Best Latin Albums of 2007





A few weeks ago a friend at work who is in the business and is part of the selective process at Coachella asked me if there was any kind of consensus on the very best Latin albums of 2007. There were many lists on the web, most of them from incompetent bloggers who either don’t have a radical approach to critical analysis or simply are blinded to good music vision. Even though we are getting close to 2009 I asked our main editor Carlos Reyes to help me out and put together a list at least from the members of this club. He suggested that we should consider lists from other valuable people; I am deeply shocked how good the overall list is. Indie music from other parts of the world seem to be so ahead when it comes to reviews and music blogs, we are very happy to gather a small community of sharp writers, professional music journalists and radio hosts in this consensus of the music of 2007. Hopefully, we’ll keep doing this for the upcoming years. Also, hopefully we will broaden invitations so that we can cover all the music from Latin America.

Honorable Mentions:



The list was calculated on a priority count, which means that a critic's #1 album got 10 points, #2 got 9 points, # 3 got 8 points, etc. Plus the amount of participants that included the album on their top 10 list.

Participants:

Carlos Reyes, "Club Fonograma" (Mexico/USA)
01. Residente o Visitante, Calle 13
02. Atemahawke, Porter
03. Samba Meu, Maria Rita
04. Fontana Bella, Austin TV
05. El Teatro de lo Absurdo, Robi Draco Rosa
06. 39 Grados, Lisandro Aristimuño
07. Mar Dulce, Bajofondo
08. Hoy a las Ocho, Hello Seahorse!
09. La Revolucion Sexual, La Casa Azul
10. Triangulo de Amor Bizarro, Triangulo de Amor Bizarro

Paulo Correa, "Club Fonograma" (Colombia/Argentina)
01. La Llave de mi Corazon, Juan Luis Guerra
02. Residente o Visitante, Calle 13
03. La Lengua Popular, Andres Calamaro
04. Somos Pacifico, Choc Quib Town
05. Papito, Miguel Bose
06. El Cantante, Marc Anthony
07. La Radiolina, Manu Chao
08. El Teatro de lo Absurdo, Robi Draco Rosa
09. Son... Para El Mundo, Jorge Celedon
10. Laberintos Entre Aristas y Dialectos, Catupecu Machu

Jean-Stephane Beriot, "Club Fonograma" (Chile/France/USA)
01. Fontana Bella, Austin TV
02. Juventud en Extasis, Maria Daniela y Su Sonido Lasser
03. Esquemas Juveniles, Javiera Mena
04. Paper Dolls, Descartes A Kant
05. Residente o Visitante, Calle 13
06. Live at the Village Vanguard, Bebo Valdes & Javier Colina
07. Sino, Cafe Tacvba
08. Atemahawke, Porter
09. El Dia Despues, Aroah
10. Santiago, Teleradio Donoso

Julio Meza, "Atrapa la Luz" (Peru)
01. Sino, Cafe Tacvba
02. El Zafiro de las Galas, Daniel F.
03. Aznar-Lebon, Aznar-Lebon
04. La Lengua Popular, Andres Calamaro
05. No Love, Turbopotamos
06. Fontana Bella, Austin TV
07. Bailando en el Mulador, Cementerio Club
08. Velocidad de Crucero, La Costa Brava
09. Rodolfo, Fito Paez
10. La Revolucion Sexual, La Casa Azul

Miguel "Chen" Muñoz, "Rockeros VIP" (Mexico/USA)
01. El Teatro de lo Absurdo, Robi Draco Rosa
02. La Radiolina, Manu Chao
03. Sino, Cafe Tacvba
04. Atemahawke, Porter
05. Fontana Bella, Austin TV
06. Bengala, Bengala
07. Triangulo de Amor Bizarro, Triangulo de Amor Bizarro
08. A Marte, Pastilla
09. The Stars and Suns Sessions, Chikita Violenta
10. Never Greens Vol.1, Los Fancy Free

Juan Data, "The Hard Data" (Argentina/USA)
01. Mexican Sessions, Up Bustle & Up
02. Residente o Visitante, Calle 13
03. Malamarismo, La Mala Rodriguez
04. Kaos, Anita Tijoux
05. Kumbia Nena!, Kumbia Queers
06. El Apagon, Dante
07. La Radiolina, Manu Chao
08. La Lengua Popular, Andres Calamaro
09. Logo, Kevin Johansen
10. Mar Dulce, Bajofondo

Sandra Guzman, "The New York Post" (USA)

01. El Cantante, Marc Anthony
02. Mi Sueño, Ibrahim Ferrer
03. CeU, CeU
04. King of Kings, Don Omar
05. La Radiolina, Manu Chao
06. Fire in the Youth, B-Side Players

Editors, "Amazon" (USA)
01. Mi Sueño, Ibrahim Ferrer
02. Residente o Visitante, Calle 13
03. La Radiolina, Manu Chao
04. El Cantante, Marc Anthony
05. La Vida... Es Un Ratico, Juanes
06. Paz, El Niño Josele
07. Rumba Palace, Arturo Sandoval
08. Pasajero, Gipsy Kings
09. Mujer de Cabaret, Puerto Plata
10. La Llave de mi Corazon, Juan Luis Guerra

Editors, "Heineken España" (Spain)
01. Triangulo de Amor Bizarro, Triangulo de Amor Bizarro
02. La Leyenda del Espacio, Los Planetas
03. Lisabo, Ezlekuak
04. La Luz del Mañana, Facto Delafe y Las Flores Azules
05. Verano Fatal, Nacho Vegas y Christina Rosenvinge
06. Tiny Telephone, The Sunday Drivers
07. No Land Recordings, Remate
08. The Marzipan Man, The Marzipan Man
09. El Dia Despues, Aroah
10. Fin de un Viaje Infinito, Deluxe

Editors, "Lavate Las Orejas" (Mexico/Spain/Peru/Argentina)
01. Sino, Cafe Tacvba
02. La Lengua Popular, Andres Calamaro
03. El Mamut, Massacre
04. Cuentos Chinos Para Niños del Japon, Love of Lesbian
05. Fontana Bella, Austin TV
06. La Radiolina, Manu Chao / Logo, Kevin Johansen
07. Andes, Becker
08. Su Majestad, Rosal
09. A Marte, Pastilla
10. Fin de un Viaje Infinito, Deluxe

Mara Williams, "Voice" (Brazil/Canada)
01. Fontana Bella, Austin TV
02. In Our Nature, Jose Gonzalez
03. Atemahawke, Porter
04. Le Baron EP, Le Baron
05. Residente o Visitante, Calle 13
06. The Stars and Suns Sessions, Chikita Violenta
07. Triangulo de Amor Bizarro, Triangulo de Amor Bizarro
08. Andes, Becker
09. Muerdete la Lengua, Francisca Valenzuela
10. Mar Dulce, Bajofondo

Editors, "Blogpocket" (Spain)
01. La Lengua Popular, Andres Calamaro
02. Esto Es Prin' La La!, Prin' La La!
03. Miniaturas, Pigmy
04. La Revolucion Sexual, La Casa Azul
05. Yo Mate a Kennedy, Acusicas
06. Las Otras Vidas, El Hijo
07. En la Oscuridad, Zola
08. Verano Fatal, Nacho Vegas y Christina Rosenvinge
09. El Hueso y la Carne, Tarik y La Fabrica de Colores
10. Cuentos Chinos Para Niños del Japon, Love of Lesbian

Wilfredo & Veronica Rodriguez, "Bilingual Distortion" (Puerto Rico/USA)
01. Residente o Visitante, Calle 13
02. Mar Dulce, Bajofondo
03. El Teatro de lo Absurdo, Robi Draco Rosa
04. La Radiolina, Manu Chao
05. Sino, Cafe Tacvba
06. Atemahawke, Porter
07. Malamarismo, La Mala Rodriguez
08. Hormigas, Arbol
09. Eternamiente, Molotov
10. La Lengua Popular, Andres Calamaro

Editors, "Musicarium" (Spain)
01. La Leyenda del Espacio, Los Planetas
02. Cuentos Chinos Para Niños del Japon, Love of Lesbian
03. The Sunday Drivers, The Tiny Telephone
04. El Show de Leta, Lagartija Nick
05. Triangulo de Amor Bizarro, Triangulo de Amor Bizarro

Not participants this time but already in the line for future listings, some were invited but didn't return their list (there was no dateline, my fault), others said maybe next year and some we just couldn't reach for some reason:

El Guiri & Chapin, "La Onda Tropical"
Ian Malinaow, "Latin Music Examiner"
Tijana Ilch, "About Latin Music"
Reclu, "Reclueless"
Jose Luis, "Rock en las Americas"
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List compiled by Jean-Stephane Beriot
Visuals by Carlos Reyes