Wanna know what’s pretty cool and new in the Latin Alternative scene? Check out these 10 upcoming Latin albums of 2013, everything from ñu-cumbia to effervescent electro-pop. This is only part one.
If you were anywhere near the southernmost extreme of the continent last summer, you definitely couldn’t get away from Poncho‘s massive hit “Please Me” off their debut album Poncho Total. I mean this track was literally everywhere. My mom, who hasn’t purchased music since circa 1982, raved about it and asked me to download it to her phone. So, of course, there’s a huge load of expectation for Poncho’s follow up where they’ll get to prove that they are more than a one-hit-wonder–or not. Last November, the trio led by legendary porteño DJ Javier Zuker uploaded to the interwebs the first advance single for what will be their sophomore release. “Take My Hand” follows pretty much the same line of “Please Me” (minus the contagious anthemic chorus) in the sense that it’s extremely Brit in its style. However, Poncho had proved to me way more than Anglophile dance sorcerers and paid due tribute to Argentine rock in their debut (that included Luís Alberto Spinetta and Banda De Turistas as guest stars), so we might speculate that their upcoming album (no release date yet) will have some of that too. After all they’re named Poncho, right? -JD
In 2006, Quiero Club released their self-produced debut album which began as a music project with friends to one of Mexico’s most respected groups who’ve made valuable contributions to the indie pop genre. Relocating to Mexico City from Monterrey, it’s their first album, junior record, to be recorded in Mexico’s capital, to be titled El Techo Es El Suelo, and it’s produced by Phil Vinall (Zoé, Placebo, Fangoria, Pulp) due February 19th. Their love for Mexico City has brought the band new musical horizons which reflects beautifully on their recent work. Even vocalist/synth player Marcela has a column with us chronicling the city’s hidden gems. Late last year, Quiero Club released “Cuentos,” the upcoming album’s first single, in the form of a pretty cool and sickening music video. -IR
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SLV, Dig Deeper
[New York]
She used to go by Sandra, the singer of Pistolera. But for her solo debut EP, she decided to make things simpler for the texting-era gringos by abbreviating her name to her initials. She also switched gears, big time. On her new solo project, she went from Spanish being her predominant singing language to English, and left behind the fusion with Latin American rhythms. Dig Deeper will be released digitally on February 12th and it was produced by the legendary Meshell Ndegeocello who also played bass on three of the four songs. More than a departure from her roots or a crossover intent, this is Sandra’s side-project where she got to dig deeper into her soul and show us a different side of hers that could never fit in Pistolera’s repertoire. -JD
Deriving their band name from a title of a poem by Walt Witman, Madrid-based electro pop quintet HATEM (Hola A Todo El Mundo) also crafts music that sounds like poems; poised, with reflection, and musically pensive. They recently released their sophomore album Ultraviolet Catastrophe (album title also comes from a poem by Roy Tiger Milton) via Mushroom Pillow in Spain and Japan, and for the rest of the world, it’s due February 4th. “They Won’t Let Me Grow” is the band’s first single off said album, and it showcases a beautifully modern blend of ’60s chord progressions and ’80s synth lines, drifting more towards the shoegaze. -IR
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La Yergos, Viene De Mi
[Argentina]
Ñu-cumbia seemed a little to much like a boys club. True, the same can be said about traditional cumbia, and to certain extent, about music in general. But we certainly needed a female touch in this scene dominated by bedroom DJs and computer geeks. We announced almost a year ago that ZZK Records had signed their first female artist ever, La Yegros (that’s pronounced shegros, in Argentine vernacular). Now, after just one single included on the Future Sounds Of Buenos Aires compilation, La Yegros is getting ready for her first full length album to drop in April. Quite an accomplishment considering her label-mates Frikstailers who have been with ZZK since the very beginnings, are just now getting around to release an official debut LP. -JD
When I first heard about the formation of this group, I choked, literally on my food, and was heavily curious to how this would sound. If you haven’t heard of Raul & Mexia yet, get familiar because this is the stuff that has all the crossover ingredients for generations of Latinos today. And we’ll surely find out soon when the album drops February 19th. Not only is their upcoming album produced by famed Toy Selectah (producer of 3Ball MTY), but Raul and Mexia are also the sons of Hernán Hernandez from the legendary Los Tigres Del Norte. Yes, I’ll give you hints that there are some Norteño-centric tracks as well as tribal. Stay tuned. -IR
It’s been a while since they released Mar Dulce–almost five years already! True, they kept busy with their solo side projects (Supervielle, Santullo, Campo and Santaolalla’s Oscar-winning soundtracks), but we were starting to get a little impatient: were they ever going to release a new album, the whole Bajofondo collective together again? The answer came last December in the form of a single, “Pide Piso,” that premiered on selected Argentine websites, along with news about their third official album, Presente, to drop on April 2nd (in South America) on Sony Masterworks (yes, they changed labels and that was probably part of the reason they took so long to come out with a new album). We’re still waiting on US release date. In the meantime, we can look at the album cover and speculate on the new directions they might take: the female leg covered with fishnet remains pretty much the same, but this time around the leg seems to belong to an Afro-descendant–does that mean they’ll be exploring the Afro-roots of tango? Maybe. And perhaps also adding a little more candombe into the mix? We seriously can’t wait for this one. -JD
On his previous albums, Devendra Banhart wasn’t really classified or reviewed under the “Latin” genre (like the rest of the people on this list, if you can draw comparisons), which I’ve personally found odd considering that one of his main music inspirations is Caetano Veloso. Besides being heavily influenced by tropicalia, singing in Spanish on numerous tracks, and even doing a collaboration with actor Gael García Bernal, this Venezuelan, US-bred freak folk pioneer finally announced new album after a four year hiatus, since What Will We Be. Though, we did have our high suspicions that new works were underway since he recently collaborated with Mexican darling Natalia Lafourcade in “Amor, Amor de mis Amores.” Given that this upcoming will be titled Mala, out March 12th, we also speculate that it’ll be “obviously” Latin-esque focused. A ver.
Like most of his album covers, he drew this one too. Pitchfork is streaming the first single now, listen to it HERE. -IR
Last year, she delighted us with her “Carioca Bass Mixtape,” put together by Kush Arora. Now our favorite Brazilian expat brings the favela raw dance party back with her EP of the same title. There are two new original songs (also produced by Kush Arora), and a bunch of dope remixes by the likes of Jubilee, Nego Moçambique, Sonora and more.
It may still be winter on this side of the planet, but down in Rio, it’s the summer’s peak and people are starting to get ready for carnaval season. So this EP, to drop on January 29th, will be bringing up some of that heat from below the equator. -JD
Emerging onto the digital cumbia scene since 2006, and keeping busy with releasing and experimenting with ñu-cumbia-centric mixtapes, remixes, and singles, Frikstailers finally sets to release their highly anticipated debut album on February 25th titled El Son De Paz. Even though the duo has commonly been classified under the ñu-cumbia genre, this group proved to go beyond categorization as they’ve become masters in meticulously sampling multilayered compositions of pop tracks (which also includes dancehall, hip hop, cumbia, kudro, baile funk and others) onto new previously undiscovered and unheard of sounds. For someone of this talent and rare creativity, I’d speculate they must have some insane-ness in them. -IR
