Frente Cumbiero - Jaley Jaley
I've been loving lots of what Frente Cumbiero have been doing lately. This song pushes and drives so hard, it's the perfect soundtrack when I'm on my bike tearing through some curves in the Hillcountry. The subdivided cumbia-surfrock vibe with all the horns and percussion, really opens things up for them to take this song in every direction possible. Good experimental Latine music pushing boundaries and I'm all about it.
Run The Jewels - Ooh La La (feat. Mexican Institute Of Sound & Santa Fe Klan)
This track sounds like resistance to me, that true 'musica del barrio,' straight from the streets. Mexican Institute of Sound remixing hard hitting hip hop with brassy cumbia, while bridging the bilingual lyricism of Run The Jewels and Santa Fe Klan, gets me walking tall and owning all of the space I'm existing in. This is cumbia-rap for the proletariat.
Anderson .Paak - Lockdown
This song got me through so much of 2020, along with Jay Electronica’s “A Written Testimony”. Doing much emotional labor through the protests and lockdowns of last year, really drained my spirit. It took songs like .Paak’s “Lockdown” to help put into words our experiences, to help process things and get back on our feet to keep resisting. The line, “You should’ve been downtown, the people are risin’…” got me right in the heart, because it’s gonna take all of us rising together to create the change we need.
Amadou & Mariam - La Triste Réalité (feat. Jacky & Mokobé)
The sounds in this song remind me of just how big this world we’re in, is. Wide-skied, sun-filled, transcontinental and borderless. The Mali blues of Amadou & Mariam mixed with Manu Chao-influenced transnational-reggae, makes me feel like I’m caught chest high in this river of life fully awake, fully aware, tapped into this reality we’re all wading through- c'est la triste réalité.
Bombasta - Tanto Amor (feat. Mariachi Campanas de America)
I had to include one Bombasta song in the playlist to share the hard work and talent that went into fully actualizing this song. We had the great experience of recording with Mariachi Campanas de America on this track, incorporating strings, vihuela and guitarrón into our own unique San Anto mix of sounds. We tried to create something personal and layered- de puro corazón and wanted to share this heartfelt song with the world. Thank you for listening.