Ritmos del Mundo Vol.1-4, Javier EstradaIndependiente/Mad Decent, Mexico
Rating: 77
by Carlos Reyes
Canada’s A Tribe Called Red and Mexico’s DJ Javier Estrada are responsible for one of the year’s most thrilling and spellbinding musical avalanches, “Indigenous Power.” Featuring a sample from Kanye West, this piece is the larger than life and all-absorbing landslide of 2011’s global pop. Before doomsday arrives and our planet aligns to the galactic equator, I’ll add my signature to the petition of shooting some essential records on a capsule to space for historic purposes. But before some secluded scholarly committee takes over the mission, I hope someone slips in a mix by DJ Estrada, perhaps within the booklet of any of the misguiding Putumayo compilations they’re likely to include.
Mixes, remixes, refixes, and originals from DJ Javier Estrada have been giving Soundcloud’s bandwidth a run for its money. Also catapulting his name to the frontlines of almost every relevant urban publication out there. The Monterrey-based DJ is building an impressive resume, melting genres and cultures alike with culinary effervescence in his series Ritmos del Mundo. Even more interesting is the fact he’s currently the melting pot of the nu-rural world villages, communities that include digital cumbia, guaracha, tribal, moombahton, ruidoson, and third world hip-hop. Estrada drops more mixes than we could possibly review or the general cumbia lover could hear, but he has recollected an impressive body of work in the four published volumes of Ritmos del Mundo. Whether injecting gravitational strength to The Police’s “Roxanne," outing Lalo Mora from his norteño cave in “Mi Casa Nueva,” or adding some bloody spills of his own in María y José’s “Violentao,” Estrada is a force of mammoth tropical bass and technological nature.
While his stylization and imaginative ownership of hits from Fito Olivares, Pitbull, or Gloria Estefan are expanding his popularity at a flashing pace, it’s in his semi-original pieces that Javier Estrada is truly bewitching. There is an evident progression in skill and ambition within each release. Vol.4, the latest, brings tracks like “Psychotic, Indian” and “Huitzilopochtly” that defy his modus operandi and really go to a deep level of personal quest and sonic proportion. Here he gets a distant glimpse of the dark experimental edges of Los Macuanos and Chancha Via Circuito. Estrada is still in limbo when it comes to approaching actual structures and space, but with the expert advice of Diplo and Toy Selectah, he seems destined for an even brighter future. All four volumes of Ritmos del Mundo belong to this year, which speaks a lot about Estrada’s flashing vision and forwardness. It might take us another quad of releases before we go back to report on his progress, but in the meantime we’re embracing the messiness and chaos of these four mixtapes, even approving of his “estas escuchando a DJ Estrada” watermark as something charming and commendable.