Arriving a long four years after Revolución de Amor (2002), which had been the band's most accomplished album to date, and a Grammy winner to boot, Amar Es Combatir confirmed Maná's continuing designation as the world's standard-bearing Spanish-language mainstream rock band. Amar Es Combatir's lead single, "Labios Compartidos," was an overnight ...
The first solo album released by the former frontman of Mano Negra, Clandestino is an enchanting trip through Latin-flavored worldbeat rock, reliant on a potpourri of musical styles from traditional Latin and salsa to dub to rock & roll to French pop to experimental rock to techno. Chao's voice tends to be a bit nasally, but the best songs ( ...
Like many late '90s outfits, the Los Angeles-based Ozomatli is an eclectic conglomeration, fusing a wild variety of music. At its core, the group is a dance band, blending funk, hip-hop, Latin rhythms, jazz, salsa, reggae, Tejano, and worldbeat into its sound. It's a busy, heady mix and occasionally there's simply too much going on in the mix for ...
Falta Amor is the Mexican pop/rock band's least noteworthy album by far -- musically, at least -- but it still has its moments and, most importantly, it established them as a promising act during the early '90s, with an exceptionally straightforward pop/rock sound for a Mexican band. In particular, "Rayando el Sol" is a highlight and established a ...
European superstar Manu Chao has long gotten by on writing simple repetitive melodies with simple repetitive lyrics, making it, if nothing else, easy for his international audience to sing along, no matter their native language. So it is not particularly surprisingly he follows the same pattern on his fourth studio full-length, Radiolina, ...
Eclipse is a pretty good collection, featuring most of the highlights from Maná's career. It spans ten years of work, from 1992's Falta Amor through 2002's Revolución de Amor, and includes hits like "Vivir Sin Aire," "No Ha Parado de Llover," "Rayando el Sol," "Hechicera," and "En el Muelle de San Blas." Of course, there are some songs missing, ...
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA, and co-produced by rock en español expert Gustavo Santaolalla, the second album by Grammy-winning Juanes, highly anticipated following the release of its first single, "A Dios Le Pido," once again delivers his awarded fusion of urban, rock, and Latin American rhythms. A spiritual folk-rock song opens this 12-track ...
By the time of his fourth album, La Vida...Es un Ratico, it was difficult to imagine Juanes being any more acclaimed or popular. He'd already won trophy cases of awards, from numerous Grammys to France's highest cultural honor, L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and he'd already topped charts in a diverse range of countries, including not only the ...
The unplugged trend of the 1990s could be quite revealing. If a band used amplification to mask its deficiencies, going acoustic could easily expose them. But when artists who had a lot going for them -- everyone from Aerosmith and Bruce Springsteen to L.L. Cool J -- went unplugged, they had a lot of strong material to rely on and triumphed in an ...
At the time of its release, Bajo el Azul de Tu Misterio was the highest debuting alternative rock album on the Billboard Latin charts, an accomplishment that is given more weight by the fact that it is a double album. Jaguares, playing upon their rapidly expanding popularity in Mexico, recorded this mixture of live and studio tracks with an almost ...
From the first notes of Flores de Alquiler, it's clear that la 5ª Estación is rock en español a cut above the average. Laced with mariachi horns and fronted by gutsy lead vocalist Natalia Jimenez, the first cut, "El Sol No Regresa," confidently sets the standard of excellence and taste to be met and exceeded by subsequent tracks. The debut ...
Clandestino, Manu Chao's first solo effort, owed its greatness to its character. It was a minimalistic, yet filled with experimentation, album. But, what's most distinctive, it was honest, direct, intimate: the personal diary of someone who had traveled a lot, not only around Latin America but through life. Unfortunately, Chao seems to lose his ...
Never a band afraid to push their sound further, to try new things, Ozomatli has been developing their songs past the salsa-inspired, hip-hop-infused rock they played on their self-titled debut for a while now. On Don't Mess with the Dragon, they continue to do this, moving even further from the Latin music around which they formed and into R&B, ...
Los Angeles-based Ozomatli are a new kind of American band, a band reflecting the multiracial and multicultural One World demographics of the 21st century. Drawing on musical sources as diverse as salsa, hip-hop, rock, jazz, funk, Tejano, and reggae, Ozomatli appear to be trying to be all things to all people, but amazingly, they pull it off more ...
Grammy-winning alternative Latin rock threesome La Ley made its first live album in Miami after more than a decade touring Latin America. MTV Unplugged mostly gathers the band's 1990s hits, leaving behind its late-'80s pop/rock style. Recorded at Miami Broadcast Center, Chilean La Ley was joined by bassist Archie Frugone, keyboardist Pete Wallace, ...
One of three best-of Maná compilations in the Esencials series released in 2003, Luna focuses on the band's ballads, whereas Sol focuses on their rockers and Eclipse on a distillation of both. Maná enjoyed the most commercial success with their ballads, beginning with their first major hit, "Rayando el Sol" (1992), and their breakthrough hit, ...
Nil Lara accomplishes an innovative lyricism rooted in traditional, Latin rhythms in this self-titled follow-up to his debut album My First Child. His Cuban heritage serving as catalyst, Lara weaves English and Spanish lyrics to communicate universal themes. From the first song, "Money Makes the Monkey Dance," which reflects upon the struggles and ...
One of three best-of Maná compilations in the Esencials series released in 2003, Sol focuses on the band's rockers, whereas Luna focuses on their ballads and Eclipse on a distillation of both. Maná is admittedly known best for their ballads, which tended to score them their biggest hits historically, but the guys are convincing rockers as well, ...
Para Siempre is a double-disc that documents the final concert from Heroes del Silencio, the most popular Rock en Espanol band in Spain. The disc features 19 hit songs, including acoustic versions of some familiar items. For listeners curious about the group, this is an excellent introduction, and for longtime fans, it's a wonderful souvenir. ~ ...
Mexican pop/rock genius Aleks Syntek has recorded a lot of great music in his day, and the songs comprising Mundo Lite are no exception. In fact, they just might be some of the best he's ever assembled on one album. From the album-opening electronic textures and guitar hooks of "Tiempos de Paz," it's hard to deny the music of Mundo Lite. And if ...
Gloria Trevi was only 19 when she recorded her debut album, Qué Hago Aquí?, which established the Mexican singer as a major star in the Latin pop and rock en Español fields. Fueled by the infectious, new wave-ish single "Dr. Psiquiatra," this CD went down in history as one of 1989's most important and consequential Latin releases. Someone who ...
The performances on Sounds Eclectico are all live recordings related to KCRW, the Santa Monica public radio station that's a vital and varied musical resource for the curious, the fans, and the Hollywood music supervisors. Morning Becomes Eclectic host Nic Harcourt produces the set, and provides notes to each selection. As you might expect, ...
Not the Mexican Beatles, Beastie Boys, Radiohead, or any of the other bands that the lazy rock press in America has dubbed Café Tacuba, this is the Mexican Café Tacuba. Furthermore, despite an obnoxious blurb from a music magazine pasted on the outside of the disc, Cuatro Caminos is not the "Rock en Español Kid A." Kid A isn't this good. On Café ...
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