Latin

(The Gypsy Kings, Mana, Jobim)

Juanitos: Soul Africa

Juanitos first showed up on our blog all the way back in June 2009. And now with more of great albums under its belt (including over 400 concerts and hundreds of thousands of downloads – if not more) I thought it might be a right time for a little re-introduction; especially that after our crazy winter I’m sure we are all in need of some ‘summer night party’ sounds.

IntraHeath International remix of Youssou N’Dour’s “Wake Up”

Some time ago Intrahealth International released a special remix in honor of World Malaria Day. The project was put together by rapper Mopreme Shakur, brother of the late Tupac, and soon included ten tracks all being a remix of Youssou N'Dour's song "Wake up - It's Africa Calling". The purpose of the project was to address the most critical health issues in Africa by bringing greater awareness of and support for open source training/development for health workers across the continent.

Music That Matters: KEXP

I fell in love with the series nearly two years ago during one of my lovely commutes to work for one simple reason - it brings you the most amazing variety of music just in time when you can no longer listen to the same songs you had on your iPod since 2000. Each podcast comes with a theme and a selection of sounds (from nearly every genre imaginable, with a slightly greater love for alternative and indie rock) put together by some of the greatest DJs from Northwest.

Sundayers: Cógelo!

A spring roll of rock, jazz, funk, and ska with a Latin twist. Sundayers (because they were avid weekend trippers) is a jazz, fusion and ska Latin band that is not ashamed of enticing its listeners to dance like mad on the dancefloor even if they have two left feet. Cógelo! is the band's full album release and contains 11 explosive tracks that can convince almost anyone to dance. Their music is culled from a wide array of influences, with hints of reggae, rock, jazz, ska present and mixed with the unmistakable Latin beat. It's the perfect soundtrack to a great weekend trip to the beach or a night beach side party with friends.

Robinson, Freitag And The Lonely Trumpet present Shaking Hands – relax, island style

At just about every moment during this 10-track album, you'll be waiting for the musicians to break into laughter, and they actually do at some points. But Shaking Hands is not just a joke, it's an infectious combination of calypso beats and lo-fi magic. Either you'll get it or you won't, but if you do, it'll leave you wanting to go out and buy every island-themed album ever made.

The Leftouts – “Last One Standing”

Lepork Records is a new net label specializing in South American punk artists. The small offering of online albums is interesting but I was especially drawn to The Leftouts and their free album titled Last One Standing. It is a raucous effort incorporating power pop with punk. I especially like the opening track, “19 Days” and the tense title tune. This album, as well as the albums by other bands on this net label deserve a listen for their inexhaustible energy but also to show how global the punk genre has become.

Advance Patrol’s newest album “El Futuro” on The Pirate Bay’s homepage

We were really happy to discover this morning that the PirateBay is promoting Advance Patrol's newest album on their homepage. This will definitely help the band get some awesome exposure and potentially thousands of new fans across the world (they are already among the top 100 downloads in the audio category with almost 1000 seeds!). The promotion is also an effort to publicly discredit the prosecution against The Pirate Bay - where it seems like the Advance Patrol was unknowingly listed as a plaintiff - and show the world that file sharing can be legal & beneficial to the artists. It also just so happens that "El Futuro" is an awesome Latin hip-hop album - it will get your body moving right away! Download away - free and LEGAL from The Pirate Bay.

Los Sundayers: Eterno domingo

I came across Los Sundayers searching Jamendo for Latin music and I found myself listening to the whole album with great pleasure. One of the albums reviewers, nanito, wrote they've done "a great work indeed blending reggae, dub and ska with elegant cuts and tempo switching, all wrapped around a quite colorful interpretation" and I couldn't agree more.