70 songs and albums submitted for review during Thanksgiving week
Vaquera Galáctica, single by Pahua. Pahua is the project of Mexican singer, songwriter, and DJ Pau Sotomayor, who fell in love with polyrhythms, drums, and folklore as a child. Her music, like Vaquera Galáctica, features synthesizers, organic sounds, and vocals, and strong lyrics, with which she explores different genres that move between Latin and Afro‑Latin rhythms, alternative beats, and electronic music. Vaquera Galáctica, will keep you moving and enjoying her innovative take on blending genres, cultures, and beats. Stream on Spotify and major platforms.
Querida Socia, single by Yurida. A live recording from the Plaza del Toro in Mexico City demonstrates her power and popularity. Tuba and accordion-led regional music can be an acquired taste for non-Mexicans, but this song is just so much fun and so entertaining that you can imagine yourself whirling around the plaza of a small Mexican village, laughing while you and your partner do the “polka norteña” to this song. Spanish. Stream on Spotify and major platforms.
A Ver Si Tu Orgullo, single by Silvia Zepeda. Zepeda is a very popular Mexican singer and songwriter who won the Fans Choice Awards in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023, and has racked up and a half million followers on TikTok. A Ver Si Tu Orgullo is cheeky, fun, and something of an earworm with chord changes, horns, and a dance beat. Put it on your earbuds, and go about your day dancing and humming and, if you speak Spanish, chuckling a bit. Stream on Spotify and major platforms.
Nena, single by Lucero Mijares, Manuel Mujeres and Diego Verdaquer. Lucero Mijares is a 19-year old Mexican singer who has begun to step out of the shadow of her famous parents, Lucero and Manuel Mijares, and earn recognition in her own right. Her powerful voice works especially well in pop and musical-theater style songs, often performing live duets with her parents on television specials and concert stages. Nena is a light-hearted, Mexican pop song that just makes you feel happy. The composition and arranging are spot on, but it feels very comfortable – like a well-worn sombrero. Stream on major platforms.
Palabras vacías, single by Alex Cuba. Single from his Grammy-winning Cuban-Canadian studio album – his 11th – Indole. With his signature blend of Afro-Latin beats and instrumentation, Cuba pays respect to the African diaspora and its infinite contributions to Latin Music and his ancestors who inspired this song of joy and transformation. Although the title means empty words, it is anything but. It is thoughtful and transformative, but light, slipping in on lightly dancing feet – perhaps yours. Brilliant and fun. Stream everywhere.
It runs through me, single by De La Soul and Tom Misch. A perfect combination that produces one of the most enjoyable songs out there in the hip hop/pop/ballad space. Gentle, melodic, intimate, everything De La Soul does so well. With the British multi-instrumentalist. producer, singer Misch joining in with his deep experience in blending jazz, soul, R&B, and hip‑hop into a smooth, groove‑oriented sound, it is guaranteed to please – and it does. From the new album, Cabin in the Sky. Stream on all major platforms.
Patrick O’Heffernan
