Cumbia Siglo XXI

Bogota's Meridian Brothers are a futurist, electro-rock act at the forefront of experimental Latin rhythms and styles. Founder and multi-instrumentalist Eblis Alvarez writes, plays, arranges, and records the band's albums solo. These explore Latin folk and popular styles including vallenato and currulao, woven through electronica, neo-psych, prog, and cartoon soundtrack music. Cumbia Siglo XXI is titled after a defunct Colombian group who played a sci-fi version of discofied cumbia during the 1980s. The songs here readily reference that as a lift-off point to explore cumbia as a genre. Alvarez melds folkloric and pop Colombian, Argentinian, and Mexican cumbias to vintage rock, neo-electro, spidery funk, and tropical styles. As on previous Meridian Brothers outings such as Salvadora Robot and Suicidas, he illustrates this project with an army of snaky guitars in strange tunings, (mostly cheap) electronics, guerilla production, unusual vocal treatments, and razor-sharp humor. His percuss