Venezuela: MPeach – Latino del Futuro
The multidisciplinary project of singer/producer/artist Mariana Martin Capriles comes with a mission statement of sorts, by defining her music – contemporary dance beats influenced by traditional Latin American rhythms – as “latino del futuro”. This single, from her great debut album Malania, concentrates the warmth in her production, but her addictive LP shows she’s got a whole lot more in her bag of tricks – down-tempo baile funk, anyone?
Spain: Julio Iglesias – Y Nos Dieran Los Diez
Though Enrique’s papá is a Spanish national, he has been an integral artist for Latinos throughout his 50-year career, particularly in the Americas: he emigrated to Miami in 1979, and remains the Guinness World Records bestselling male Latin artist. For the album he insists is his final one, entitled México, and the second in his catalogue devoted to the country, he has lent his perpetually golden voice to its best-known standards. This one is a heartbreaking drama about a night of passion, a song originally popularised by Joaquín Sabina, accompanied by sweet accordion.
Mexico: Siete Catorce – Paisajes
The best work to date from the young Mexico City-based innovator, born Marco Polo Gutiérrez, who has figured out how to bend rhythm patterns into hypnotic time-warp experiments. The miraculous part is that they’re still danceable, owing to the emphasis he places on the low end; there’s always a sound you can set your internal rave clock to.
Puerto Rico: Eddie Palmieri – Vámanos Pa’l Monte/Pa’ La Ocha Tambó
The great pioneering salsa pianist returns with new versions of two of his most-revered songs, first recorded in 1971 at Sing Sing penitentiary, now enriched with a Palmieri-directed big band, his piano rhythms and outsize personality at the life-giving centre.
Venezuela: Survival Mode – Rumba Deep
Jacking, deep rumba house mussed up with a bit of wobble is not really something you’d predict, but produced here by four, evidently hyperactive Táchira-based artists – RPG!, Wost, Tripe-O and Juan Mendoza – working together as Survival Mode, it works. Your rumba-loving grandparents may be horrified, however.
