Nancy Sanchez is imparable – unstoppable – because she nunca parable – never stops. This persistence, celebrated in “Imparable” on her latest album La Gran Civilización, plus her seemingly unlimited talent and non-stop work ethic, has made her one of the fastest rising stars in today’s diverse musical firmament. It has also helped her shatter the stereotypes of what women, especially immigrant women, can do and achieve.
The album, which she calls Mexican-American Art Pop, ranges across languages, genres, nations and collaborators in a collection of 11 stand out songs Sanchez wrote and produced over the past year with artists she admires and loves. Each is a work of genius in its own right and together they form an unforgettable musical adventure through the modern archaeology of Mexico’s grand civilizations from the Olmecs to today’s Chicanx’s.
You by Irene Diaz. The second single off her forthcoming album Lovers and Friends, the Mistress of Love Songs brings us an addictive rocking-energy love song that incorporates her unique and wonderful voice with hooky lyrics in a pop tune that is an absolute must at the top of your playlist. Available on all platforms. Check out the YouTube video – it will make you happy.
I have always enjoyed singer-songwriter Elsten Torres for his love songs – his ability to wrap the joy and sadness that is so often love into a single song – sometimes a single line. But at his core, it is not only love that Elsten gifts us with his music, but feeling. Torres has a precious talent that allows him to allow us to feel our own hearts and that of others.
He has used this precious talent to take us into the heart of Marlene, his sister-in-law who has ALS, an incurable disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord leading to loss of the ability to talk, move, eat, and eventually to breathe and live. A person with ALS is trapped in her own body with no way to touch and no future but death – the essence of a silent scream.
There are a handful of artists worldwide who can transform emotion into music that offers entry into the human soul. They write lyrics that are simultaneously poetic and powerful and encase them in notes that can illuminate the heart or seize the gut – or sometimes both. One of the best of these artists is the Greek-English-American singer-songwriter Athena, whose newest release Hands on Glass invites you deep into her life and her soul – and maybe yours.
Infected with Covid-19 last November, Athena was isolated in a hospital in Greece for a month, separated from her husband and two-year-old son, their only contact was their hands on opposite sides of the glass window in an isolation room.
Like mescal, experimental jazz is an acquired taste. It often ranges across tempos and rhythms and melodies into just pure, sometimes random, sounds. You have to pay careful attention to understand the underlying cooperation among the band members, the references to other music and songs, and the cinematic art that the band is drawing in front of your ears.
It took one of Mexico’s best experimental jazz groups, D/zazter to educate me. The trio with my friend Juan Casteñon, Itzam Cano, and Gabriel Lauber, makes the music flow and jerk, and come together and separate, melding disparate parts into a sometimes smooth, sometimes jagged whole.
Givin’ a Damn (Don’t Go With My Outfit), single by Pamela Hopkins. The Queen of Sass is at it again, this time telling the world in grab-your-gut country blues that she don’t really care what it thinks of her, she is living her life the way she wants to. Makes you move and smile and cheer. Stream on Spotify. Follow at Pamelahopkinsmusic.com and all socials. Check out the YouTube video
