Venezuelan imprint El Flying Monkey has been home for many Latin American projects that are reinventing the sounds of the region for a current musical context. Their latest release is a four-track EP called FLAVA, by a San Luis Potosí producer called Spacetrilla.
Born Diego García, Spacetrilla makes tropical bass, and we mean that. He manipulates all sorts of Latin rhythms at his whim, pairing them up with electronic genres from all around the globe. Take, for example, opener “All Around Me,” which fuses funk carioca and trap into a high-octane track with soft samples. Elements of the Brazilian rhythm also appear on “Jungle,” with an even higher BPM count – it almost leans towards juke territory, but definitely more repetitive. There’s a beachy-ness on this track, as hinted to in the EP’s artwork, made by Bore Uno.
On “Guaracha Cha Cha,” he experiments with, you guessed it, guaracha, but he pumps it up to the point that it achieves a soca flavor, giving it that Caribbean edge. The EP closes with “Sometimes I Feel It,” a totally chilled-out cumbia-inspired number perfect for watching the sunset at the beach. Spacetrilla’s take on Latin and Caribbean music is both fun and relaxing. Give it a spin.