101 songs, videos, albums submitted for review
Las Chorizeras, album by Las Chorizeras. The debut album by the ensemble founded by singer-songwriter Nancy Sanchez features 6 songs, all unique, and all gems. The four women of Las Chorizeras are a true Music Sin Fronteras band, playing some of Sanchez’s original songs and pieces from American and Mexican songbooks composed and played using mariachi instruments in their own contemporary Regional Alternative and Regional Mexican style. Stream on Spotify and major platforms. Spanish and English.
For you, single by Pam3 (AKA Pamela Santiago). Currently based in San Antonio, the East-Harlem- raised Puerto Rican experimental producer and singer songwriter gives us a unique sound that makes you listen. The syncopation supports her strong, somewhat nasal vocals creating a beautifully flowing story of a song that you may not quite get the first time, but which will grow on you. Stream on Spotify and major platforms. Spanish.
Te fuiste, single by Buscabulla. Buscabulla co-founders Raquel Berrios and Luis Del Valle blend pop sensibilities, clipped poetry, and complex composition and production into a thoroughly enjoyable adventure – that is what it sounds like -in musical styles, approaches, and just fun. Stream on Spotify and major platforms. Spanish.
Knife in My Back, single by Billy Walton. Great slow-starting New Jersey blues, that builds you up with just-right guitars around Walton’s whiskey voice and then grabs your gut in the chorus before it slides into classic blues guitar solos. A great blues song to groove to, even if it about the friends that stab you in the back. Stream on all platforms.
Ignite me, single b y Terra Renae. This is a perfectly timed and crafted pop song . It follows a familiar trajectory musically – which is what you want, familiarity – but the same time it goes far beyond the fluff of the pop genre and celebrates resilience, strength, and transformation. A good beginning and a portent of even more good thigs to come. Put it on while you are working out or walking or just grooving and it will make you feel good. Stream on Spotify.
Tomás, single by Girl Ultra (with Chromeo & Empress Of). I love this song (although I am not crazy about the video). The Mexican singer Girl Ultra has teamed up with the Canadian electro-funk duo Chromeo and rising Honduran-American vocalist/songwriter Empress Of to deliver an earworm ode to archetypical men they love to hate. Their vocals are solid and direct, layered over synth waves, and backed by funk accents and sonic side trips. A brilliant production and a great song. Stream on all major platforms. Spanish. .
BONUS: Look Out Highway, new album by blues icon Charlie Musselwhite
Patrick O’Heffernan
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