Squelching acid-y bass set to lyrics about how beautiful a place Israel is, the kind of place where you just might want to dance. Video has the Anglophone world guessing, and guessing, but while people play the frustrating and unproductive speculative-irony game, little attention seems to be paid to, you know, the actual music, made by Gaby Kerpel, part of the Buenos Aires Zizek collective, much respected around these parts.

Uruguay, a country I basically know nothing about, advanced. Anyway, sick beat.

Ghana beat the U.S., they were totally a class above the U.S. players, so congratulations are in order to the only remaining African team in the World Cup. Ghana has so much great music, and this hit song is a perfect example of perfect summer lounging around music. Highlife indeed.

England’s team was bad. English soccer seems to be perpetually trapped in memories of past glories, stubbornly refusing to adapt to a winning style. They were out of their element against the young men playing for Germany who are redefining the winning style, and quickly making a name for themselves.

The Argentina and Mexico game was tough for me to watch, I like both teams, but ultimately Argentina will no doubt result in more interesting matches. Oddly enough, this was the first cumbia track I heard where things clicked, and I decided I wanted to learn more. Dubbed out space percussion, and chill singing. Listening back to it now it seems relatively tame, but everyone has to start somewhere.

Describing and distinguishing genres is frustrating, especially when you’re still learning. Recently, I’ve had people ask me about what cumbia is, how it differs from other types of music from Latin America, why one song is cumbia, and another isn’t, etc. And it gets difficult because I had never heard of the music until I moved to SF, so it’s relatively new for me as well. I know it when I hear it, but trying to explain its nuances, or talk about it authoritatively, well, that’s beyond me.

But this article is pretty great, and is both deep and accessible.

New podcast is up. This month I selected some of my favorite cumbias that I’ve been able to track down. Shout outs are due to Ghetto Bassquake, Lacongona, Mudd Up!, and San Francisco’s Mission District, without these resources my guess is I’d still be completely ignorant about all this amazing music.

Cold Tropics Podcast No. 4:
Daleduro – Bombon Asesino
??? – La Danza Del Hombre Churrumay (Extended Mix)
María y José – Ola de Calor
??? – Andinas 1.2
Alika y Nueva Alianza – Para Bailar Cumbia (El Hijo de la Cumbia remix)
??? – 2 Pac v. Sgcolombia
Sekreto – Gota (El Hijo de la Cumbia remix)
Sonido Desconocido – Cumbia del Falso Contacto
Toy Selectah – Shove It
Los Daddys – Cumbia Negra
??? – Son de Cumbia
??? – Cumbia del Heavy Bass
Formula 5 – La Cumbia Maestra

Next month’s podcast is gonna drone. I hope everyone has a happy Day of the Dead tomorrow.

Cumbia Non Stop

Now this I absolutely love. Kraftwerk receiving the cumbia treatment. I have no idea where I downloaded this from, or who is responsible for this. Such are the perils of the digital distribution network, but the awesomeness of the song remains intact.

People use the post prefix pretty casually in their music vocabulary, post-punk, post-garage, post-minimal, etc. But the idea of making music based around the stuff echoing in your head after you leave the club is worth exploring more. What is it supposed to sound like? What details collapse into each other? What gets lost? What is remembered incorrectly? Listening to music becomes a quest to distort it.

Tormenta Tropical is probably one of my favorite dance night in San Francisco. Each show is always a bit of a surprise with the rotating guests projecting different types of party vibes, always fun no matter what.

For those that need to get amped up check this mix at Trash Menagerie, which covers a lot of different territory.

I haven’t seen Ghosts on Tape live yet, but this youtube clip is promising: