Slowed down, hazy reggaeton covers from a 19-year-old Costa Rican producer may be the future of your hook-ups; just check MNTJY’s new mixtape Her Note. You may want to arrange to have your little black book, a red light, and spliff ready at your side when you do so.
Her Note was released through, of all things, a two-year-old Buenos Aires club music collective presciently named I NEED SPONSORS. The collective also includes warped reggaetoneros Coral Casino — who appear on Her Note‘s plaintive slow burner “Summer Romance,” a cut from CC’s eponymous EP. I NEED SPONSORS’ last full-length release was the Middle Eastern-inspired Turan EP, by roquefeller, one half of Coral Casino.
The vibe on Her Note is well expressed by “De Noche,” a radically slurred and slowed version of Puerto Rican reggaetonero Randy’s 2006 nocturnal mission statement “Soy Una Gargola.” But the party is left behind in MNTJY’s update by cloudy, softer studio effects. He puts the sensual in the spotlight and changes the song from courtship to bedroom soundtrack. It’s not the only PR classic that MNTJY takes into “ambient trap” territory (trust us, it’s a thing) — “Aparentemente,” the star-studded single featuring De la Ghetto, Arcángel, Yaga, and Mackie, plus Zion y Lennox’s “Pierdo la Cabeza” were among the other songs invited under the covers.
I NEED SPONSORS looks to the future club music with the hopes of building a solid catalogue, producing regular events, and throwing club nights. Judging by the roster they’ve assembled to date, the group’s vibe is going to lean towards the work of artists who’ve made their own cocktail of musical genres, creating sounds that make sense when one takes into account the amorphous reimagining of reggaeton bangers that have already marked the path of 2016.