While listening to Polock’s debut album, Getting Down From the Trees, I instantly wondered how many people were going to listen to this album and believe Polock is an American band playing American music. This Spanish group proves that even now, cultural barriers exist in the music world: When listening to something done in the English language, audiences simply assume it’s U.S-bred. Many seem to forget our most memorable and infectious doses of indie pop in the last few years have hailed from Europe. And so, lo and behold, Polock serves us classic indie pop on a silver platter, and it’s my (quite obvious) prediction that people everywhere will fall in love with what they’ve created.  

Let's start with the faults. I refer to my previously mentioned prediction as “quite obvious” because, however lovable an album, Polock is basically Phoenix with a different nationality. That may be unfair of me to say, because there has always been and will always be a sort of tug-of-war of creative influence between musicians and artists, a cyclical pattern of style throughout time, and is therefore, practically impossible to make anything even close to original. There will always be discussion as to who came first, as to who did it better, or who was pure crap. Polock is typical indie, that which you’ve heard in the work of, yes, Phoenix, the Shout Out Louds, and even a bit of Mumford & Sons if you listen to the right riffs. 

That being said and all cynicism aside, I know the success to come from Polock’s work will be nothing short of well-deserved. While not entirely satisfied with the musical aspect of their songs, it was thrilling to listen to Polock’s beautifully-told stories. I smiled, feeling almost like a stranger eavesdropping on hushed tales told by parents about their foolish youth.

Getting Down From the Trees speaks of simple things. Of the inevitable lust that’s born from friendship in “Nice To Meet You.” Of the almost obscure humor in the way people fall in love in the opening line of “Faster Love”: “I first saw you/puking in the streets/you were on your own/I fell in love.” They’re poems of ordinary moments charged with spark and chemistry, of “Fireworks” and complicated women and the reluctancy to rely on word-of-mouth. 

For me, the clever simplicity in Polock’s songs is what made this album worth my while. In such a reverberated genre, they’ve managed to create a collection that can be deemed as special in its cartoonish approach to musical writing—it’s almost childish, definitely comical, and especially endearing. With lines such as “That white dress doesn’t suit you that well/party lights don’t make you shine” (from “High On Life”) and “I don’t believe in anyone/except for my mom/I don’t believe in George/tangerines or unicorns,” (from “Tangerines and Unicorns”) how do you expect me to a resist a group of Spanish boy-musicians? I tend to fall in love with storytellers, they manipulate so well....

Pablo Díaz-Reixa, known most popularly as El Guincho, once again proves in his latest album Pop Negro that he’s a lover of music. His passion is evident in this inspiring collection of melodies and beats that hold the perfect balance between easy and hallucinatory. 

I was thinking of a way to describe this album, and I couldn’t help but think of guests at a party. There always seems to be this one person that just oozes with joy and spark, and you think, “Man, he’s probably had it easy all his life.” El Guincho’s charm drips in his lyrics and beats, and he easily sells us this image of a fun, party-loving music wiz the same way Kanye West sells us a pair of Louis Vuitton sneakers. “If I buy the sneakers,” you think, “I’ll look just as cool as Kanye.” Well, if you listen to El Guincho’s Pop Negro, you might start thinking you can have just as much fun as he does. 

Coming from a literary family, I never thought it made sense that my mom’s a mathematician. "Math?!" I always asked her in disgust. She always defended her love for numbers, claiming that what she loves is that math is universal; it’s the same in every language. Whatever, mom. Math still grosses me out, but I thought about her logic as I was listening to Pop Negro because of its music’s natural universality. It reeks of African influences, but it’s not African music. Every song is sung in Spanish, but it’s not a "Spanish" album. It’s every bit of music you can imagine, thanks to El Guincho’s enviable talent to mix everything into one thing he clearly knows everyone aspires to: fun.

When reviewing El Guincho’s EP, Piratas de Sudamérica, I had a very clear picture in mind. It was summer, it was beachy, airy and dreamy, like a Puerto Rican party circa 1953. Pop Negro’s complexity is in its capacity for fluid transformation—it doesn’t fit into just one box, and even though it’s clearly cultural, the album takes a stand against target marketing. Maybe there is a more specific audience to which it will be appealing, but it isn’t according to race or ethnicity or age or gender. The collection’s appealing in terms of personality, taste, a humorous twist with a quality not met by any other kind of “party music” out there today. 

The only disenchantment in the album comes from the lack of any true palpable personal or emotional connection between the music and the artist—don’t get me wrong, I doubt there’s anything more personal than creation itself. However, El Guincho keeps safe distance from making Pop Negro anything other than a sort of superficial mood enhancer.

But I’ll leave you with this: If you’re a person looking for escape, just skip the drugs and turn to Pop Negro. Because in his hazy mix of nostalgia and ecstatic modernity, you remember that music can still be, amazingly so, fresh with promise and individuality that doesn’t lead to grinding in a club. It’s beautiful. It’s just fun.

Love Star, a Los Angeles-based indie-pop trio, recently made their first Latin Alternative Music Conference appearance. Formerly known as Grito Mutual, the newly renamed Love Star is comprised of Jorge Torres (bass), Will Alves (guitar) and Adriana Fernandez (vocals). Their new Happiness EP is composed of four solid pop songs both in English and Spanish.

The EP’s lead single, “Felicidad,” is a pop-en-español, radio-ready dance track that will appeal to fans of groups from Belanova to Paulina Rubio. Its synth-heavy backdrop is a great compliment to frontwoman Adriana Fernandez’s infectious vocals. “Sin El” is a more pop-rock track with heavier guitar sounds backing Hernandez. “Ay Nino” is the third Spanish track and where Fernandez and company keep it '80s.

The lone English track on the Happiness EP is “You.” While it is great to see a Latin band keep it bilingual, this is a situation where they should stick to the lengua madre where their songs seem to flow much better. Remember when those '80s freestyle/Latin hip hop artists used to come out with a rock ballad to be different and it just didn’t work? “You” is kind of like that. Nice try Love Star, pero no.

Love Star’s Happiness shows great potential, but it isn’t anything we haven’t heard before. It’s fun bilingual pop music that will appeal to many. It should be interesting to see what, if anything, we see from Love Star in the future.

The most fascinating thing about music is how completely different two people can think about it. I remember once my boyfriend walked into my room as Bob Dylan’s “Shelter from the Storm” played in the background. He just stopped and said, “This is creepy. If I were alone in my room listening to this, I’d be freakin’ scared. It’s right out of a horror movie, just as they’re about to kill the secondary character.” He was extremely passionate about his level of dislike for my favorite Dylan song.

Y La Bamba, from Portland, Oregon, have compiled an album that’s so hauntingly beautiful that it would probably stop many people in their tracks, enough for them to comment on how damn creepy it is.

And Alida St. is creepy. Each song seems to have been born in a place where everything is looser, simpler, the vocalist’s voice is thinner and ghostlike. Even though some influences manage to leak through, such as Sufjan Stevens and Devendra Banhart, Y La Bamba is still completely different enough to dive right into memorable.

The band mixes English with snippets of Spanish lyrics, but somehow instead of sounding pocho, they’ve carefully crafted something very... French. “Isla De Hierva Buena” sounds sweet, delicate and musky, like a smoke-filled coffeeshop. Many of the tracks are like this: mysterious, bordering on sad, yet more than anything else, they’re entrancing. Songs like “Winter Skin” and “Festival of Panic” perfectly guide you to another scene other than your bedroom or your car, somewhere where it’s windy, and the cacophony of creepy that might seem to bother some is nothing other than dreamy and light, with a hint of nightmarish doom.

Y La Bamba’s collection is clearly based on spirituality and elements of nature—of water and moving trees, and memories of childhood that serve to not only create pieces that appear to be twisted lullabies, but actually manage to be stories elaborate enough to leave you hooked. I thank the music gods for style this different and stunning, a mix of folk and acoustic and something else entirely. Vocalist Luzelena Mendoza’s powerful and distinctive talent is one of the band’s most obvious strong suits, but it’s everything—the way the vocals and lyrics fit the music so perfectly and beautifully, that make Alida St. one of my favorite listens this year.

Download Alida St. for free on Bandcamp here.

When listening to the latest release from El Guincho, originally Pablo Díaz-Reixa and currently working from Barcelona, what came to mind was This seems too simple. There must be something up his sleeve. And I suppose there is. In the first volume of the upcoming series of EP’s under the name Piratas de Sudamérica, the core of the project’s intelligence seems to lie in the beauty of simplicity.

With its five tracks—all South American originals that have been rearranged into a somewhat more modern style—El Guincho mixes clever elements of electro/psychedelic/tropicália/rock charm (apparently, it can be done). The EP manages to be futuristic and nostalgic at the same time, a kind of throwback to Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but instead of Manhattan, we’re on a yacht somewhere, wearing a red dress instead of diamonds, a sort of new alternative classic; a mix of the Latin sexy with pretty, simple, musical innocence.

I think what must be said about Piratas is that it interested me—and I’m usually pretty stubborn, musically speaking. What also must be said is that this experimental sort of music isn’t for everyone, but then if it were, well, what’s the fun in that? El Guincho has the ability to fuse the old with the new, and hopefully the following chapters of the series will be equally, if not more, different and enchanting, because he definitely has the potential and the spark to create it. 

You´ll find each song can fit a mood, a place, a scene in the movie of your daydream life—“Hindou” for the loungin’, “Cuerpo sin alma” for the daring, etc. A beautiful listen for the middle of summer, Piratas de Sudamérica, Vol. 1, sweats with air of exotic beaches and rhythmic comfort—ahhh, just what I needed. At least for now. I may not be playing it for the rest of the year, for every other season, but hey—there’s a magical charm in those songs or artists that are directly linked to a specific time of the year, and El Guincho could make summer glamour all his own.

The Pinker Tones are a Spanish DJ duo made up of Professor Manso and Mister Furia. They are best known for their killer live sets and danceable electronic albums such as Million Colour Revolution and Wild Animals. With their fourth studio album, Modular, out today on Nacional Records, The Pinker Tones venture into a more indie-rock-oriented territory not taken on previous releases. The group brought along drummer Robert Guibiaqui to play on the entire album as well as for their tour.

While at first it was difficult to absorb Modular as a Pinker Tones album, a few listens later the world was good again. The electronic element was not completely lost and the new rock-oriented sounds were enjoyable. However, some tracks were just there and forgettable one way or the other.

The first full track on Modular, “Estirado El Sol,” is the first and best example of The Pinker Tones sounding more indie rock or alternative than what most will be used to from them. While there's still a bass-heavy background beat, it is the breakdown and chorus that will fool the untrained orejas into thinking this is a Spanish indie rock band. The harmonizing was actually good and the synthesizers meshed will with the guitars. Perhaps it should not be of any surprise given the talent of the duo and the popularity of indie all over the world, but particularly in Spain right now.

The Pinker Tones return to their electronic roots with the English track “Tokyo.” A tribute to one of their favorite cities that they’ve never actually visited, “Tokyo” is a synth-heavy, new-wave dance track ready for European discotecas and Dance Dance Revolution video games. Speaking of video games, “Game Boy Music” is an electronic gem that pays tribute to the popular Nintendo handheld gaming system with 8-bit samples over a danceable, heavy drum beat.

Of course it wouldn’t be a Pinker Tones album without something so far-fetched and off the grid. This time around it was “Friends Around The World,” which sounds more like bad Brit-pop than anything The Pinker Tones would put out. It is a poor attempt at an indie power ballad and will leave many current Pinker Tones fans wondering what they were thinking. Many will also wonder when they will remix these songs so they can get back to dancing again. Modular lacks a lot of the funk and disco sounds of their previous work, but is still a great listen once you get past that. Modular is for fans of MGMT, The xx, Moby and artists like that. For those looking for their best work, pick up 2008’s Wild Animals.

Once San Antonio’s best kept secret, Piñata Protest is no secret to Austin anymore. Often referred to as the “Mexican Drop Kick Murphys,” the group has performed many marquee showcases here in the Live Music Capital. After having been featured on Austin Vida and countless San Antonio publications before, their only missing piece was a debut full-length album. Now that Plethora has been officially released on Saustex, people outside the Alamo City will have the opportunity to listen to the puro pedo punk-rockers. It won’t matter if you speak English, Spanish or both, as long as you like punk rock and accordion, you’ll enjoy Plethora.

Plethora begins with “Campesino,” which is basically a punk-rock punch in the face with an accordion. In typical punk fashion, the quick  two-minute ride riffs hard while making you want to polka at light speed. It's a truly original style that blends conjunto music and punk. That makes perfect sense given those are the popular sounds of San Antonio.

The most interesting track to listen to at high volumes is also one of Piñata Protest’s best live songs, “Rocket,” a two-minute-and-fourteen-second song about driving drunk. When listening to it, picture one of your cousins (we all have one of those) getting in the car and riding along. He stops at a bar, then after drinking, stumbles back to his “rocket.” The accordion break symbolizes that drunk walk and as the music speeds up, that is when the drunk driving ensues, hence the faster pace of the song before the abrupt end. That could signify a car crash, but most likely it is just the end of the song.

There are tracks on Plethora that show off Piñata Protest’s lighter side, such as the accordion heavy, English language track “Cold Fries.” A humorous Spanglish intro sets up a dive restaurant/diner scene followed by singing (versus yelling) to what could be Tex-Mex to the untrained ear. As is traditional in both punk and conjunto, the lyrics are silly and tell a funny story.

All that being said, Piñata Protest are at their best when they bring it hard and fast: “Matador,” “Rocket,” and “Campesino” represent the punk rock sound that can cross over into non-Latino punk rock audiences. Piñata Protest deserves to be heard and belong in punk-rock fans music collections next to their Sex Pistols and Flogging Molly albums. Plethora is proof punk rock and conjunto can indeed mix. Everyone from Johnny Rotten to Freddy Fender should be proud, that or turning over in their grave.

The words “este vato” are known to most Mexican-Americans as slang meaning “this dude.” In Austin, Este Vato is now associated with a new young Latin fusion band who popped out of nowhere in 2008. Often compared locally to Ozomatli, the group is a regular opener and co-headliner in the Austin Latin music scene. With the release of their new self-titled debut, everything finally comes full circle for the young vatos.

With a style that incorporates English and Spanish lyrics, vocals and rhymes, turntables and a guiro, rock and reggae, there is something for everyone. While all seven tracks make for a quick and enjoyable listen, Este Vato are at their best when they produce their style of funky cumbias mixed with hip hop. It is a style or genre that is often attempted but rarely pulled off, but Este Vato have it mastered as if they have been playing together for years. Guiro master and emcee Feliciano “Chano” Lopez has a smooth, brown-fisted lyrical flow that compliments lead vocalist Ricardo Lara without overpowering him.

“El Poder” ("The Power") is the best example of Este Vato’s overall talent and the best first impression they can make on new listeners. The song’s intro is an audio clip of what sounds like an old Mexican radio broadcast talking about the rights of campesinos (how appropriate for the times). As the music begins, a melodic guitar is joined by a guiro and electronic samples before Lara begins to sing over the main cumbia beat. Towards the song’s end are the best parts: Lopez’s angry revolutionary rhyme verse and guitarist’s Oscar Reyna’s solo. Reyna’s guitar-playing is probably the group’s most unnoticed element by many, but make no mistake, the vato can shred.

Getting out the cumbia genre and into the more rock en Español world, “Tres Colores” represents the group’s heavier side well. While the guitars stand out, it is Lara's singing with more grit and angst on “Tres Colores” than on any other track that stands out. It is something he should insist on doing more often as he clearly has more to bring to the table than singing cumbias. The nice surprise with “Tres Colores” is the song’s melody and doesn’t change when Lopez jumps in with his rhyming. It may be the best Mexican pride song in our database. “Bria Verde! Bria Blanco! Bria Rojo!”

The most rhyme-heavy track is “Quemadura,” in which Lopez rhymes in Spanglish throughout most of the cumbia-rock fused track. It is on “Quemadura” where Lopez proves himself to be more than just an emcee but also to be talented writer. It is his moment to shine, and shine he does while the rest of the group provides the support.

While this self-titled debut is an overall gem, especially for a new local band, it isn’t without its dull moments. The scratch-heavy, monotonous beat give the impression that “Rattle Snake” is a demo or incomplete track. Something is missing here; it just doesn’t measure up to the other fuller, more complete tracks on the rest of the album.

Overall, considering Este Vato is a young band and without a major label backing, their debut is stellar. Do not fear the sound quality often associated with the label “self-released.” Everything sounds technically solid as if it were a label release, and the talent is there. If you enjoy music you can dance to, cumbias, hip hop, rock en Español or all of the above, then you should get down to some Este Vato. It will add flavor to your collection like “Latin spices.”

Follow Este Vato on Facebook here and purchase their music on Bandcamp here.

Did Subrosa Union replace pot with Jäger shots as their vice of choice? When I saw them at Flamingo Cantina a year ago, the Austin-by-way-of-El-Paso trio was jamming the kind of reggae-rock odes to Mary Jane that made Sublime and 311 popular with college kids in the '90s. But when Subrosa Union's latest full-length, One Night Stand, landed at my doorstep, I was blown away by the scorcher of an opening track that is "Penny Arcade." The song is a full-speed-ahead pop-rock anthem with big crunchy guitar riffs and sing-along lyrics about a subject some of us know all too well: dramatic yet addictive chicks.

Using arcade games as a metaphor, frontman Michael Anaya lets the character of Penny know, "Ain't got no time to nickel and dime with you." Still, he concedes, "You got your hooks in me, and nothing's for free."

If anyone has mastered hooks, it's this band. One Night Stand is chocked full of big, blaring anthemic choruses fit for rock festivals and pop-rock radio. They get in your head and never leave. If 101x, the local alt-rock station, isn't putting this album on rotation soon, I don't know what's wrong with them. This is the kind of music that would do really well with their crowd.

And Subrosa knows it, too. The album's lead single is "6th St. Beauty Queen," a catchy mid-tempo admonishment of the big-haired, overly-made-up and scantily-clad ladies who act like anything but. Who in Austin between the ages of 18 and 30 can't relate to that sentiment? Yet, I can totally foresee these "beauty queens" doing flavored vodka shots at Maggie Mae's while completely unironically claiming this song as their jam. The song is geographically specific, but the theme is universal: "You always sleep in your make up, tomorrow you wake up, ready to black out and do it again."

Not to downplay the band's musicianship or songwriting chops, but this album wouldn't have been possible without Alien Ant Farm's Mike Cosgrove at the helm. It has that sugar-high glossy pop-rock feel from the dudes who transformed a Michael Jackson classic into pop-punk goodness. Cosgrove is the guy you want if you're a young rock band at a crossroads.

Subrosa Union always had a pop sensibility (how else to explain their live Elvis Presley covers). But their reggae vibes kinda held their pop side from really shining. That's all changed. Musically, the album's title track shows shades of Weezer, Pavement or even Eve 6, but because of Anaya's distinct vocals and the heavy bass, it's still very much a Subrosa song. Cosgrove gets a writing credit on "Laces Loose," the band's ballad that uses running shoes and racing as a metaphor for having a crush.

The album starts to lag toward the end, as the band smartly put the best tracks up front. "Hurry Up & Wait" is a skippable track, rehashing all the ground that's been covered in the eight previous tracks without contributing something new. Still, it's kinda catchy.

Bass is what distinguishes this band from similar alt- and pop-rockers, practically driving the song "Start to Finish." It helps that they came from years of playing reggae-infused rock. It gives Subrosa a sense of groove and rhythm that might not be a priority for other bands who center everything around guitars. Ultimately, Subrosa Union has crafted a satisfying pop-rock listen that will appeal to fans of alt-rock radio and maybe even some top-40 listeners.

Check out a short clip of their song "6th St. Beauty Queen" below.

After a decade of musical excellence, Grupo Fantasma—Austin’s biggest and best Latin band—only gets better. Their newest album, El Existential, is the stuff musical legends are made of. New sounds, more lyrical themes, guest appearances from Curt Kirkwood of The Meat Puppets and salsa legend Larry Harlow round out the pieces for what is damn near a perfect album.

It's hard to imagine the pressure Grupo Fantasma must have been under when making El Existential, given that their last album, 2008's Sonidos Gold, was Grammy nominated and received critical acclaim from everyone who heard it. While every Grupo album thus far has been solid, they tended to be a little cumbia-heavy and each offered only a slight improvement from their predecessor. After listening to El Existential all the way through, it can honestly be said that they finally have a record that matches the fullness and quality of their live shows.

Just like every other Grupo Fantasma album, El Existential gets you dancing and moving right away with “Realizondo” ("realizing"). A funky intro, heavy brass, lots of percussion and funky guitars make up their signature sound, and it's what you’d expect from any Grupo Fantasma album.

A little further into El Existential, you will stumble across the classic salsa throwback that is the title track. You'll soon read about Fania All-Star comparisons or see the word “retro” in other Existential reviews, and this is the song they will point to as an example. The old-school organ and timbales, backed by the old-school salsa style brass, will make Fania Records fans proud.

For those who love Grupo Fantasma’s cumbias, “Hijo” ("son") is going to be one of your favorite songs. There isn’t anything you haven’t heard before; it is just rare that a group masters the art of the cumbia while still being able to give it their own unique twist these days. You may be taken by surprise by the heavy electric guitar riffs being so prominent in a cumbia, but Grupo Fantasma makes it work. “Hijo” is what a modern cumbia should sound like.

One of the better surprises on El Existential is “Juan Tenorio,” which features piano and salsa legend Larry Harlow. It is a slower, darker balada that shows off the Latin crooner stylings of lead singer, and the song’s writer, Kino Rodriguez. However, it is Harlow’s jazzy piano playing that spices up “Tenorio” and keeps that classic Latin big-band sound.

The funkiest track on El Existential is “Telaraña” ("spider web"). “Telaraña” features a guest guitar appearance from Curt Kirkwood of The Meat Puppets. If Rodriguez weren't singing, you would swear it was a track from Fantasma’s other band, the funk collective known as Brownout. Spacey guitar riffs, floating notes and an old school funk beat serve as the backbone of the arrangement on “Telaraña.” With this track, Grupo Fantasma proves that they still, and probably will always, have the funk.

While it would be easy to dissect every minute of El Existential, the bottom line is that any critic or reviewer can pick out any song on the album and praise it. Each and every song is a gem; it will just really depend on one’s personal musical preference that will determine what you will like or not on El Existential. Know that there truly is something for everyone on El Existential. For those of you who don’t listen to Latin music or have not heard Grupo Fantasma before, El Existential is the album for you. For current Grupo Fantasma fans, this is the record you have been waiting for.

Preview the song "El Consejo" below.