Tastes Like LA

So diverse is Latin American music that most artists, when they come to fusions, choose a couple of elements and roll with that. LA-based Chicano band Las Cafeteras try something a bit different, splicing in Andean charango (lute) strumming, Mexican brass, swaying salsa-ish rhythms and a gentle jab of reggae to mix up a familiar yet fresh-sounding melange. There's nothing truly new about the approach: we've already heard eclectic mestizo music from the likes of Ojos de Brujo, Manu Chao or Lila Downs. But this one is especially sweet sounding. Singer Leah Gallegos's voice is appealingly casual, even when she's tackling political and cultural themes, as on ‘If I Was President’, a catchy anti-Trump rap. Woody Guthrie's ‘This Land is Your Land’ is reworked into a lively accordion-driven Mexican folk song.

If the Housemartins had come from East LA instead of Hull, this is the kind of agit-pop they would probably have produced: likeable, lilting, lo-fi and DIY.