- A new compilation series showcases talent from across Latin America.
- Planisferios Sonoros is a new compilation series from Peruvian label Moray Discs, meant to showcase dance music from Latin America and encourage collaboration and communication across its different local scenes. The aim is to value Latin American electronic music, whose denizens often feel underrepresented in the the global scene, on its own terms. This first volume, with six producers from Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil, is an eclectic but remarkably consistent record that makes good on the premise.
What's most noticeable on first listen is how bold and polished everything sounds: from hypnotic techno to bumping electro, this is fulsome dance music with strong melodies and hefty drum sounds. The opener, from Colombia's Junn, has a jagged bassline that sounds like a boulder tumbling down a cliffside. Its roughly-hewn edges contrast the woozy, warped melodies in the background, lending a distinctly three-dimensional depth.
The psychedelic acid leads on "Saft," from Chile's Qasio, and the tumble-dry rhythm of Niño Arbol's "Incertidumbre" are almost as ear-catching. As is the tough EBM thrust of Inteligencia Pesimista's "Veneno (Fals9 mix)," which sounds like layers of sheet metal being fused together then torn apart.
For my money, the two electro tracks are the choice cuts, presenting the genre in two distinct flavours. Trópico Frío's "Interstellar Favella" is suitably astral, with its tripped-out sci-fi synths, while Mati Mielniczuck's "Sueño Espectro" lands somewhere closer to Detroit, with the brittle sounds that defined the early Underground Resistance records. A great introduction to some talented artists, Planisferios Sonoros crosses national borders for a united Latin American front showing a bustling scene in rude health.
Tracklist01. Junn - Luz de Luna
02. Mati Mielniczuck - Sueño Espectro
03. Niño Arbol - Incertidumbre
04. Qasio - Saft
05. Trópico Frío - Interstellar Favela
06. Inteligencia Pesimista - Veneno (fals9 Mix)