LA Weekly writes about the ten Best Spanish-Language/Latin Albums 2009. Nacional Records has 5 out of 10 albums mentioned — that’s 50%! Christopher Lopez says, “..perhaps the most interesting trend is the apparent rise of indie alternative acts — groups from smallish labels like LA-based Nacional, which had a banner year with huge potential and sounds too varied and diverse to easily classify. We’re witnessing the growth of a subgenre once limited to rock en español and populated solely by a few established artists.” Mentioned in his article are Hello Seahorse!, Manu Chao, Los Amigos Invisibles, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, and Mexican Institute of Sound.

Visit LA Weekly for reviews, videos, photos and more!

Mexico City is the second major Latin American city to legalize same-sex marriages. The city approved revisions to the civil code to permit same-sex marriages 39 to 20 and legalized adoption 31to 24. This is great news and an advancement for Mexico City. Viva Mexico! What’s going on EE.UU? We’re laggin!

Read up on CNN.com or NYTimes.com

I just thought I’d share with you some youtube tributes to Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. Watch talented fans play along to some of their Cadillacs favorites!

Drum Solos:
 

Cool bass guys:

The infamous Toy Selectah has remixed many artists before – different styles, sounds, and genres. Our fellow regio has surprised us by remixing a song from fellow New York indie band Vampire Weekend. Their first single was called “Orchata” — hm, do I smell some culture trade-off/mix-up? It doesn’t matter because we love his “Cousinz” remix!

Take a listen and let us know what you think! Vampire Weekend - Cousinz [Toy Selectah Remix]

Major Lazer is a collaborative musical project from DJ/Producers Diplo and Switch. Firkstailers is a crazy high energy duo from Argentina fusing dancehall, cumbia, reggaeton, hip hop, funk, house and techno. What do we get when me mix Major Lazer + Firkstailers? THIS awesome video!

Major Lazer feat. Mr. Lexx & Santigold - Hold the Line (Frikstailers Remix) from Frikstailers on Vimeo.

The homies, Ozomatli are invading their hometown Los Angeles this weekend with TWO performances this Friday and Saturday at Club Nokia. People in the Bay - don’t be haters! Ozomatli will be performing at ‘Sea of Dreams’ Event in San Francisco on New Year’s Eve. If you don’t live in LA and San Francisco is closer to you, go check it out!

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. Don’t forget to show some love to the boys on their Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter.

Aterciopelados are doing it once again! Spreading the word of peace and love. Tomorrow, Aterciopelados will be performing for ‘Marcha Mundial por la Paz y la No Violencia’ at Parque Simon Bolívar in Bogotá.

Check out their video for ‘Rio’ and don’t forget to visit theworldmarch.org!

Latin-Funk band, Los Amigos Invisibles take a stroll to Amoeba Records. Want to find out what CDs they’re buying? Check out the video from Amoeba’s ‘What’s in my bag?’

It’s Monday morning back in the office and what a morning it’s been! We had the boys from Ozomatli in the office this morning for a photoshoot with the LA Times.

Nacional Records also has TWO albums voted best in Colombia!

Estalla (Bomba Estéreo)
Este fue el año de consolidación de la banda Bomba Estéreo, conformada por Liliana Saumet y Simón Mejía. En su segundo álbum, ‘Estalla’, de finales del 2008, terminaron de darle forma a la idea que surgió casi accidentalmente en su primera producción. Su música, que ha tenido acogida en diferentes festivales internacionales, tiene hoy más personalidad, es más vocal y menos sintética. Su primer sencillo, ‘Fuego’, además de canciones como ‘La boquilla’ o ‘Feelin’, tienen todo el sabor Caribe,pero son admirados en la esfera de la música electrónica.

Río (Aterciopelados)
El público colombiano debería hacerle justicia a este álbum de la ya legendaria banda Aterciopelados, que ha recibido cualquier cantidad de elogios de la crítica estadounidense y en Colombia no tuvo la difusión que merecía. Precisamente, con ‘Río’, álbum que lanzaron en E.U. a finales del año pasado y en Colombia a comienzos del 2009, el dúo conformado por Andrea Echeverri y Héctor Buitrago, ahora un poco alejado de la sobrexposición mediática, obtuvo una nueva nominación al Grammy Anglo (no latino), un privilegio que pocos colombianos han conseguido.

Pretty Cool, huh! Visit Bogota.vive to see the other Albums nominated from Colombia!

Nacional Records hosted a christmas party here at our office in North Hollywood. It was full of food, drinks, great music, and great people. I thought I’d share with you some pictures of last night. We want to thank everyone that came and we hope everyone had fun! :)