The echoes of the new season are here! And it’s coming with a refreshing string of record releases that we’re really excited about. From the highly anticipated albums by magical Latin singer-songwriters like iLe and Silvana Estrada to the return of exquisite futuristic beatmakers like Stavroz and Fulgeance. Recently, we were even treated to two albums we’d been eagerly awaiting: Live at Thalia Hall by LA LOM and Cerca del Lugar by Pahua. Well, they’re no strangers: both the Mexican singer-songwriter and the Los Angeles band have been artistic icons of the sonic trends that move us for several years now.
Live at Thalia Hall captured the charming sparkle and retro vibe that LA LOM manages to convey in their live performances. Recorded in a historic Chicago concert hall, the trio’s setlist combines original songs with wonderful retellings of Colombian, Peruvian, and Mexican cumbia. For its part, Cerca del Lugar is the latest from Pahua, Paulina Sotomayor’s solo project. It’s a succulent blend of different sounds, styles, textures, and rhythms, all in divine service to her songs. Pahua lends substance and spirituality to a second album as accomplished as it is elevated in every sense.
iLe – Como Las Canto Yo
This was already known: the fourth studio album by iLe would be a total tribute to bolero. Como Las Canto Yo is a selection of classics that the Puerto Rican singer has appropriated and breathed new life into. It’s not something new for her: bolero has always been present in that quest to fuse genres that has revealed her as one of the most talented and outstanding artists in Latin alternative music of the last decade. In fact, there’s “Traguito”, that feminist bolero with Mon Laferte from her previous album, 2022’s Nacarile. It’s also not by chance that she sings on the two volumes of Boleros Psicodélicos by Adrian Quesada. iLe carries the legacy of bolero from its origins: her father listened to it when she was a child. But it’s also where she often takes refuge to heal her sorrows, a sacred space at the intersection of tradition and avant-garde, from roots sounds to combative hip-hop, from tropical rhythms to electronic beats, from anti-colonialist stances to exposing toxic relationships.
“I dreamed about recording this album since I was about 13,” iLe confessed. “I’ve always loved boleros, especially when I was a teen. At home we listened to a lot of salsa and rock, but my father introduced me to these brutal songs about unrequited love affairs that connected fully with the drama of my own adolescence. I loved the passion of boleros.” Co-produced by iLe with Ismael Cancel, Como Las Canto Yo explains it all in its title: this is how she sings boleros, how she conveyed those feelings, how she understood them and, above all, how she enjoys singing them.The first single was “Un Amor De La Calle”, a bolero written by Orlando Brito and popularized by fellow Puerto Rican Héctor Lavoe in 1975. Now it’s the turn of “Si Te Contara”, a standard of the genre written in the 1950s by Cuban Félix Reina. “Most people associate boleros with sophisticated orchestrations. But when you go out in the streets, you also see them being performed with guitars. I wanted the album to have that bohemian, streetwise energy. There’s something gritty and aggressive about those guitar textures. Boleros are passionate and direct, and that was precisely my mood as I was making the album. Some of the tracks were done in a single take.”
Silvana Estrada – Vendrán Suaves Lluvias
In just a few years, Silvana Estrada has gone from being that new artist to keep on the radar to establishing herself as an already admired singer-songwriter. And it wasn’t so much the Latin GRAMMY nominations, but rather the kind of emotional gravity that places Estrada among Latin America’s most vital contemporary voices. That’s why we got excited at the end of May this year, when the single “Como Un Pájaro” came out: it was the first sign of a new album on the way, the successor to 2022’s Marchita. Announced for October 17, Vendrán Suaves Lluvias was gradually revealed thanks to more delicate folk songs that anticipated it: “Lila Alelí”, “Dime” and “No Te Vayas Sin Saber”. With a brighter, more hopeful sound, this album unfolds a collage of textures and sounds, from the Venezuelan cuatro and trumpet to the harp and pedal steel, with significant contributions in the orchestral arrangements, from the renowned Owen Pallet to longtime collaborator Roberto Verástegui.
Vendrán Suaves Lluvias was recorded between Montreal, Barcelona, and Mexico City, and its title is inspired by “There Will Come Soft Rains”, a 1918 poem by Sara Teasdale — a literary reference that alludes to crying, as a state of transition toward healing. It’s definitely an album about resilience and rebirth for Silvana Estada. “The songs were born little by little, some during the pandemic, others more recently. They reflect my search to find myself and my vital energy. This project was born from trying to turn discomfort into hope, to continue seeing the light despite the anger,” explained the Veracruz-born singer-songwriter.
Fulgeance – Drunk Funk
It’s not easy to keep track of Pierre Troel, the real name of the French artist known mainly as Fulgeance. He has many aliases, which means he has many different projects: Souleance, Claude and Peter Digital Orchestra — in addition to Fulgeance, of course. He runs his own independent label, Musique Large, but has also produced and released music on Ed Bangers, All City, and Cascade Records, among others. You also have to keep up with his prolific output: he released an album, ROUNDS, at the end of April this year, while he now announces another album, Drunk Funk, for late October. “What’s better than having a drink in a low-light smoky studio playing each instruments one by one and composing an intimate soundtrack and feel free to speak about life, drinks, sex and other pleasures from this world”, rhetorically states the press release of this 24-track conceptual album, with a cassette release along with a flask of fine vodka by an eco-friendly brewery-distillery.
A devotee of analog synthesizers, old drum machines, and MPC microsamples, Fulgeance takes a brief break from the unstable, circular house he showcased on ROUNDS. His mission here is to unleash more organic, groove-filled rhythms and catchy, jazzy basslines. Of course, the synth layers are still there. Drunk Funk is another trippy soundtrack, driven by his vision of club funk, but also with express homages to the effervescence of disco music, the sweatiest soul, the pioneering samples of hip-hop, and the first space flights of electronic music. Fulgeance’s new record revolves around funk, in every way — enough funk to get drunk on, as the title suggests. With refined production and a charming sense of nostalgia, this 24-track album also reveals influences such as Lalo Schifrin, Herbie Hancock, Parliament, and, more recently, Surprise Chef and El Michel’s Affair.
Stavroz – Take a Seat
You don’t have to travel from one place to another to go on a journey. It’s the kind of mind-bending, cinematic sonic adventure Stavroz has accustomed us to. The invitation says it all: Take a Seat. Once again, on a highly anticipated album, the Belgian quartet return ready to create atmospheric and emotionally resonant music, drawing on their ability to blend electronic and organic sounds, from downtempo beats to echoing arabesque guitars, from synth arpeggios to spiritual jazz-inflected saxophones. Take a Seat also brings back their organic approach to house music, allowing them to cook up slow-burning dance floors. IJsbrand De Wilde, Gert Beazar, Maxim Helincks, and Pieter De Meester bring us 14 new songs to clear our minds and put us in a pure state of musical enjoyment.
Originally from Ghent, Belgium, Stavroz formed in 2011 and has grown without losing sight of their creative focus, quietly building a global cult following. This is the manifesto of their fourth and new album: “Take a seat. Let it all sink in. Let your feet rest. Let your thoughts drift. Stavroz invites you to step away from the noise, from the scrolling, from the pre-packaged nonsense. To pause. To breathe. To remember how it feels to simply… wonder. This album is not a demand. It’s a suggestion. A space to imagine, to dream, to philosophize. No urgency. No algorithms. Just you and the music. The Belgian four-piece doesn’t shout for your attention. They whisper, hoping to spark something that was there all along. A little curiosity. A bit of silence. A moment from now. So take a seat. No need to skip ahead. Let the music guide your mind, one slow step at a time.”
Photo iLe – Credit X (@ilevitable)
