A Postcard from Cali

That's Cali in Columbia, a city known as "the salsa capital of the world". After some successful experiments in 70's American funk, Jamaican dub, and Caribbean island music, British producer Quantic decided in 2007 to move there and start his musical career over, recruiting a band of regional musicians for a group he called "Combo Barbaro", adopting the endearing term Europeans use for people of the Americas.

"Tradition in Transition", his first record with the group, is interesting for the ways it engages with its surroundings. What continues to separate Quantic from, say, Buena Vista Social Club, is his refusal to be swallowed whole by his influences. Though the music here is shaded by different latin genres, it retains a definite North American groove and feel throughout. Rather than trying to be any realistic representation of Columbian music and Columbian life, it portrays his very skewed fantasy of it, and that proves to be far more intoxicating. This is so goddamn good, you guys.

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