Candela – La Maquina

Featured in Chee Shimizu’s Obscure Sound disc guide, Candela was a group of salsa musicians living in Germany. Their third album La Maquina is a wonderful fusion of latin rhythms and melodies (pre-Colombian flute, claves, bongos, shekere, guiro, bird) with synthesizers (Yamaha DX-7, Roland Super Jupiter) and drum machines more commonly used in new wave and synth-pop. Our favorite of the bunch A2 “Buscando Sabor (Looking for flavor)” is a breezy tropical salsa jam with an irresistible chorus featuring a call and response between lead vocal and backup. A1 “La Maquina” uses the same sort of refrain, but surprisingly throws in a little vocoder to close out the section. Both tracks drop into drum machine slap bass, and percussion-driven breakdowns, which, while definitely sound dated, do allow for some unique sonic exploration between the synthesizers and guitars.

Recommended – A1 La Maquina, A2 Buscando Sabor