Can anyone recommend some good Latin American or Spanish rock music? All I can find through Amazon is waaay too Latin-tinged for me. What I mean by that is it’s chock full of horns and salsa rhythm/pacing and so on. Hard to describe, I know. I used to think I could get into almost anything but country, but now I know I need to add tejano to that list. What I’m looking for isn’t as much Latin cultural music as much as American/British/European style rock with Spanish vocals. Something like a Mexican Tool, or a Spanish Fugazi, or an Argentinian Queens of the Stone Age. Or just Spanish language, American style indie rock. Does anyone know any good artists?
This site has a good compilation of Spanish artists:
I’m partial to Heroes del Silencio myself.
Hope that helps.
Moltov…good old fashined Mexican punk rock.
Hm…doesn’t Ill Nino do some?
Maná is sometimes called the Latin Pearl Jam.
My favorites, as a mexican (rock lover) -not necessarily a (mexican rock) lover-, are:
Aurora y la Academia (Aurora and the Academy)
Bacilos (Bacillus)
Botellita de Jerez (Little Bottle of Sherry) -R.I.P.
Café Tacuba (Cafe Tacuba)
El Tri (The Tri) (formerly: Three Souls In My Mind, in english)
Enanitos Verdes (Little Green Dwarfs)
Fobia (Phobia) -R.I.P.
Genitallica (parody name of Metallica)
Heroes del Silencio (Heroes of Silence)
Hombres G (G Men) -R.I.P.
Jaguares (Jaguars)
Jarabe de Palo (Stick Syrup)
Kenny y los Eléctricos (formerly: Kenny and the Electrics, in english)
La Ley (The Law)
La Unión (The Union)
Los Amantes de Lola (Lola’s Lovers) -R.I.P.
Los Toreros Muertos (Dead Bullfighters) -R.I.P.
Los Tres (The Three)
Maldita Vecindad y los Hijos del Quinto Patio (Cursed Neighborhood and the Children of the Fifth Patio)
Maná (Manna)
Mecano -R.I.P.
Molotov
Neón (Neon) -R.I.P.
Panteón Rococó (Rococo Graveyard)
Radio Futura (Future Radio) -R.I.P.
Ritmo Peligroso (formerly: Dangerous Rythmm, in english) -R.I.P.
Soda Stereo
They’re not all, but I like them. Please notice that I had a lot of fun translating the names to english.
IANA Spanish language rock expert, but I have a suggestion:
Get the soundtrack to the movie Crazy/Beautiful - it starred Kirsten Dunst (MJ of Spiderman) as the directionless rich girl and Jay Hernandez as the overachieving Latino from the wrong side of the tracks in a love story. The movie, as far as that type goes, wasn’t too bad, but the soundtrack is very, very good.
Some of the music is straight ahead rock in English, but there is a nice sampling of rap, pop, etc. in Spanish or Spanglish. There is one song by the Pimps that is excellent - overall, a great overview of a few Spanish-language players…
Here is the link to the Amazon listing, but I disagree with the critic’s review - the album is more consistently good than he thinks…
[SIZE=4][SIZE=4]El Control Machete![/SIZE][/SIZE]
I’ll have you know that I’ve been playing “Si Senor” for friends for four years, LONG before Amores Perros or Levis commercials.
I second Control Machete.
I like a lot of Spanish language rock (Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Soda Stereo, Los Piojos) but Control Machete’s Artilleria Pesada album is one of my all-time favorites, in English or Spanish.
No way,
They’re a good band, but they sound almost exactly like
The Police.
Generally speaking, Latin pop is crap, with some noteworthy exceptions like Carlos Vives, Shakira, pretty much anyone colombian.
Good Spanish Rock?
The problem is that our modern music styles are based on our folk styles. So are theirs, so anything you get is going to have latin sounding roots, or fake american sounding roots.
In Mexico, parents and kids listen to much of the same music, and they like it.
Molotov sounded interesting, if a bit primitive by american standards.
Brujeria, if you’re in to that sort of thing.
“Los Rabanes” are an awesome Panamanian punk-ska-salsa-whatever band, try to find their songs “Money” and “Senorita a mi me Gusta su Style.”
“King Chango” is a fantastic NYC band in a similiar vein, a little harder and more frenetic.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned “Los Fabulosos Cadillacs”, though they’re arguably not exactly “rock.”
For hip-hop, check out the Cuban “Los Orishas.”
Oops, didn’t see you there, NFlanders.
And for San Francisco ska-salsa-party-whatever, there’s Los Mocosos. In fact one of their songs is about being a ‘skalsero’ (as in ska+salsa player). Definitely horns and Latin rhythms, but also ska sounds, an occaisonal bit of hip-hop, some rock (they cover ‘Drink the Wine’), etc. About 60/40 English/Spanish lyrics.
Los Amigos Invisibles from I believe Columbia are fairly rock-ish, I think, though haven’t listened to them in a bit.
You could also check out Babaloo, the best punk mambo band in the world. The beat is pretty latin/African most of the time (when they’re not trying to do Hawaiian or cheesy ska or whatever), but not unapproachably so, and they have the punk attitude down, plus lyrics in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Swahili. Often all in the same song. I’m pretty sure you can get some sample MP3s from their web site.
And if you can get a hold of the old-school punk soundtrack to “Repo Man” (hey if you listen to Fugazi, you’d probably like it), there’s a great spanish cover of ‘Secret Agent Man’ on it.
Yeah, I’ve got Control Machete’s Artilleria Pesada: Presente, it’s definitely good stuff. I haven’t had as much of a problem finding Mexican hip hop as I have indie rock. Although last night I came across a band called Babasonicos, and they seem to be pretty good. That led me to Resorte and then Pastilina Mosh, which seem to be not bad either. Thanks for all the other artists, guys, I’m looking into them as we speak!
Los Fabulosos Cadillacs - Argentina’s Sublime.
Check out the album “Fabulosos Calavera”.
El Vez - The Mexican Elvis
Ozomatli is also a good band, from California. Cumbia de los muertos is one of my favorite songs from them.
Manu Chao is another good rock-ska-reggae-whatever artist you should check out. In the 80’s he was in a band called Mano Negra, very famous throughout Latin America. Now he’s in a group called Radio Bemba, also good. If you want to sample all the different styles he does, get Radio Bemba Sound System. It includes songs from both his Mano Negra and his Radio Bemba periods.
Juanes is one of the most recent singers. I really like his songs A Dios le pido and Nada.
Here is a previous thread about Spanish rock.
This also mentions some upbeat songs, both pop and rock.
Last one has information about La gusana ciega, another rock group.
I really like songs from Los Rabanes previous albums, the last single from the new one is not as good… not so upbeat and ska, but more mainstream rock… what made them fun was their songs… I really like the one Se murió Manuela.
Another group similar to Mecano is Presuntos Implicados, you can check them too.
Aterciopelados is another rock group from Colombia.
I can add three songs I heard when I was away in Spain a few years ago and watched a Spanish music video channel plenty.
El Canto Del Loco - Vivir Asi Es Morir De Amor
This was the best Spanish language song I heard that week, and had a great animated video to boot. I think it’s actually a cover of a much slower love song.
Porretas - Pongamos Que Hablo De Madrid
Spanish-language punk pop. They were riding up and down escalators in the video.
Hank - La Cancion Del 6
Another Spanish-language pop-rock song.
The best Spanish band I know of is Dover–a superb female-fronted heavy rock band. But–they sing in English.
Try Caifanes (El Silencio was produced by Adrian Belew, and he guested on it too!).
unclviny
I love Los Tres, saw them live in Chile. I wish they were still making new albums. Also count me in on Soda Stereo. Hanging around my apartment, but it’s been so long since I’ve listened to the CD’s that I forgot I had them and don’t even remember the sound, are Los Miserables and Los Jaivas (they are little folky but still quite good)
Also Chilean, but I am not sure if they ever ‘made it’, are Ludwig Band and Huaika. The Ludwig Band is more of blues/jazz sound and Huaika, well I am lost as how to describe it, but I would pay good money to have something other than a now destroyed demo tape of theirs. I might have to go research if and where I could buy a CD of theirs.
You have inspired me to start listening to their stuff again. I loved all of these bands live and I normally HATE concerts