I was the Sound Designer on Julie Taymor’s film Frida, which in addition to a lovely (Oscar-winning) score by gentleman and scholar Elliot Goldenthal, includes a boat-load of fantastic traditional Mexican music. This beautiful Pirekua song from Trio Los Chapas appeared in the Dio De Los Muertos graveyard scene, and it has captivated me since I first heard it. It will most likely captivate you too, especially as today is again Dio De Los Muertos. Pirekuas are the traditional songs of the Purepecha Indians of central Mexico.

The soundtrack CD for Frida includes some of the best Mexican music used in the film, but not this track. You can find it on a compilation from the excellent Mexican Corason label here, or to order in the states try here. The soundtrack to Frida is here, and the DVD is here. More info about Dio De Los Muertos can be found here.

Nortec Collective’s new CD Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3 arrived on my podium slathered in hype thicker than, uh, burned pipian sauce? But whaddya know, there are some mighty fine tunes here, including this slab of fractured dub which is now in rotation here at the Ten Thousand Things rodeo dome.

You can buy Tijuana Sessions, Vol. 3 for a measly $10.99 here. Nortec Collective have a lot going on at their Spanglish web site here, including more mp3s to download.

Mashups are so, like, last Wednesday, but this is from my Summer Mix, in progress… I was only going to give it to Urmson for some feedback, but eh, what the hell. What’s the point of having a blog if you can’t occasionally be spontaneous. Have a listen, see what you think. I’ll post some more real music tomorrow.

David Byrne has a site here. You can buy some unadulterated Zion Y Lennox here, which includes the Reggaeton version of Yo Voy.

More horns!

This music makes the body twitch uncontrollably and is like a three-minute crash course in the history of syncopation. When you’ve been listening to a bit too much downer Northern music for your head, put this on and it will reset everything. 23 incredible musicians going all-out, under the baton of the father of Afro-Cuban Jazz. Cubauza is the opener from Mario Bauza’s awesome 1993 outing 944 Columbus, which was the last record he recorded, at the age of 81, two months before his death.

944 Columbus is criminally out of print, but there are some compilations available.