With plans to pulverize the free world with so-called “next level beats”, South Africa’s Die Antwoord encapsulates quite possibly the best and worst of pop music for the summer of 2010. The trio, whose name is Afrikaans for “the answer”, orchestrates an in-your-face attack with explicit lyrics layered with electro, rasta, gangsta rap, and Top 40 influences. An implosion of pop culture so delicious it can’t be ignored, 5 is the crew’s first American release and follows a stream of nutty videos released under a slew of names, most famously of the character “Max Normal” and his pen-and-ink creations. “Enter the Ninja” is a galvanizing fight song and “Fish Paste” plunders an innocuous Mariah Carey sample and a heady dose of M.I.A.-style attitude.

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“I thought it was the apocalypse,” says Diplo. That is how the Grammy-nominated DJ/producer describes attending a baile funk party in Rio de Janeiro, a culture and city he immersed himself in to film his documentary, Favela On Blast. There — “at the end of the world” — the pavement gave way to dirt paths even the police feared crossing; a redheaded man holding a machine gun stood next to his Black brother, while another man wired the electricity for a congregation decked out with a hefty sound-system.
     According to Diplo (whose real name is Wesley Pentz), baile funk developed on its own without a guiding hand from the record industry. During a 2004 Hollertronix show in Philadelphia, two Argentine girls handed him a cassette. “It was like a Smiths record looped up, like an 80s record, a little kid screaming over the top and heavy bass drums and all this surface noise,” Diplo recalls. “I thought it was the best music I had ever heard.” With no information on the hybrid of heavy metal and Miami bass readily available in these early days of the Internet, Diplo headed to Brazil to conduct his own investigative research. Once he was initiated into the often dangerous and drug-laden scene, he felt as if the blend of people coming together made it seem like “all the things bad in the world — European colonization, African immigration, and the industrial revolution — were all set right.”
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Mayor Bloomberg proclaimed this week “Latin Alternative Week” and there’s a lot to be excited about. For eleven years and counting, artists, journalists, industry personnel, and fans have convened throughout New York City for a peek at what’s next from international stars and newcomers alike during the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC). Expect performances from hip hop and rap artists like Ana Tijoux and Los Rakas (stream below); electronic artists like Nortec Collective Presents Bostich+Fussible, The Pinker Tones (stream below), El Guincho, and Toy Selectah; and rock veterans Maldita Vecindad — at venues such as Central Park Summerstage and the Bowery Ballroom. Santa Monica’s adored KCRW radio station, a media sponsor, and DJ Raul Campos will be broadcasting live sessions. Panel discussions will address topics ranging from the future of digital music to touring to the role of labels today.

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Buy this album at iTunes. To get your baile on, visit latinalternative.com for schedules, including where to find free shows.

Chris Stafford was ten years old when Feufollet formed and the dusty troubadour has returned thirteen years later with the well-seasoned and magnetic En Couleurs. Navigating the waters from childhood musicianship to that of maturing adult is treacherous, but add to that critical acclaim for 2008’s Cow Island Hop and the result could be lackluster. However, the Lafayette, Louisiana-based band geared up to color outside the lines and freed their creative gusto on a slew of original songs. For a band with a reputation rooted in traditional Cajun music, there is nothing staid about En Couleurs with its breezy blend of folk, country, and indie rock. Feufollet, literally translates to “crazy fire” but the band prefers the colloquial “will o’ the wisp” for its amorphous meaning.

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With their wild combinations of dance music, hip-hop, 8-bit sounds, and clever conflations, the Pinker Tones produce a globetrotting soundtrack for modern life. Whether kitschy, serious, or fun loving, Modular is a pastiche of perspectives and moods. But nothing is ever totally straightforward with the Barcelona-based trio, who welcome drummer Robert Guibiaqui on their fourth studio album. The surprisingly strong voices of Profesor Manso and Mr. Furia belie their respective backgrounds as producers, while riotous chant-a-long choruses balance the melancholia of long flights and the ecstasy of mixing things up.

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There is nothing lame about meeting bandmates online. Just ask the members of New York-based quintet Freelance Whales. When they connected in early 2008, no one could have predicted the group would bring to life a tidy patchwork of finger-plucked indie-folk tunes stitched with twangy banjos and sewn with whimsical glockenspiel notes. Frontman Judah Dadone is the haunted romantic, but the quiet mood of Weathervanes is not so much about a broken heart as it is about a deeper sense of loss. The wordsmith was inspired by his childhood home (which he believes he shared with a female ghost) and regressive dreams of that time in his life. Sometimes his lyrics are tongue-in-cheek, like on the track “Location” (“No one sees you in your pixilated fishnets / And your black and orange barrettes”, he sings, addressing a ghost), but they are always cloaked with innocuous charm. Dadone trades lead vocal duty with Doris Cellar to bring to life the boy/girl relationship. Together their vocals call from the physical realm and yearn for a response from the ethereal. Kevin Read, Jacob Hyman, and Chuck Criss round out the group and inject a subtle rock influence to the trembling “Broken Horse” and frolicking “We Could be Friends”, adroitly resisting the threat of an overly saccharine debut. Playing with ghosts has never been so worthwhile.

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Mexico’s treasured Nortec Collective is a puzzle with a myriad of individual musicians and artists pieced together to create a larger masterpiece. One of these pieces is Jorge Verdin, better known as Clorofila. Harnessing the Nortec sound without sounding like another Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3 is no small feat, considering the accolades showered on the 2005 release, but Verdin is up to the challenge. Though known as a graphic artist — he has a degree in design, after all — Verdin has been recording so-called “weird sounds” since he was a kid. Whereas the collective traditionally draws on the norteno sound, on his corridos — which are popular folkloric songs about gangsters and drugs — Clorofila presents a banda blowout loaded with bass and brassy notes. As a hidden saxophone jabs through the soundscape, string arrangements ease into 8-bit sounds before giving way to accordion squeezes for an invigorating pastiche of tracks.

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Emcees Goyo, husband Tostao, and brother Slow claim Colombia’s oft-overlooked Pacific coast as home and their positive energy easily translates to themes of greater unity on Oro, the trio’s U.S. debut. Synthesizing two releases, from 2007 and 2009, that are available only in their native nation, Oro incorporates many styles, demonstrating the dexterity of this trio — not to mention the excellent production from honorary Colombian Richard Blair (of Sidestepper) and Ivan Benevides. Just crank the dubby first single “De Donde Vengo Yo” and these well-seasoned emcees reveal a hidden Colombian rhythm. The dance-floor bangers of cumbia are traded in for the funky raga behind Goyo’s velvety smooth delivery on “Alguien Como Tu” and the spitfire rhymes of the piano-driven “Pescao Envenenao”. Choc Quib Town champions a localized sound layered with global influences, and Oro, like golden honey, hits a sweet spot.

After the jump, check out the video for “De Donde Vengo Yo”.

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