NPR Music - Alt.Latino: Is Bill Evans techno?

Episode Date: July 29, 2026

Bill Evans might not be techno. But in this week's episode, the slow-building angst and tension of electronic producer Debit's new music reminded Ana of the beloved jazz piano master. And that kind of genre cross-pollination is everywhere in this week's showcase of new music: Brazilian field recordings remixed for the club, multiple reinterpretations of the Cuban guaguancó, and Spanish producers channeling -- as Ana puts it -- "experimental Boricua stuff."Featured artists and albums:(00:45) Various Artists, 'Candomblé: Sacred Rhythms in Brazil'(04:24) Ítallo, 'CATATAU'(11:25) Debit, 'Potpourri'(16:41) Calequi y Las Panteras, 'TRES'(21:07) Carolina Oliveros, 'Oye Camina'(24:35) BLAYA, 'Your lesbian neighbour is playing music next door'This podcast episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Suraya Mohamed.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

From NPR music, this is Alt Latino. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisme begin. Okay, new music this week, Anna. So let's do rock paper scissors to see who goes first. Okay, but here's the thing about us doing rock paper scissors, Felix. What? Do you rock paper scissors or do you rock paper scissors and then go? It's another beat. I do it in three. Boom, boom, boom. Oh, beautiful. Then we're compal. audible rock paper scissors. Okay, ready?

Rock paper. Scissors. I have rock. I had scissors, I think. Okay, I'll go first. And I'm excited. Okay, I've been sitting on this first track for a while. It's a compilation of field recordings from Salvador, Brazil, from 1980.

The album's called Candomblea, Sacred Rhythms of Brazil. And it's like part of the record is all traditional field recording stuff. The rest of the record is like all of these great remixes and reimagining of these rhythms, but with electronics and stuff. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to play the traditional music first and then an electronic track. But first, here's the traditional. This is Ogum Fest de de Chango from the album Candelambleer, Sacred Rhythms of Brazil. And now I'm going to play another track.

It's a very percussive remix of a completely different song. It's from the Baile Funk DJ Sandrino, who's based in Rio. check this out. It's called Aluka de Lanzah. There was a project I found a couple years ago, Felix, that was like a very similar, I don't know what you would call it, experiment or expansion on rather. And it was from old recordings from Vietnam. And there's something really interesting about,

I always find about replacing some of these beats with electronic beats and seeing how they sit. It's like a very different shift, I think, in like where you feel the rhythm. Like if you replace it with an electronic beat, like where does it start to sit? And it's, I think it makes you dance in a different way. It makes you feel in a different way. And, but there's something really like, structured and really like sound about an electronic beat that comes from a rhythm like that to begin with.

Because it's these rhythms, they can stand the test of time. I mean, these beats are like really profoundly moving beats. And so I love to hear an electronic beat that is constructed out of something that was initially like super raw. and acoustic. Yeah, and there are a lot of people who are like, no, you can't touch that stuff. Leave it alone. It just don't even bother trying to remix it.

You just lead, the music stands on its own. You know, there's merits to both, you know, the very, very strict traditionalists, versus these people who are doing these remixes. I'm kind of leaning toward the remix crowd, obviously. The album's called Candomblee, Sacred Rhythms of Brazil. We heard a couple of different tracks from the album. Just go out and find the whole thing.

It's really, really good. Okay. Felix, if you're going to take us to Brazil, I have to defend my honor, maintain my brand, I'm going to take us, or keep us rather, in Brazil. I'm skipping ahead. To an album that I just discovered, and I don't know how I hadn't found it previously, it's absolutely stunning. It's by a Brazilian artist named Ital. I hope I'm saying that right. The album is called Katatao. It's his fourth studio album. and this song in particular is called Da Barrier.

will pass my train and I go I go and going to go the fault that's the bad of my being the fault that my being the fauna that does my

way the fault that that my Get out. Can we play the next song, please? And here's the next one, Janato. had to play you. That is how he intros the album.

And I've been, you know, Felix, I mean, there's a lot of things here. One, Brazilian summer, woo! But two, I've been really loving. I don't often bring them, but I'm a really big fan of intros and outroes on albums and then how people decide to kind of

it's so important and it's so beautiful. Like, the way that people decide to set up a record and that first, kind of those first few notes, that first tone, the first, you know, it's really a space where people play, and I've noticed on a lot of these Brazilian records, I think what I love about them is they leave a lot of room for space and stillness and experimentation and doing the cool little jazz riff for a second just cuts.

And that is such a lost art in so many albums that I hear that I just love. It is one of the best pieces of the art of the album, like take the space to play and set a tone. And I mean, this artist, he's spectacular. Like he really, beyond the sound, which is this really cool mix of like jazz and samba and MPB and all of that, there's this beautiful poetry to Tui Tayao and how he writes. I want to play you a bit of another song that I'm absolutely obsessed with. It's called Drive My Car, parentheses, Bra Marina. Chega to me, manso, In the voice of a spanto,

In the Pazes of a song, Those abysmos of the Alma The direction, the contra-man The light of man, The negro of the night And the cisms of form In your soul, Chega in me,

Vaguer, I heard this song and I read the lyrics and I was like, I'm starting Portuguese class today. Because I need to be able to experience it. You can tell. Like the tone, the energy, you know you're hearing something beautiful, but I'm going to read you how they start that song. Everything that's abundant in you reaches me gently in the voice of astonishment and the peace of a song from the abysses of the soul.

It runs in love, the direction, the wrong way, the fear. the morning light, the blackness of the night, and the earthquakes of form. You knew they were saying that. You knew they were saying that. And the other thing that knocked me out to is the horn arrangements, the flute. I think there's a flute, there's a clarinet.

I mean, there's a small little wooden ensemble. And then once the rhythm comes in, the drummer's playing with brushes like a jazz player or like the old Basanova bands used to play with brushes on drums and even phone books to get that soft, soft, like, over the sound,

that's what stood out to me on this track, man. It's just, oh my gosh. It's so, like, effortlessly brilliant. Like, it's so soft and it's sparse. And every choice feels really intentional. I'm, I can't. I know I bring Brazilian music every week,

but it's like, I can't. How? Are they so good? That was a couple of songs off the Taya album, Kat Tatao. Okay. I'm going to change up just a little bit.

still some very, very brilliant music making here. I found the kind of artist who I like to call a sound alchemist. They're creating these soundscapes with so many different textures and influences with electronics. It's the kind of music that allows your imagination to participate and you can actually shape what you're hearing while you're hearing it. This is the New York City-based Mexican-American artist, DJ producer. Her name is Debit. She has an album out right now called Po Perri.

this track is called Beto Like. Okay, Felix. Please, why did you bring in this truck? Okay, so, I mean, I wrote in my note, Like, why didn't I know of her before? And I think she's primarily a dance DJ. She's working in dance clubs. She's doing DJ stuff all over the world, really.

She's based in New York, and she does all this stuff. There's a lot of tracks on the record that I could hear burning up the dance floor. But she also does this stuff. It's exactly like the electronic creativity. For me, goes back to the earliest days of electronic and ambient music, 60s, 70s. For me, it reminds you of bands like, the art ensemble of Chicago, this avant-garde jazz band, like lots of sound, just textures.

And also, believe it or not, the Grateful Dead when they would do their space part, where they play with all these MIDI instruments and make all these different sounds and stuff. I want to play one more track. This is called I Didn't Ask to Be Born Latina, and that's just one word, okay? But check this out, man.

Okay, it just goes on and on like that, right? And to me, when I was listening to this, when I looked at the title, I didn't ask to be born Latina. Again, one word. It's very clever. But to me, that track, it's like there's a sense of angst and apprehension. It's just in the way that she builds it.

And maybe the key, or I don't know what it is, the way she builds that electronic sound. Like, we're waiting for something else to happen. And when you consider a song title, I don't know, man. Maybe I'm misinterpreted it. But like I said, it's this kind of music is the kind of stuff that your imagination plays a part in how you perceive the music. And that's how I perceived it. Does it feel like jazz to you? You know, jazz, we'd have to do a whole other podcast.

But it feels like avant-garde jazz. And like I said, there are a number of artists that I used to listen to and still listen to. They didn't play melody. It was just sound and texture and beeps and squeaks and like no structure like we're used to hearing. And it was still incredibly popular. And I really, really liked it. And she falls in like a modern version of that, like a modern version of these avant-garde jazz guys. but using electronics, that's what it feels like.

I think of it because I think of how jazz builds in such a way, as you're describing her. Like jazz builds with tension, with angst, with all these things. But, like, this is a really random comparison, but I was listening to a bunch of Bill Evans over the weekend. And I kept listening to this song where he builds and builds and builds and builds and builds and builds. And there's something about it that feels really, like, reminiscent of that. in the most random and obviously instrumentally distant way,

but something about, yeah, constructing in the way that you're describing, feels jazz to me. I don't know. I would have never connected it to Bill Evans, but, you know, like I said, this music allows you to use your imagination to be part of it. When you mention it, I can hear a comparison. The artist is named Debit.

The album's called Po Perri. We heard Perol-like, and I didn't ask to be born Latina. I'm definitely going to be checking more of her music. out. We're going to take a break and we're back with lots more new music. And we're back. No, you go. I'm bringing us back and we're back and we're in Spain. And I will be in Spain for the rest of this episode.

Okay, I found this band. They're called Calekui and I'm going to play you a song called If Te Alejah Delamor No Pueeser Werno. And it's from their new album, Three. Rundo, suede, a space, fire in the patio and the head's

derrita like the ice a lot of a rhythm that's an monsearch to move the

object that is optional. Even the Tia Maria has better the day. That's

that's that's life the Cuisia. When me I'm away to

you all, it's all right so that nena try that that's

movement because moving not option and here you it's

so it's so we're we we're to do we

we're so I mean, how How I confused was I, when I said this Caribbean band question mark with Spanish accents. No, they're just from Spain. But I mean, Caribbean, all Caribbean, all Caribbean, experimental Caribbean, and every type of Caribbean. I mean, the transitions, everything,

it's clever, it's funny, it's interesting. It's what I've talked about about this play space. That, I mean, I see a lot in Spain, and again, I've addressed this a number of times, like what that means that they play with Caribbean sounds, but it's really like what they're doing is so fascinating and hooky, and it blends rhythms in a way that I think people from the place

would never necessarily think to in the same way because it's external. It's from Afrida. They're playing from the outside. And I want to play you then another song from the record because it sounds so different. No se como we get us to this. No see how we get us to this.

No see how we get us to this. If never we're, we're, we're, we're, Very Very versatile Okay Afroquan Wau

Kro Kro Kro Kews Very versatile Okay Because at the start of the

first track you played There was an Afro-Cuban Wau uncle And then they built on that And then

this one has a whole mixture of stuff And listening on earbuds Or headphones All of

these different beats and the instruments are ping-ponging from all different parts of the mix. Like, they bring it forward, they pull it back, they dip it under. Like, it's all also played with

in how they balance out the mix. It's really interesting. It's really interesting. The whole album is like that. It's ping-pong, ping-pong, ping-pong, ping-pong, ping-pong. And that doesn't always work. But they have a really nice flow to them. I thought they were Puerto Rican at first, actually.

Honestly, it was kind of my impression. I was like, oh, this feels like experimental Borica stuff. Fascinating. Nice call. Good one. That was a couple of songs off of the album, Three by the band Caliqui and Las Panthers. You know, Anna, it's funny that the track you played on that last artist

started with a Wawanko because I have the same thing. I have another track that features an Afro-Cuban Wau. This is Carolina Olivero. She's the lead vocalist of the group Combo Chimbite and Alt Latino Favorite. We played a lot of their music. She has a new solo single coming out at the end of the month. We're going to give you a preview.

This track is called Oye Camina. This is Carolina Oliveros. Check it out. What do you think? No, she has that kind of voice, the kind that channels. And that's the most important thing here. I mean, the percussion is cool. And I've seen her play in various environments as well.

For example, I saw her play in Puerto Rico, once with Combo Chimita. And it's rare to connect with a Puerto Rican crowd being their Colombian, or she being Colombian in such a way. But I think she has like a connective tissue voice. Like she has the kind of voice that if you come from any, also because it's very attached to the percussion, if you come from any kind of like deeply moving, percussive background origin culture,

you're going to then gravitate, I think, towards her voice. Yeah, you know, that's so funny because I totally agree with you. You know, when you're singing this kind of music, especially the African-Cuban stuff, Daimea Rosena, the young women in Okan. They can use the Wawanko, and you got to really be on top of it, like Celia Cruz. You got to have that voice.

It's got to be there. You can't get lost in the mix, because there's all of this percussion stuff going on, all this drumming, all the sticks and everything else. And you're right. Carolina Oliveros has that kind of voice that's adaptable to the stuff that she does from her native Colombia.

She's from Barranquilla. And all kinds of different stuff that this band does. and then on her new solo project, I don't know that there's a record coming out, a full album coming out at some point. I'm sure there is, but this single right now is just, like,

it's, I could spend the rest of the show talking about what people do with Wawanko, with the Afro-Cuban folklore, Rumba, Wawanko, like what they're doing with this one, these conga players, everybody that's on this track,

amazing. The track is called Oya Kamina, and the artist is Carolina Oliveros, and it's coming out at the, end of July. We're giving you a sneak preview here. Ooh. Okay, Anna, take us home. Wow, all ready. Okay, I'm keeping us in Spain. Interestingly, what I'm about to play is maybe a mix of a number of things we've heard

today. Oh, ho. It's like I knew it would be the perfect finale. And yet I didn't, but I did. Anyways, this is artist Blaya from Barcelona. The album is called Your Lesbian Neighbor is playing music next door. And the song I'm going to play first is Kedatathe. in La Luna. Wow, very nice. Tell me more about them. I like these guys a lot. You know, there's a lot of things in here that I hear that are very similar to, like, a Ralphie Chu or Rosowski, like all these Russiai K folks in Madrid that I've talked about a lot,

stylistically, production-wise, that I hear. She's in Barcelona, which I found really interesting because in Barcelona, what you usually get is the more, like, singer-songwriter-y quality, or like the Rita Pais Jazz or the Sylvia Perez-Cruz. It's a much smaller indie kind of, like, guitar and voice-leaning scene. But she is doing the Madrid thing. And more than the Madrid thing, the experimental Spanish thing. And I really, like, felt like it was a nice marriage with her vocal,

which still has that kind of, like, singer-songwritery quality. but she wasn't afraid to really experiment production-wise. I want to play you another track. It's called Tukara Mommy. Do you see what I mean about it being a mix of everything we heard today in a way? Totally. Because she does really go pretty electronic on something. She goes pretty like American on other things too in a way.

There's like a little bit of the American electronic tone to it. But ultimately, I mean, it's just a play album to me. There's a lot of play in the dance space and in the songwriting space. So I don't know. She just makes me really curious, honestly. Like I didn't expect this kind of music out of Barcelona specifically. And clearly the scene there is growing. And so I'm excited to hear what she does.

next. That was a couple of songs from the Spanish artist Blaya, and her album, Your Lesbian Neighbor is playing music next door. Great album title. Great album title. You have been listening to Alt Latino from NPR Music. Our audio editor is Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of MPR music is Soraya Mohamed. Executive director, Sonnali Menta. And as always, drop us in line if you heard something that you liked, you didn't like. You just have a question. Or you want to turn a song to music. Drop us a line at Alt Latino at npr.org. I'm Felix Contreras.

And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Thanks for listening.