Every week, we highlight some of our favorite releases in a handy list. Although we try to cover as much new music as possible, there are so many stellar releases to talk about. Consider this our genre-diverse guide to songs we have on repeat.
Follow our playlist featuring these tracks and more on Spotify or Apple Music.
1
Ghetto Kids, Guaynaa, and Mad Fuentes – “Tra Tra Remix”
What could possibly make Ghetto Kid’s 2018 smash “Tra, Tra, Tra” any catchier? Just let this new remix by Mad Fuentes, featuring Puerto Rican reggaeton it-boy Guaynaa guide you to the dance floor and explain. Guaynaa’s immediately recognizable cadence adds surprising dimension to the track, exponentially boosting the bellaqueo quotient to perreo pandemonium. -Richard Villegas
2
Juanito La Para (prod. by Kid Cala) - "De Na"
Spanish tropical producer Kid Cala maps a dembow path for the vocalist on the two-track Ponte Cloro EP, with this track’s truncated vocals sounding all the world as if Alice fell through the looking glass and is trekking through a dembow jungle of friendly creepy-crawlies helping her look for the código to get her back through some combination lock to reality. -Caitlin Donohue
3
Sailorfag - "Ya No Quiero"
Mexico’s prince of otaku neoperreo has returned with a new mixtape titled Terrible, Perriemos, loaded with more hits than an anime combo strike. While Sailorfag’s signature social satire permeates tracks such as “Sed de la Mala” and “Caninas,” on “Ya No Quiero” he turns a hilarious reggaeton rejection of family intrusiveness into a surefire club anthem that will have you mopping the dance floor with your culo in outright rebellion. -Richard Villegas
4
J Alvarez & El Alfa - “Me Da Lo Mismo”
J Alvarez and El Alfa are here to put a smile on our faces with the liberating “Me Da Lo Mismo.” The pair trade verses about how they’re ready to leave their jealous materialistic couples, and they sound relieved while doing so over a reggaefied dembow beat. If the love flame has gone out, it’s time to let them go. -Cheky
5
Dayvi - "Baila Conmigo" (K.Hole_Kardashian Aletón Edit)
This trumpet-heavy track hits me like a marching cadence, only the rhythm was designed for getting the team out the door to hit the club up. The K.Hole Kardashian edit comes to you fresh from Putivuelta’s, Bogotá’s crashing bacchanal putting out some of the area’s more adventurous nightlife trainings. -Caitlin Donohue
6
Mueran Humanos - "La Gente Gris"
Berlin via Buenos Aires duo Mueran Humanos are not known for being subtlety, yet “La Gente Gris” trades their abrasiveness for atmosphere. Riding a gentle mid-tempo drum pattern like if they were trying to beat Johnny Jewel to score Drive, “La Gente Gris” is as poppy as it is sinister, thanks to whispered vocals that come suddenly throughout the track, but a sense of euphoria kicks when the song goes to overdrive. -Marcos Hassan
7
Francisco y Madero - “Pecado Original”
If you tried hard to think of two disparate genres which would be impossible to match, you would never come up with cumbia rebajada and witch house, but here we are. Francisco y Madero sampled the hell out of the Monterrey genre and dressed it in thick witchy clothes, creating a haunted foggy track to get lost to. We needed this and we didn’t even know it. -Cheky
8
Mntjy - "Si Tu Te Lo Cree"
The formula for remix gold usually entails harvesting a track’s acapellas and signature melody flairs and turning the energy up to 11, but in the case of Costa Rican producer Mntjy, the opposite approach is elevating his concoctions to a whole new level. Take his latest release, “Si Tu Te Lo Cree,” where Brytiago and Bad Bunny’s naughty reggaeton bop “Netflixxx” is given the sadboy trap treatment to powerfully introspective effect. -Richard Villegas
9
Aggromance - "Almadura"
Buenos Aires queer contingent Hiedrah has long been one of South America’s driving forces for radical culture-club life synthesis. Their music label’s offerings are always as sharp as a knife, and none more so than this teaser for the label’s first EP, Turbera by producer kin Aggromance. “Almadura” has delicate riffs that will pound your spine into place, a meditation on life in the Southern hemisphere endowed with “a form of imagination staggering on the edge of forgetfulness,” as the flowery press release explains. -Caitlin Donohue
10
Alizzz - “Body” (ft. Pedro)
Alizzz keeps dropping fire singles on his new imprint Whoa Music like there’s no tomorrow, and with his new track he introduces us to Canarian vocalist Pedro. They both partner up to bring us “Body,” an R&B jam that has a foot in the 90s and the other in the present, and if there’s someone tirelessly running laps through your head, this is a song you can relate to. -Cheky
11
Pønce - "Para Ti"
You can tell this song is about a breakup just from the beat, thanks to the deep-bass kick drums and jarring, dissonant sounds that blossom every once in a while. The Mexican singer has plenty of soul and hooks to make for a crossover figure, but there’s something artier to the way Pønce tells the other person he is not for them and them for him that explores something more interesting. -Marcos Hassan
12
Paisaje Local - "Las Flores"
It’s easy to see where the Venezuelan act gets their influences, but nothing can prepare you for the emotional delivery. The jangly guitars will get you in the mood and the verses take care of your nostalgic trips by referencing turn of the century rock bands from New York. Then the chorus hits and it’s like a wave of melody washing the listener to the next shore; like sorrow from missing a loved one during the first days of Spring. -Marcos Hassan