Future Sounds of Buenos Aires

It been several years – six, in fact – since ZZK Records first started to whip the cool kids into a frenzy at its regular Buenos Aires club night. The pioneering label has defined itself by taking electronic music and mixing it with everything from cumbia (the mainstay of the imprint in the early days) to música folklórica. The result is a wonderfully unpredictable mash-up yet, while many a ZZK tune has featured in the record bags of Latin DJs from London to Lima, this is the first time that a full-length release has come out in the UK (and the rest of Europe).

Future Sounds of Buenos Aires, despite the generic name, is actually a ZZK sampler, featuring a diverse roster of artists. This is music from a cut’n’paste generation who have grown up with the internet and computer game sound affects (a song by Super Gauchin, for example, is called ‘Se Pixeló el Vinito’ – meaning ‘the wine [is] pixelated’). You’ll be able to hear everything from ragga and reggaeton to a quickfire burst of drum’n’bass (on Fauna’s ‘Hongo x Hongo’), as well as some more traditional flavours. Indeed, Fauna’s track is one of the standouts, a ragga-meets-reggaeton-meets-dubstep. At the other end of the tempo spectrum is ‘Viene de Mi’ by La Yegros, a beautifully introspective cumbia from the label’s first female signing, who is partner of fellow artist King Coya (whose ‘Cumbiatron’ features on the album).

This is fun, unpredictable stuff from a label intent on shaking up Argentina’s contemporary music scene.