As the days get closer to Christmas, record labels start pushing all their potential moneymakers to the forefront. Sometimes quality releases go unnoticed in the avalanche of greatest hits and blockbuster releases. Here is a reminder of some releases that you can find in our Latin Rock & Pop section for yourself and for future gifts for Christmas.

Aterciopelados' newest release, Rio, is their most focused release since 2001's classic, Gozo Poderoso. Filled with melodic vocals and soft Latin electronica beats, Aterciopelados explores their Colombian hippie side without sounding contrived. Life and the environment are the central themes of this album that link each song with the sound of a river flowing, rio/river...get it? Click here to watch a song from their Amoeba instore.

Rodrigo Y Gabriela, the surprise Flamenco hit of 2006, return with Live In Tokyo. Fans of the brother/sister duo claim that their strength comes from their live performances, including many Amoebites who witnessed their in store performance at Amoeba Hollywood two years ago. The release includes a DVD and a few new tunes for you to play air guitar to.

track                                         artists                                                    album title

Cumbia De Los Aburridos     Calle 13                                                 Residente o Vistante
Oración Acere                          Spam All-Stars                                     Eletrodomésticos
Para No Vivir Desesperado  Mexican Institute Of Sound                Pinata
Mundo Insólito                         Toy Selectah & Up Bustle & Out       Mexican Sessions
Tifit Hayed                                 Wganda Kenya                                   Colombia!
Tambo Iya                                 Ricardo Eddy Martinez                      Si Para Usted
Grande de Cadera                  Sonidero Nacional                             Tributo A Los Mas Grandes
Crazy In Kingston                    Beatconductor                                     The Greastest Hits of GAMM
Café Con Sangre                    Jose Conde Y Ola Fresca                 Revolucion
Nuestras Demandas               B-Side Players                                    Fire In The Youth

So my back is almost healed. It’s probably at 70%, a passing grade to most but I feel 100 times better than I felt just a few weeks ago. One of the things I could not do, besides sit or stand for long periods of time was go dancing. During that time I went to see Calle 13 in concert and I had to stay perfectly in place or experience more pain than I already had. It was a hard task. Calle 13’s band is amazing. They had three percussionists and a horn section. Residente and Vistante of Calle 13 are step-brothers and they had their kid sister (P-13) as a their back-up singer. She looks like a b-girl but sounds like Toto La Momposina, the Afro-Colombian singer. The Calle 13 album, Residente o Visitante, is still one of my favorites of this year. I wanted to dance, even with the pain in my back but when I tried to dance it looked odd. Imagine Frankenstein dancing to Cumbia and that is what I looked like. (My girl probably still thinks I dance like that, even when I don’t have a bad back.) I appreciated that no one laughed at me. The people at the show had class. Not what I’d expect from a Reggaeton show, but then again, this is Calle 13, one of the more intelligent groups out there.

Class, is something that some people severely lack. I hate to generalize but some of the most awful displays of low class that I’ve seen have come from affluent people. People with money and success can act the most “ghetto” as they like to call it. The funny thing is that you can’t get away with that kind of an attitude in most barrios otherwise someone would put you in check if you did. Last week after I finished my DJ set at Zanzibar (insert shameless self-promotion here) in Santa Monica, I sat with my lady to have a drink. There was an older gentleman that was way into the music we were playing that night. He looked like he could have been someone’s Anthropology professor. He had a little bit of an Australian outback look to him. Anyhow, he was dancing by himself, a little strangely, but harmless. A group of drunken West Side peeps came into the club during Mexican Dubweiser’s set. One Paris Hilton knock-off noticed the guy and immediately started taunting him by dancing just like him. The guy stopped dancing, perhaps conscious of the fact that she was making fun of him. I quietly fumed as I continued to watch the bitchy Paris Hilton knock-off prance around the club.

Everyone's favorite Reggaeton group, Calle 13, released their second album on Tuesday. "Residente O Visitante" packs as much of a punch as their first release with many collaberations with other artists. Working with Calle 13 on this release are, Tego Calderon from Puerto Rico, La Mala Rodriguez from Spain and Orishas from Cuba. By far the most interesting pairing is Calle 13 with Bajofondo, the electro-tango group from Argentina. If you can imagine Kanye West, Luny Tunes and The Gotan Project getting together to make a song, then you get an idea what the song Tango Del Pecado is like. Check it out for yourself:


I know the infamous Viola Galloway, Amoeba Hollywood's world music buyer and Tango enthusiast, is just going to love the new Calle 13. She has been rallying for Reggaeton to fuse with Tango for the last three years!