La Sombra de Satán, Santos Tropic-All, Mexico
Rating: 65
by Enrique Coyotzi
Along with the enormous phenomenon that 3Ball is becoming in the north of Mexico, Ruidosón is without a doubt the most exciting movement (not genre) happening right now in Tijuana, which is starting to obtain a stronger merited recognition. This can be reflected in these past two months’ buzzed events, 2do Aniversario del Ruidosón and Chupetón Ruidosón, where according to various tweets by assistants and the performers, both nights were an extremely wild stupendous success. Ruidosón’s most famous exponents and ClubFonograma’s beloved María y José and Los Macuanos were there, as well as the mystifying figure of a DJ working under the name of Santos.
While Santos hasn’t received the same amount of blog content his other peers have, he is also one of the ruidosón wave initiators. His debut La Sombra de Satán actually was released around January endings but ever since has remained like a well-kept secret in the blogosphere (just like his real name), excepting a small number of sites that provided their support on Santos’ presentation card. La Sombra de Satán is basically a house record that incorporates cumbia, banda and norteña; it gets in occasions as obscure as its title suggests, but essentially is filled of celebrative ready-for-the-rave smashers that rarely get macabre, yet encapsulate the essence of what this whole movement is about.
Santos definitely knows how to get bodies moving with homemade production wonders but lacks the sensibility of assembling a coherent album to digest. Clocking at almost 50 minutes long, La Sombra de Satán can get immensely tiring after the first three strong opening songs, afterwards it feels unfocused, almost like a collection of pieces put together with no planning at all. Whereas this record might seem a mess in its sequecing, Santos' electronic craftsmanship is commencing and might blossom into a more engrossing work; still the idea of partying hard with his tunes is stimulating, at least for dancing.