“Take a sensual musical trip to Spain…Invite some friends over, press play, serve up sangria and laugh, sing and dance into the early hours.” Whether or not a fruity-wine fueled party was the precursor or result of Spanish music, it’s clear that after listening to the lively, full-bodied sounds on the disc that the country’s people know how to enjoy themselves.

Much of the music collected for the mix refers to a strong flamenco-based sound, though there is a variety of ways that it is introduced to the listener. Carlos Jean’s “Mira Pa’ Dentro” fluently absorbs its surroundings, including subtle breakdowns that reflect a Western influence, while experimenting with a somewhat slowed flamenco that generally sounds like a beefy gourmet coffee house soundtrack. There is pop, there is funk and there are ballads but everything within mirrors a sound and energy that any outsider would expect to find within.

Los Delinqientes “La Primavera Trompetera”: The group, whom little English-based content is published on throughout the internet, play in a (you guessed it) flamenco-rich acoustic style that also uses rich group-chant throughout its songs (of which there are a few kicking around on YouTube and the group’s MySpace site).

Hevia “Busindra Reel”: The one thing I never imagined to hear on a compilation teeming with Spanish music was a set of bagpipes. The sound of this song is reminiscent to that of the electronic group Delirium, but after researching the history behind the artist the sound is given a context like no other. José Ángel Hevia Velasco was part of the team that invented a set of electronic bagpipes, the brand he uses in recording and during his live performances. I had no idea such an instrument even existed.

Los Delinqientes “La Primavera Trompetera”
Hevia “Busindra Reel”

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