Traditional Latin dance music. I’m not really qualified to speculate on the quality of a Latin dance album, since I don’t even speak Spanish, but I did think this album was cool. I got the sense that I was sitting in a Latin nightclub listening to a live band in New York City, which is where this band plays most of its music.

Many tracks had intricate rhythms, and the singer is passionate and virtuosic. I suspect the lyrics are key to understanding this album, but, you know…Spanish. The flute is everywhere on this album and often gets nice solos. Also look for the violin, wood block, mambos, guitar, and trumpet.

What impressed me about this album was its attention to detail: the sudden violin tremolos, the flute riffs, the guitar countermelodies.

No FCCs. Recommended tracks: 1, 2, 8

1) “Azucar” (4:53): Great choppy violin in the beginning. Meant to be danced to.
2) “Desastre” (4:20): Means “disaster.” Slower, sultry. A song of lost love. Almost a James Bond feel, with a heavy dose of flute.
3) “Chano” (3:45): Lots of wood block here, which is cool.
4) “Papote’s Guajira” (6:56): A guajira is a rural Latin dance number. Slow and deliberate, with a long instrumental interlude.
5) “Convergencia” (3:54): Means “convergence.” Great flute solo. A song about the singer’s “primer amor,” or first love.
6) “Toma Tu Pilon” (4:05): Another dancey track.
7) “Tintorera” (3:24): Means “shark.” Flute and violin play in unison in the beginning. A little sparser and slower. I’m not entirely sure what is sharklike about it.
8) “Mami Me Gusto” (6:06): I love the beginning of this track: a rich, tightly controlled collaboration between the guitar and the drums. Very psychedelic guitar in the last few minutes.
9) “Cha-Cha Herzlia” (4:05): A very nice cha-cha, which goes down smooth. The flute really shines here. The only fully instrumental track.

--Mr. Tumnus