Posts under ‘music’

I’ve just discovered NPR’s Podcast Alt.Latino, which is devoted to alternative Latin music. With the growing market for Latin Alternativa music in the U.S., not to mention the burgeoning Latino population, it’s high time NPR started a program like this. The Podcast was launched in June, but I only found out about it this week. [...]

My favorite music genre is Alternative. For both English and Spanish. Below is a list of some Latin American bands that have released new music in 2010: Alex Cuba. The Cuban-Canadian folk-funk rocker released an album this year and in March won the Independent Music Award for Best World Music Artist. It’s no wonder he [...]

One of the things I like about visiting Latin America is the music that seems to be playing everywhere. When I was in Guatemala last week the soundtrack stayed the same whether I was riding in a chicken bus or something closer to a Greyhound. Now that I’ve been home for a few days, I’m [...]

As I’ve mentioned before, my favorite music genre is Alternative–in both English and Spanish. So for the 2010 Grammy Awards on Sunday the category I was focusing on was Best Latin Rock, Alternative, or Urban Album. As might be expected, it was rappers Calle 13 who walked away with the prize. (They came away from [...]

Eugene Hütz, the frontman for Gypsy-punk band Gogol Bordello was explaining  in an interview a few weeks ago why he believes the sound his band creates should be judged on its own terms. “For me, it was always known that Gypsy music can become a very much appreciated subculture. It was always marginalized in this [...]

Between them, Latin music stars Calle 13 and Juanes have won a boat load of Latin Grammy awards. Last month, the alt-hip hop duo Calle 13 won all five categories for which they were nominated. The more pop-oriented Juanes has won 17 Latin Grammys—more than any other artist. While their music differs, Calle 13 and [...]

Having spent most of my life in close proximity to cities, I’ve never acquired a taste for country music. But that hasn’t prevented by teenage daughter from doing so. With cross-over successes like Taylor Swift or former American Idol contestants such as Kellie Pickler on the radio, country music is finding its way onto more [...]

Cinco de Mayo was a bitter-sweet day this year. Sweet for all the usual reasons. Bitter because it was the final episode of the Neil Hohmann’s terrific Latin music podcast Ritmo Latino.  Neil has impeccable taste in music. Earlier this year he turned me onto a new podcast called “The Sounds in My Head.” It’s [...]

One of the silliest aspects of Kanye West’s rude interruption of of Taylor Swift’s VMA honors for best female video was that Beyonce wasn’t even nominated for the award Swift received. To make matters worse, Beyonce ended up winning the  best video category. Let’s hope everyone behaves themselves at the 10th annual Latin Grammy Awards [...]

Neil Hohman, the creator of the latin music podcast, Ritmo Latino announced that the May edition will be the last. This comes as a disappointment to Latin music fans who relied on Neil’s impeccable taste and encyclopedic knowledge of Latin American music. If you’re not familiar with this podcast, editions dating back to 2006 are [...]