Okay, so I'm a little late.

Here in El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciúncula [aka LA] there is "mucho sabor musical." In some parts of this town it is nigh impossible to go through your day without at least catching a whiff of a cumbia, merengue or cha cha cha. We're going to...Parti'...Karamu'...Fiesta...forever...

Since moving back to mi ciudad natal, I have embraced mi cultura local with the help of mis amigos, Atom™ "Señor Coconut" Heart, El Caliente - the star of those El Pollo Loco commercials who advises me to Taste the Fire, and my friendly neighborhood taco hotspot, Tito's. Margarita Monday's at Acapulco helps too. I think you can see where I'm going with this post.

Número uno of our "Tres"ie is an excerpt from the 15+ minute version of Señor Coconut's Electrolatino [Ricardo Villalobos' 'Lecktro Cariño Mix]. This month marks the continued adventures of Uwe Schmidt's Latin alter ego with Yellow Fever, his newest album featuring a collection of Yellow Magic Orchestra covers.

We continue with the track Prince of Mambo Breaks from yet another artist who masquerades as a Latin Playboy, Také Rodriguez And His Exotic Arkestra [none other than the Japanese otaku, Takehito Nakazato]. This one is on the always eclectic Cheap label out of Austria.

Lastly, you'll hear Titan's Corazon remixed by Fussible of The Nortec Collective. I have no idea what Titan [Tee-Tahn] are up do these days, but I still get my groove on to their amazing Elevator CD which came out way back in 2000. Like the continuous immigration influx from south of the border, I thought these muchachos were poised to take us gringos by storm. Unfortunately, they never became popular in the states and soon their cds were relegated to the bargain bin. Perhaps they simply wanted to go out on top, having released one great album that would never be tainted by inferior follow-up efforts. Sí, I think that's the story I'm going to stick with.

Salud!