Early this year I heard about a live band called The Latin Project that would be releasing a CD called Neuva Musica sometime this summer with a rich selection of Latin House tracks. I was skeptical on how someone would really pull this off in this age of electronic production and what I believe to be around 130 beats per minute typically suited for the genre. What I found is that I had no need to be skeptical. I think this album will become an amazing testament to Latin dance music for our present era. The fact that this is a live band is intriguing not only because the tracks are very danceable, but it is a smooth listening treat, track after track, that mirrors much of what we know as electronic, but richer.
I like to think of myself as a bit of a connoisseur of Latin music, from Latin House to Mariachi, Boleros, Salsa, Rumba, and even Latin Pop, I have been surrounded by this passionate culture’s music since I was a little girl living in LA. My grandmother would play her old Salsa records and my mother played anything from Baja Marimba Band and Sergio Mendes and Brazil ’66 to Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass. I am very proud of my Mexican-American heritage and will always keep the music close to my heart. I’m now adding Nuevea Musica to my list of all time greats. The Latin Project has truly wowed me with this album.
One of my favorite songs on the CD, Musica de Amor, has a two-step flavor meshed with what could be good old fashioned sixty's Latin lounge style vocals. It is probably one of the most groovin' songs on the album. It's brassy, old fashioned, new fashioned, cultural, JAZZY and SEXY. How in the hell can I truly describe something like that? I can’t and do it real justice.
Another track, Estoy is dark, with a slow Calypso feel to it that is hypnotic, and almost gothic. Again, the word here is SEXY. It is so original that I keep playing this track over and over, trying to dissect it and pick out all the delicious layers.
Matt Cooper of the Dorado, UK act “Outside and Incognito”, and multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Jez Colin, who is the founding member of the early ‘90s acid jazz group The Solsonics, together make up The Latin project. Their first production together brings traditional Latin music, with their own cultural version of progressive ‘Balearic House’ sound.
Go buy this album if you have a love of Latin music truly embedded in your heart and soul.
And if you don’t already, you will. It’s the Music of Love after all.
5 out of 5 biscuits
“Nueva Musica,” from The Latin Project, marks the first full-length release for Los Angeles-based, Indie label Electric Monkey Records.
Additional Press Release Notes of Interest:
“Latin house legend, Little Louie Vega (Masters At Work) has just completed two remixes of the lead single, “Lei Lo Lai,” which will be available in mid-July. With its hard-as-nails beat and strumming guitar work, “Lei Lo Lai” exemplifies the group’s trademark fusion of Latin instrumentation, sultry vocals and infectious grooves. States Vega: ‘Igniting the passion of traditional Latin and contemporary music, this project takes it to another level!’”
Lei Lo Lai Sample
