nuevo Noise playlist featuring these tracks and more on Spotify or Apple Music.
1
Céu - “Coreto”
Latin Grammy Award winner Céu is about to release her fifth studio album APKÁ! on April 24, and she’s following her previous single “Corpocontinente” with “Coreto.” Here, she uses vivid metaphors to create lyrical contrasts and takes us out for a slow dance, pouring her sweet voice all over an R&B-inspired track that transforms into a charming contemporary interpretation of Motown stylings on the chorus. -Cheky
2
Vivir Quintana feat. El Palomar - "Canción Sin Miedo"
On Sunday while the rest of the world stocked up on toilet paper, hand sanitizer and other supplies for surviving COVID-19 pandemic, Mexican women were standing up against the country’s ratcheting femicide rates. Though official numbers reduced the parade attendance to 80,000, anyone there could see that millions of women had taken to the streets that day to protest for their lives. The march’s unofficial anthem was this song by former children’s teacher Vivir Quintana, who enlisted several other Mexican singers to lend their voices as backup. Vivir dedicated “Canción Sin Miedo” to her friend, Coahuila femicide victim Sandra Rivera, and left few dry eyes when she performed it the day before the Women’s Day parade in CDMX’s Zócalo with Chilean singer and feminist firebrand Mon Laferte and El Palomar. -Caitlin Donohue
3
Mariana Montenegro - “Sólo Vine a Bailar”
After a long delay, former Dënver member Mariana Montenegro finally dropped her debut full length La Mar, produced by dancefloor veteran Alejandro Paz, and “Sólo Vine a Bailar” immediately stands out. Somewhere between house music and 90s pop, the song is catchy, magnetic and refreshingly naïve. Montenegro makes it clear that she’s gonna hit the club for herself and nobody else. -Cheky
4
Sadfields - "Sofocar"
Mexico City’s Sadfields have built a reputation for erecting walls of sound that evoke both discordance and beauty in their short time around in the scene. However, for their new single, they opt for deathrock basslines and anguished vocals that groove impatiently over a sense of loss and sadness, bringing a new shade to their sound. “Sofocar” doesn’t quite settle into dancing nervously around spiderwebs and bat wings or swooning dreamily, and that makes the track so emotional. -Marcos Hassan
5
Saskia feat. Griffith Vigo - "Desce Mais Uma"
Mexico City platform Onda Mundial has made a lot of noise during its flashy relaunch, but the club/electronic label’s most significant achievement to date may be its support of Brazilian artists, many of whose sounds rarely get their due from international artists. Case in point, the multi-EP series Desorden y Progreso, whose second edition came out today and features a swath of exciting women producers from Sao Paolo. On one stand out track, “Desce Mais Uma”, producer-singer Saskia casts an ominous pallor over a baile funk-inspired beat. -Caitlin Donohue
6
Meth Math - "El Vals de la Piedra"
Ghostly Hermosillo crew Meth Math have been developing a creepy new strain of reggaeton that’s heavy on vocal distortion and eery, hypnotic production. Their latest single “El Vals de la Piedra” is a swirling wave of gleefully deranged coos, skeletal percussion and warbling synths that sound like the raving perreo remix of a Grimes deep cut. -Richard Villegas
7
El Capricho - "Raras Noches"
Tony Gallardo does not cease to surprise, dusting off El Capricho (one of his most obscure alter egos) to deliver a brand new album of anxious madness titled It’s Always Sunny En Mi Cabeza—a soundtrack of soothing dissonance for our collapsing world. Tijuana’s wildest child quietly dropped cuts “XXIX” and “Lluvia Ácida” a few years back over SoundCloud, but a new gem like “Raras Noches” solidifies El Capricho as more than just another capricious extension of Gallardo’s id, filtering nuanced explorations of ambient and chillwave through a grainy psychedelic lens. -Richard Villegas
8
LASTMONDAY - “Panamera”
This spring, Bronx rapper LASTMONDAY is coming out with his debut mixtape titled Yo, Tiguerito! and he’s previewing it with a trap number titled “Panamera.” Introduced by a contagious hook sung up in his falsetto, the song is a gangster fantasy that’s equal parts struggle and braggadocio, an image further enhanced by its music video, which depicts a heist with a shocking finale. -Cheky
9
Meelt - "Hazaña"
Noise punk duo Meelt have made a habit of turning their sound up to hellish levels and making a righteous racket that suggests more is at work than just a bass and drums. Hot on the heels of their 2019 album Triunfos Pasados, the Mexico City outfit are back with “Hazaña,” a sort of malignant crawl that sweats and snarls at you as the drum stomp to the beat of anxiety mounting high on one’s chest. Looking closer to the waves of transistor noise, there’s a smidge of melancholy to the hysteria at the core of “Hazaña,” yet it walks confidently without a certain destination. -Marcos Hassan
10
Lukrø x Wildkatz - "Safadinho"
Linking up the sounds of footwork and baile funk at its most savage, Lima’s Lukrø knows really well to get the party started no matter where you are, no matter what time of the day you’re listening to his sh*t, and this track just reaffirms said reputation. There’s a ton going on in “Safadinho,” —a link up with Denver-via-Monterrey producer Wildkatz—that gets busy without becoming overwhelming. Maximizing beats and sounds by hammering vocal samples, synth lines and mutant rhythms into a track that could be part of the next generation of future bass. -Marcos Hassan
11
Plastic Lover - "Monzón"
Plastic Lover are a breath of fresh air in Monterrey’s crowded guitar pop landscape, steadily building buzz with a string of effervescent, starry-eyed singles over the last few months. Their latest offering is “Monzón,” an anthemic rush of dreamy guitars and groovy bass lines delicately framing a song about letting go of a romance that has run its course. “Solo dime si vas a seguir siendo un lamento” (“Just tell me if you’re going to continue being a lament), pleads singer Efraín Gutiérrez—seeking the kind of closure that is rarely ever granted by our greatest heartbreaks. -Richard Villegas
12
Aura - "C U There"
Artistic wells run over with this Providence emcee, f.k.a. Iris Creamer, so expect second hand feelings. On “C U There”, an introspective beat by Boston producer GNat accompanies lyrics that sounds for all the world like the page in a diary it still lowkey stings to re-read. -Caitlin Donohue