¡Blood drinking! ¡Dancing with the devil! ¡Witches with screeching voices! ¡Full moons and werewolves! ¡Yikes! Get ready to listen to the Sounds of the Scary, oooh…. This years playlist features lucky number 13 tracks from some of our favorite classics and newer tunes spanning different genres from the Americas (and Spain), curated by two of your favorite Latin music blogs evaaaar: Remezcla and NPR’s Alt Latino. Hells yeah! Also, TODAY (Oct. 26), Alt Latino’s Halloween special radio show co-hosted by our City Editor Matt Barbot and moi, GOES LIVE, so also listen to the show. But for now, you may wanna grab your adult dipers just incase you shit your pants with Sounds of the Scary…. Trick!! or Treat?…
____________________________________________
[France]
Ok, so what’s probably scarier than something that doesn’t particularly sound scary?… Second guess? The smell of scary. European mestizo Sergent García sings “Huele a azufre, huele a gas” on this track off Una y Otra Vez. Well, it is said that el olor a azufre, or the strong smell of shit, stays in places the Devil has visited. ¡Uuuufff!
Sergent García – El Baile Del Diablo
____________________________________________
[Colombia]
Curiosity killed the cat. Colombia’s leading duo Aterciopelados sing a song about the devil off El Dorado, and vocalist Andrea Echeverri says that her entire life, she’s feared him, or her. The song goes to say it’s probably best not to mention that name, but after so many warnings, she’s still curious enough for an affair with the Devil which ends up deadly — in hell.
[insert-video youtube=Fim-tKdUjEI]
____________________________________________
[Mexico]
In Eastern European mythology and vampire culture, we’ve seen the vampire go through many facets of preying strategies. From this ratty ass, crusted geezer to a well mannered, mysterious and seductive man who chooses beautiful, ditzy, voluptuous women to drink their blood. O sea, “high quality” blood, folks. Well, Lola is probably that woman, and Los Amantes are those vampires. Enjoy this song off their 1991 sophomore La Era del Terror.
[insert-video youtube=HhNV_XShtu0]
____________________________________________
[Mexico]
Ok, besides the decaying funk he leaves behind, the Devil must be one sexy muthafucker. Well, at least the one in this song. In a hazy, lustful world of fantasy, exists a gorgeous being with the superb ability to alter his appearance for the likes of beautiful, naive, and whimsical girls with a thirst for something bad. Off Barracuda, “Diablo Azul” Gil sings, “El camaleón ya no quiere cambiar de color…porque me dejaste solo, platicando con tu diablo vestido de azul.”
____________________________________________
[Mexico]
Tijuana’s up and coming songstress lives up to her surname moniker. The song and video sparks shivers! This single is off her forthcoming EP JINX and it features dissonant and eerie sounding organs, and Dani’s screeching witch-like vocals. Just watch how this lovely lady taunts and teases with a knife and intimidates and corners her alter ego.
[insert-video youtube=AvUjmDzS5G0]
____________________________________________
[Uruguay]
Oh, the irony of a beautifully composed, bossa nova inspired tune with lyrics of monster-invading thoughts leaving you borderline psychotic –track is off Guarco’s debut Fiebre. Apparently in the video, this chick is terrified of the Loch Ness monster, but her Amazonian saviors shoot arrows with aims to take it down.
[insert-video youtube=uEUZ0x68cTY]
____________________________________________
[Mexico]
This is where reggae meets punk. Most of Tijuana No!’s half-sung/half-shouted songs were about border crossing and their hard, crazy life in Tijuana. On this one, off No!, the fronterizo punk rockers sing about ghost. And no halloween playlist can be complete without a mention of a floating transparent object roaming in unwanted places.
[insert-video youtube=jCGz5O8yPAQ]
____________________________________________
[Puerto Rico]
Friday the 13th only happens once a year. So let’s pretend it’s also happening around halloween time. Vico C’s rap tune “Viernes 13” off his 1991 junio album La Recta Final comes in two parts. The first one, featured below, chronicles all the spooky and suspicious shit that he encountered on a Friday the 13th in his native San Juan. Great storytelling.
[insert-video youtube=SkvL3bpBBik]
____________________________________________
[Argentina]
If you’re scared of skulls and devils, just remember that in Latin America, they’re not that scary — well, at least Jose Guadalupe Posada’s version. They’re usually out partying it up and having a blast dancing el danzón, but that’s more commonly seen in Mexico, and there’s more to it. In Argentina, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs sing about these skeletons and little devils invading their hearts. Well, for some, matters of the heart can be dwelling.
[insert-video youtube=S8Ty8wPSsv8]
____________________________________________
[Puerto Rico]
The Devil makes it on the list once again — jalogüín winner! Well, the grungy Boricua sextet who brought rock and roll back don’t necessarily sing about the evil one in their latest Tan Bajo, but use it as a form of expression. You know? ¡carajo! ¡chingado! ¡coño! ¡diabo!
____________________________________________
[Spain]
Okay, we may be obsessed with this track kind of a lot, it was our first feature for our La Trivia column. And it certainly fits the theme. The bass, that elegant guitar strum off the beat. Then that sexy sax solo. But I suppose it’s the mysterious undertone this track sets that makes it, yes sexy, but also carnal. Well, don’t werewolves eat humans anyhow?
[insert-video youtube=vsKPiDLmNNs]
____________________________________________
[Puerto Rico]
“Súbele el volumen a la música satánica.” Your devil’s music right here. And it’s not death metal. Confessed by the band who’s currently at the pinnacle of the Latin music industry, Calle 13 and the self-claimed “diablo Residente, el máximo exponente del pecado”off Residente y Visitante — you heard. And gawd, it’s called “El Tango del Pecado” for a very good reason (*wink wink*). It’s the good type of sin.
[insert-video youtube=7pRE2ATdWaU]
____________________________________________
[Mexico]
In 1991, I was probably in first grade, and at the time my parents rented a booth at a flee market in Tijuana. You’d always hear all these Latin and US hits sounding off on the speakers of the folks who sold cassette tapes, and watch all the music videos on Telehit, thankfully there was no escape. Well, I was probably kind of a wussy kid, because I clearly remember being terrified of the music video below. I mean, shit… listen to the intro and look at that alien-like red, blurred-out lady! I mean, come on!
____________________________________________
[Costa Rica/Mexico]
La llorona has got to be one of the most urban and scary legends of Mexico. Though there are many versions to the story of how la llorona goes, the one we stick to is of a woman who killed her children by drowning them on a river bank for her lover. As regretful as she was, she began to be haunted by them and she’d weep along that river howling, “aaayyy mis hijoooos.” There are many versions of this song too. Chavela Vargas’ version stands out, especially in that deep, and passionate way she sings it. Maybe because she was reminiscing her real experience with Frida.
[insert-video youtube=VfodRPeOiWU]
