Sweet Headache 018: “Latin Flavor”

May 13, 2010 No Comments Author:marvis

Latin and electronic sounds have been fused by many people already, but I often found that combination a little cheesy. However, over time I found enough tracks that blended those styles very well and preserved the best of both worlds. I combined a couple of my favorites in this mix.

Tracklist:

Bajofondo - Grand Guignol
Jean Claude Ades & Vincent Thomas – Shingaling
Major Lazer – Hold The Line (Edu K Remix)
Toni Rios – Incapaz de Parar
Curv – Cuban Clown
Sarah Vaughan – Whatever Lola Wants (Gotan Project Remix)
Rainer Trüby – Es Lo Que Pasa
Michel Cleis – La Mezcla (Paul Kalkbrenner Remix)
Mihalis Safras – Chicas Latinas
Swen Weber – Samba de Bochum
The Fort Knox Five – El Barrio (Mo’Horizons Remix)
The Mighty Dub Kats – Magic Carpet Ride (Son of Wilmot Mix)

Nerditional information: Bajofondo is probably one of the best and most authentic Latin electro projects so far. It consists of a couple of musicians from Argentina and Uruguay and you can tell by their music that there are some real musicians at work here. A very refreshing contrast to the many, many sample-based tracks in this genre.

The Gotan Project has also been around for a while. With their combination of Tango and electronic beats, they can be found on many lounge compilations. I really like their music, although most of what they do is not really dancefloor music.

Rainer Trüby is not from South America, but he is still one of the evangelists of good Latin electro sounds in Germany. Talking about Germany, it is actually funny that Latin sounds have been popular with German producers for quite a while. Two good examples for this are “Shingaling” by Jean Claude Ades & Vincent Thomas (released on the Munich-based Great Stuff label) and “Samba de Bochum” by Swen Weber. However, to understand the irony in the track title “Samba de Bochum”, you probably have to be German: While one would expect such a track to with “…de Janeiro” or some other beautiful city, it actually ends with “Bochum” which is a grey industrial city in western Germany.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lievensoete/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0