B (3:24)

Yeah.

C (3:24)

But the vocal production, Absolutely. I hear it. I think the softness and those harmonies, the way he layers her vocals, that has Luz all over it for sure.

B (3:33)

That's what you know, I had a chance to hang out with Steve Berlin a little bit more a couple weeks ago at this Hispanic heritage thing. And every time Los Lobos come to town, you know, he has these really, what we say, big ears. He just listens to everything. He's got a lot of production credit under his belt, and he just mixes all these different sounds, just different influences, and it's always distinct. I don't know that he has a certain sound, but it's always distinct, and it's always very, very creative. And in this case, he won an Image award for this film soundtrack. The film, again, is called A Little Family Drama. The track is called La Marea. It features Mirea Ramos and from the band Making Movies. That's my opening shot. What do you got?

C (4:16)

All right, I'm gonna drop it way, way, way, way down. I'm gonna drop the house light slow. This is a Spanish artist named Teo Planel that I've been following for a little bit. This song is called El Mundo de Lance, and it's off of his debut album, Damien.

B (5:51)

Yes, go on.

C (5:53)

And that's all.

B (5:53)

I'm so intrigued.

C (5:55)

So, like I said, Spanish producer who's having one of these moments of working on his own project. He's worked a lot on, as you might guess, because all roads lead back to my man Alvaro Quitarrique de la Fuente. He's worked on his project.

B (6:10)

Oh, my God.

C (6:12)

And this is his first actual album that he's putting out. He's one of these artists where it's like, I go through my phone, I'm like, oh, I actually have, like, 10 saved songs from him that feel very disparate. They don't necessarily feel super connected. And so I don't think I kind of put the dots together until I heard this debut album that's about to come out. The song itself that I brought, really interesting to me. It's, like, very thematically rich. It's El Muno de Lanted, which means the world before you. Apparently, it's a biblical reference, or can be. It's built around this idea, this biblical reference that, like, God has given you possession of the world, and you must take it without fear. And he kind of moves through in the flow of the song, almost like unraveling this idea a little bit, but obviously through a bit more of, like, a romantic lens. Just gorgeous. I heard, like, the first two seconds of it, and the second his voice comes in, it's so, like, it's. It's one of those that's just like completely in the clear. Full of the guts, the soul, the heart. It's all right there. Everything else is gorgeous. The production, to me is amazing, but it's that sound of so much of him in that voice. I do want to play you one other song that I love from him, and it's called Como Pensarte Mal.

D (7:26)

Como Pensarte Mal.

B (8:31)

I'm already thinking about which other albums I could put this on a playlist.

C (8:37)

That's when, you know, when Felix is thinking about a. Let me think. Who would you pair him with?

B (8:46)

You know, the Draco Rosa album I played a few weeks ago during my healing session. Or even actually, you know, Bruce Springsteen, N.E. album came out in the.

C (8:58)

There's another album that you're gonna want to pair it with that's not out yet that I'm gonna play you in a couple weeks.

B (9:03)

And then I. So I should wait?

C (9:05)

Yes.

B (9:05)

Okay.

C (9:06)

Yes, you should wait. You should wait. That was El Mundo de Lantedetti and Como Pensar Tmal by Teo Planel. Okay, Felix.

B (9:26)

Okay. Another chapter in my obsession with Latinos who sing country music. Okay. Latinos and Latinas who sing country music. This is a band called Ramona and the Holy Smokes. This track is called Esta Erida. The album's coming out September 26th. The single is out today on the 24th. This is Ramona and the Holy Smokes. This is Spanish language. Honky tonk. Check it out.

D (10:43)

I adore you. You're the reason for my life. I'm nothing without you.

C (10:53)

That sounds so weird in English.

B (10:56)

What? Mi amor.

C (10:58)

It's like the translation of the. It's like, oh, it makes perfect sense to me in Spanish. And then all of a sudden it's like, my life is nothing without you. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

B (11:07)

That's a reflection of the. Of the. How poetic Spanish can be on the music. Right? Okay, so here's the deal. I got to give. First of all, full disclosure. Ramona Martinez, the namesake of Ramona and the Holy Smokes. She's a former NPR employee and she worked here for a while. She played. She worked in the news department. We played in bands together while she was here in D.C. we had an in house band that she played a little bit with. It was mostly R and B. She's a great, great bass player. I also did a couple jazz gigs with her. Her playing her stand up bass when she lived here in the D.C. area. So I have to give that full disclosure because I'm familiar with her as a Musician. She has this really broad palette of stuff. She likes to listen to a lot of different things, and I've been keeping track of her. She's left. She left NPR a while back, and she's been making music down in the Richmond, Virginia, area. And she sends me her stuff now and then. And when she started sending me these early Ramona and the Holy Smoke tracks, I'm like, oh, my God, this is so cool. I've seen her a couple of times here in D.C. and she does. Like she does in this song. She does Volver. Volver and Honky Tonk style, right? The great mariachi classic. And I just noticed right now when I'm listening on headphones, that it's. She has a very. Her voice is different than when she sings in English, right? It's slightly deeper. So I texted her a while back, and it's something that I just sort of accepted that this is what she's doing. And I never really asked her why. And I texted her, and I want to read you her text. Okay. She says, the Honky Tonk life chose me. I didn't grow up listening to it, but discovered it as an adult. And once I started writing my own material, it just came out in that three chords, in the truth kind of way. So that's like. That's. That's where the inspiration come from. Her dad is from Corpus Christi, the same time where Selena was born and grew up. But it's not near the border, so there's a lot of Tejano influence in Texas. She didn't grow up in Texas. She didn't grow up speaking Spanish. She grew up in. I think it was here in Virginia. And this is one of those instances that fascinates me and how Latino culture sort of dispersed into the broader culture and how it all comes together in the end. And really, really great, great music. She has, I think, one Spanish language track on her album, and the rest of it's all English, and it's tales of heartbreak. It's Honky Tonk. It's got a great steel guitar player, great band, great rhythm section. This particular track, that mix of conjunto, you can hear accordion, you can hear bajo sexto type part and then still guitar. I'm all for that, man. I'm there for it.

C (13:47)

It's always interesting to me, too, when you have, like, such an explicit mashup of two genres in this kind of way, right? Like, there's all different types of music where we see people, you know, including instrumentation from a certain genre or you see people including certain themes, but this is like a full. No, this is like country with some conjunto, that type of thing. And it's like, where do you borrow the messaging from? Right? Because country has its own brand of how they sing heartbreak and how they sing loss and how they sing love. And so it's like, is she pulling that from the countryside? Is she pulling that from the Mexican side? And it's like its own study, you know what I mean? And how we feel these things and where we pull from. And specifically the English and the Spanish thing all the time. I love to hear how artists change. I mean, it's basically like anyone who speaks two languages, I'm told all the time I have different personalities depending on which language I'm talking in. And when you hear it in the music, it's like more distilled, right? Like how they'll open up more vocally in Spanish, let's say. Or they'll sing louder or harder or softer or whatever. So it's really like an interesting experiment always to see it side by side in one song.

B (15:01)

Okay. I wasn't going to do this, but I think I need to. Let's hear a little bit of her singing in English in this honky tonk thing. And this is called I Want yout To Be My Man.

D (15:11)

Hello, stranger. It's nice to meet you My name's Ramona, and this here's my band. Well, do you wanna spend our lives together? I want you to be my man I wanna take you to the movies and in the darkness hold your hand I wanna be there Someone who loves you and I want you to be my man I wanna get.

B (16:01)

I hear a difference in Spanish. It's a little deeper. It's a little bit more resonant. And it might be because that's maybe the mariachi style, as opposed to a honky tonk country. The honky tonk is sort of like a rebellious country thing, right? So it's got a different flavor. I think it works both cases. Not just because I know her and, you know, I played with her. I just. Again, it's part of the whole Latino and Latinas who sing country thing. It just fascinates me. I'm all there for it, man. We just heard two tracks from Ramona and the Holy Smokes. Their album is coming out on September 26th. Check it out. Okay, where are we? We should take a break.

C (16:44)

We should take a break. And we're taking a break.

B (16:46)

One break. This is us taking a break.

D (16:48)

Oh, I want you to be my man.

A (16:58)

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B (19:01)

Okay, we're back with more new music. Think it's your turn.

C (19:05)

Okay, so this album came out in 2024, but I found it last week so it's new to me. The artist is named Lorea, also a Spanish artist. I did decide to just put all my Spaniards back to back. She's from the north of Spain, kind of near Santander Rioja region. And this is a so called Semevala cabeza de Traste.

B (20:25)

You see me.

C (20:31)

So I've been on a little bit of a campaign maybe the past year or two years. You've probably heard me complain about this, Felix. I keep saying there's been a couple like pretty well acclaimed albums specifically in the Latin space that I have been less than impressed with. That kind of pull from a lot of similar sounds to this one. I keep saying everyone's just trying to survive on vibes. These Days like a vibe is not a genre and it's not a style of music. But when I heard this artist, Lorea from Spain, I was really impressed by the intentionality of the sounds that she's using. It's like she places this concept here. It's pretty simple. Se me vala cabeza de traste, which is like, my mind is going crazy after you. And then every single sound, it's like this repetitive concept, and every single sound she layers beat by beat by beat throughout. The song just works for me as a way to explore a different facet of that experience. Right. And so I think the way that she lays it up just feels like it. It makes sense, and it feels like something that it's. It's. Every sound is supposed to be there and has its own purpose and has its own feeling of high and low and emotion and kind of like whips you in different directions, but in a very subtle way. So I'm really impressed by this artist. I want to play you one more song off of this album.

B (21:56)

I'm looking forward to it.

C (21:57)

It's called Mi Alma sobre la Mesa.

D (22:16)

Sam.

C (22:55)

Poetry.

B (22:55)

You did it again. You turned me on a team. New artist.

C (22:59)

She's perfect. That was Se tras de y mi almas obre la Mesa by Lorea.

B (23:08)

Okay. Not exactly Whiplash, but very, very different genre. Okay.

C (23:14)

What? Okay, sure. What's the difference between Whiplash and very different genre?

B (23:19)

Felix, it's not jarring.

C (23:21)

Okay.

B (23:21)

All right. I'm gonna play a track from an album that's called Tribute to Benny Morre and Nat King Cole. It's by the pianist Gonzalo Rubel Cava, with the saxophonist Yanir Horta and Joey Calvado. Interesting concept. The album's beautiful. There's a little bit of history to it. I'll tell you about it later. This is the track. So it's. It's the Latin standard, right? It's very, very popular. So the idea behind the album is an imaginary meeting between Benny Moray and Nat King Cole. Benny Moray was and remains one of the most popular Cuban big band vocalists of all time. He recorded the 1940s and 50s. Nat King Cole was a crooner here in the United States. Very well known, deep, rich voice on mellow tunes, usually with lush strings. Incredibly popular. An early American crossover to the mainstream. Curiously, in 1958, he recorded an album of Spanish Latin standards which the record company would thought would appeal to a whole new audience. Okay, there's 58. Right. So what they did was they recorded all the tracks in, in Havana at Graham Studios in the legendary studios. Bebo Valdez was actually the arranger and, and a piano player and so they brought him back to the United States and then Nat King Cole sang over them. And you know, he recorded his vocals here in Los Angeles. He didn't even try the accent, you know, it was like he didn't speak Spanish. He sort of learned it phonetically. I'm going to play a little bit of that same song.

C (25:53)

I somehow remember you talking about this.

B (25:55)

Yeah, I want to play a little bit of that same song. His version of Quiz Sas. Check this out. Okay, so you get the idea, right? Even, I mean, I don't know if it makes people cringe now because it's just so not spoken properly, but Anna, these records were so popular throughout Latin America.

C (26:50)

So funny.

B (26:50)

It opened up a whole new audience. It's like the 1958 equivalent of going viral. So popular. They did three more Mascoline Espanol. I forget the other name. Like they did a total of three albums. They were so popular despite the fact they didn't speak Spanish. So it says something a little bit about the record industry at that time, but also maybe the, the. The appetite in Latin America and Spanish speaking countries for American artists because Nat King Cole was, he was good looking guy, very smooth, very cool. He was very, very mainstream. So it's an interesting. I don't know that anyone's ever written about that, but it's an interesting cross fertilization of African American culture, mainstream pop culture and just Latin American standards. That's just the Nat King Cole side. On the other side of this album is an exploration of Benny Morris popularity. The album is fantastic. Every track is just incredibly executed and it's got this rich story behind it. And I love the concept of maybe, what if Benny Moray and Nat King Cole had ever met up. And this is. Might have. This might be what it sounds like. The album is called Tribute to Benny More and Nat King Cole. It's Gonzalo Rub Alcaba with Yarner Horta and Joey Calvo. The track we heard was Kisas Kasas. Kisas Cha Cha Cha. Okay, your turn.

C (28:19)

So my third and final, actually I guess technically fifth and final song, right, would be from the Dominican duo Martoks. I did actually Issa brought on a song from them a couple weeks ago, but you weren't here, which I think gives me the right to bring it.

B (28:36)

On and bring it again.

C (28:37)

Now you're here because their album is releasing at the end of this week. They're a duo that I'm absolutely in love with. Very Caribbean, beautiful sound, blends all the things that I love. So this is a song off of their new album. We get a special preview and it's called Enganchao de Ti.

B (29:53)

Like this idea of going out on a, a jauntier tune.

C (29:59)

Depressive.

B (30:01)

Well, everything was slow, everyone. Everything was pretty slow.

C (30:04)

As I was listening to this right now, I was like, wow, there's actually a suit super thematic through line with Depresso Lorea song Se me vaca ve se de trace de ti. It's just like a totally different energy completely. So, yes, I snuck in another track from Martox. Again, an amazing duo from the Doctor have been on the production side. They're really doing well with their own music. They've been nominated for a couple things and I think this next album is really gonna do some great things for them. The singles are already I'm already hearing them on the dance floors in Puerto Rico. So, you know, that's when you know that was Enganchao de Ti by Martox.

B (30:43)

You have been listening to Haute Latino from NPR Music. Our audio producers this week are Danica Panetta and Noah Caldwell.

C (30:50)

Executive producer of NPR Music is Soraya Muhammad.

B (30:53)

I'm Felix Contreras.

C (30:54)

And I'm Ana Maria Sayer. Thank you for listening.

A (31:20)

This message comes from NPR Sponsor 1Password Secure access to your online world, from emails to banking, so you can protect what matters most with 1Password. For a free 2 week trial, go to 1Password.com NPR this message comes from.

E (31:37)

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