Digital Cumbia - Chancha Via Circuito: Rio Arriba

[kk]

now, I don't know much about Cumbia, so I am not sure what true cumbia fans think of this, but i got intrigued by this review of "Rio Arriba" by Chancha Via Circuito to find it online; and after one listen, i quite like it - certainly enough to order a physical copy

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15255-rio-arriba/

[Jonathan E.]

As a bit of a cumbia fanatic, thanks for the link, kk. I look forward to a proper listen. There sure is a massive amount of cumbia exploration and revival and permutation going on at the moment. Hard to keep up.

[kk]

album streams here

http://soundcloud.com/zzkrecords/sets/c ... iba-2010-1

[Jonathan E.]

I already gave it a listen on Mog, but thanks for the Soundcloud link — I have a suspicion that you like it more than me 'cos it didn't do much of anything for me. I found it a bit ponderous, ominous even, although it picked up towards the second half. I was left wondering why it's rated as cumbia, even given the expanding boundaries of cumbia these days.

If you haven't heard 'em yet, you might check Systema Solar's album and the Cumbia Bestial compilation for the digital cumbia fix. Sorry, I don't have any links handy — but they're easy enough to find.

[kk]

thanks Jonathan, will check those out

as I said, I know next to nothing about cumbia, so I listened to - this album as an electronica album, and as such most of it worked for me

[Jonathan E.]

Perhaps I'll turn my head around and try listening to it that way. I'm quite a fan of various forms of electronica, although generally not the more extreme beats. Just picked up the G-Stone celebration of however many years they've been in business — some very pleasant bits (but not cumbia).

[kk]

while we are now on the subject of Latin American electronica (well, and other too) , i have just picked up this one:

http://bleep.com/index.php?page=release ... seid=28818

(Murcof's first album, Martes, is one of my all-time favourites)

[Jonathan E.]

From the description:

. . . correlates perfectly to the wide, scoped scenes of the Mexican desert.

Hmm, I had an experience or two in the Mexican desert that I'm not sure I want to repeat.

Thanks for the tip anyway. Brand new to E.

[kk]

here's a link to Martes - track 3, Maiz, would be a good entry point, i think, but Mir and Muim are two other standouts

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/album/M ... 2320?src=5

[Jonathan E.]

Thanks for the grooveshark, I'll have a shot later today.

I see that Chancha Via Circuito are doing very well on eMusic with Rio Arriba.

[Jonathan E.]

I tried — but got a bit bleeped out.