NPR Music - Alt.Latino's New Music Roundup

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

Alt.Latino hosts Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre recorded their latest new music guide on the streets of Spain.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 Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Gift apart! You said, from NPR Music, this is Felix Contreras. Is the show Felix Contreras? Okay. This is the Felix Contreras show. Let's try that again.

From NPR music, this is Alt Latino. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisme begin. And the Chisemay is that we are still on the road in Spain. We are now in Barcelona, sitting in the square. We're never going back. It's questionable.

We are, where are we right now? We are in the Plaza de la Villa de la Villa de Grazie. In front of this gorgeous clock tower that was built in 1864 with a restaurant all around this nice little plaza. More importantly, surrounded by a lot of good tapas. And these scary pigeons, but that's beside the point. Okay, we've got a new music show this week, and even while we're on the road, we are still able to manage to find great new music to send your way.

Lots of music in our ears all the time. So we've been listening to some pretty cool new stuff. I'm excited about what we have today, Felix. So am I, and I get to start. I got this great track from a guy called ELeon Pardo. El Leone Pardo's real name, Jorge Emilio Pardo Baskes. He got this crazy backstory.

He was raised along the Caribbean coast near Cartagena, Colombia, very musical family. He started playing the sax as a kid. And get this, his sax teacher disappeared with his saxophone, which led him to play his trumpet. Wait. Wait, sorry. His sax teacher stole his sax? Yeah. His sax teacher walked off.

They never heard from him again. But it set in motion all these other events where he decided to switch to trumpet. and he started learning music, playing learning music theory. But on the side, he was playing this instrument called the Quisi Bounsi, which is a form of the traditional flute or Gaeta that they play in Colombia. In the early 2000s, he leaned into traditional music and instrument, and he played with a bunch of bands that we played on Alt Latino along the way, Onda Tropica, Frenti Cumbiero.

The record label ZZK calls him their first jazz artist. He's one of those musicians that's stretching boundaries. every kind of cool ways. This is the track, La Perica. I'm still stuck on the fact that his sax teachers stole his sax. That was the universe. The universe told him, no, sax's not for you. There you go. And I'm sort of glad it happened that way because it's part of my endless fascination with musicians who lean into folkloric music wherever they come from. They both honor the tradition and also incorporate new sounds, different things,

into the sound I never heard before, which is my goal here on Alt Latino, is to constantly find the sound I never heard before. And in this case, Elione Pardo from the album, Viaje Cideral, has met my challenge. I have brought it an artist that you're going to freaking love. This is Mexican artist, Laura Itan Dejui. She does a really cool, innovative jazz thing. You're going to love it.

I'm not even going to say anything more, I just want you to listen to it. Wait, wait. I already know about her. What? I'm kidding. Let's hear the music. It's called La Distancia. Is this song not just the perfect soundtrack for where we're sitting right now?

It is the ideal soundtrack to where we're sitting right now. People are just walking by, and they all have that same kind of sultry, slow walk. With the cigarette. It's the cigarette. This song sounds like smoking a cigarette. Not to endorse it. She just has that, you know, sometimes it's just a rich vocal and some sweet letter. And it's just like a nice vibe and with that really sweet, like slow tempo, it's just something good to relax too, really.

No many young jazz artists right now in Mexico. Like we said, you know, we talk a lot about these Spanish jazz artists and she's one of the first I found that's like of this era of this generation who's doing that, not as classical as some of the artists we bring on, but a little bit closer to a classic style. with you. I'm with you on that one. De Accuardo. Will you add her to your female vocalist playlist? Yes, that list just grows longer

and longer. Every time I discover somebody like that. That's what I know it's an exit. When I find out that they made it on your female vocalist list. We're going to continue with more music. I've got a track in from Haida Milanese.

For those who don't know, she is a Cuban singer songwriter. It's impossible not to note that she's the daughter of iconic Cuban singer-songwriter Pablo Milanese. They performed as a duo for many years. She performed as a solo act. And then we lost Pablo in November of 2022. So this album sort of emerges as reflective of the influence of the Cuban song

movement that her father pioneered and also incorporating all the other things that she's heard and developed on her own. This track is called Recrium for Un Amor. This track is called Du Nome. This track segues perfectly from the one you just brought in. It does, doesn't it? It's almost like we have same brain, Felix. Oh, and now we're doing a really hip jazz show all of a sudden.

Oh, my God. Do we have same brain or am I brainwashed? I can't wait to hear the rest of the record. It's called Requiem for Un Amor. Aide Milanese, I've seen her perform with her dad in Washington, D.C. a few years ago. and there's nothing like it. Their connection was life-changing when you saw them perform. It really was so impactful.

She's carrying on that tradition. It still feels like Pablitos with us in the room as she sings. You are listening to All Latino. We're playing some new music. We're going to be right back. And we are back sitting on the bench here in Barcelona. I just felt like I had to say Spain. But anyway, okay, your turn, your track.

Okay, do you know this guy, Felix? Chico Curly Head? No. Wait. Sounds familiar. The name. The name. First I thought you were doing the thing where you mess with me, where you pretend you know someone. No, the Curly Head thing. I think, I feel like maybe you would have heard him somewhere. He's a Panamanian artist who moved to Texas when he was nine years old.

And he just released not so long ago an EP. And it's really freaking cool. I'm going to play it for you. Chico Curly Head. He released an EP in June called Never Ending Road Trip. Never Ending, all one word, road trip, all one word, all in caps. Just thought I should note that. This track in particular is called Wasted Weekend.

Wasted Another Weekend. I like it because it's happy. It makes me feel like I'm roller skating on the boardwalk next to the beach. He is kind of of this class of like bedroom pop Latino kids, like in Omar Apollo or Kuko or whatever. And it's kind of just music to really chill out to. All right, my turn. You've heard me talk about this vocalist named Damaris Bojore. She is from Hermosillo in way, way northern Mexico. Oh, her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember. He's produced by Ivan from Daniel Mestan Smatando, no?

That is correct. See, I do listen when you talk to me. She hasn't released a record yet, but she's released a bunch of singles in 2024. She's created this sound that she calls Piranio. It really is a fusion of Mexican regional music and U.S.-based folk music that's almost like 1950s country music. I saw her at the music festival in Guadalajara in the spring, and I was blown away because she really is this perfect bridge between Mexican regional, Sireno, and 1950s country music from Nashville.

We'll hit it because now I'm hooked. This track is called No Es Normal. It's her latest single in a series that she released. Check it out. What the heck? Right? When you first started it, I thought it almost sounded very melodically reminiscent, actually, of Carla Morrison. It's like immediately what dinged in my head.

It's like this kind of like really intense letter with this vocal, like this nice vocal. And then, oh my God, all of a sudden it's like goes straight Americana to me. I mean, there's like so much happening, the steel string guitar, all of it. It's like really actually a mescla of all of these things. She's one of the first to be doing this kind of mix. No, me. When I first saw her, it really was something, because we've heard all the stuff from the Mexican regional,

even some of the Mexican regional artists that mix country music, the dude with the steel guitar and all that stuff. This is different. She's just so young, she's so new to the scene. And I tell you, man, when I saw her in Wadalajara, I was completely mesmerized. An artist with a style like this, I mean, it's a cultural statement. It's an anthropological statement.

And the fact that she's from the north, way north. Of course. Where she could probably hear stations from the United States right over the border. Exactly. God, I really want to see her play. And I can't wait to hear the rest of the record. If you look for her on the streaming services, you'll see the graphics that go along with the songs.

She's a painter. She's a trained painter as well. Let's just consider this. A very real introduction to De Mardi's Bourgeois, and we want to hear more about her. Okay, I'm going to disclaimer. I brought a Becky G track. I did not mean to bring something off the new Becky G album because whatever, I always want to bring, you know, artists that are less represented.

We've talked about Becky G a lot before. But I had to bring this track because I was listening to it while I was on my, you know, crazy hike in San Sebastian. And this song came on because I hadn't listened to the album yet. And I was like, this is really interesting. So this song is called Ohalah, and it's off of her new album Enquintros. So, I'm going to be a bottle, because I want to leave him

to get a cure, a cure, just to quickly contextualize this Felix, we all have to remember, member that Becky G. two albums ago was doing like a full reggaeton leaning into like the most poppy urban Latin music space. Last album she decides to finally release her regional album. It's more Corridos, it's more straight classic stuff, even a little bit mariachi. And then she releases this album moving so quickly towards what is now the cutting edge of regional. I mean this sounds

reminiscent to me of a lot of what Carine Leon is doing right now. like pushing the boundaries of what musica mexicana is really in this direction of playing with a little bit of Americana sounds and rock sounds and American country sounds and it feels like it actually sits parallel to what you just play. You have been listening to Alt Latino, Our audio editor for this particular episode and a bunch of others is Simon Retner. With editorial support from Hazel Sills. The woman who keeps everything running perfectly, flawlessly, seamlessly is Grace Chung.

The executive producer of NPR music is Sariah Mohamed. And Keith Jenkins is the heffan chief of NPR music and visuals. I'm Felix Contreras. I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Thanks for listening.