Various

If a Latin record has some kind of recipe in the liner notes, right off the bat I’m somewhat insulted. I gave this record the benefit of the doubt for a few reasons. It’s a Putumayo release and the track listing has a mix of known and unknown alternative Latin artists from across the globe. Although a chunk of the tracks fall under the lounge-y electronica category, there are a few that stand out and deserve obsessive replaying. Brazilian-American "Mosquitos” blend ambient rock melodies with hypnotising, breathy vocals from female Brazilian singer Juju Stulbach. French/Spanish reggae rocker Sergent Garcia’s "Mi Ultima Voluntad” samples Marley’s "Forever Lovin’ Jah” and creates another laid-back, dubbed-out cumbia/reggae track that helps blow most reggaeton music out of the Caribbean’s waters. Check out Spanish subway singer Javier Álvarez’ cheeky version of some teen-pop tune from Spain. Besides the recipe, the liner notes are still thick with notes in English, French and Spanish, colour photos and even the names of the groups and songs written phonetically. Artist: Kah-Nah, Song: oh-ri-jee-nahl. Hilarious. Never judge a CD by its liner notes. Shut up, I know that’s lame.