Check Out ‘Latin Playboys,’ a Stellar Debut Album You May Have Missed in the ’90s
Every Friday on Yahoo Tech, The New Old Thing brings you recommendations of distinctly untimely — but still amazing! — cultural expression. Lots of sources (including us) will tell you what’s new and worthwhile. But only The New Old Thing tells you what’s not-new, but great, and available to you right now thanks to the magic of technology. (Your tips are welcome; send to rwalkeryn@yahoo.com.)
This week: Writer Marc Weidenbaum is the proprietor of sound/art/technology site Disquiet.com and author of the latest volume in the famous 33 1/3 series of books about albums, Selected Ambient Works Volume II. He recommends checking out the self-titled debut album of Los Lobos spinoff the Latin Playboys.
Weidenbaum tells me Latin Playboys has been on his mind because “I’ve found myself fixated on 1994” — the year of this record, as well as the one by Aphex Twin that is the subject of his new book.
“Latin Playboys, as you may recall, is two of the most outward-bound thinkers from Los Lobos (David Hidalgo and Louie Perez) working in tandem with Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake,” Weidenbaum continues. “Blake was just beginning to come out of Froom’s shadow as an engineer-mixer and into his own right as a producer-musician.”
While that notable Aphex Twin record is, as its title suggests, ambient, Latin Playboys is anything but. The production is experimental and dense, but the sound is hard, jagged and unpredictably melodic; you’ll hear the Los Lobos songwriter flair — but filtered through a daring soundscape that practically guaranteed it would never get on the radio. (It so happens that Weidenbaum has chosen a record that’s a personal favorite of mine; I even saw the Latin Playboys live, once upon a time.)
Bottom line: “Latin Playboys is easily in the top 5 list of records I have given most often as gifts,” Weidenbaum says. Wise move. Check it out on iTunes or Spotify. And check out Weidenbaum’s Ambient Works Volume II book — he’s a smart guy!
Write to me at rwalkeryn@yahoo.com or find me on Twitter, @notrobwalker.
