This Week
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Music from: Burkina Faso, Catalonia, Cuba, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Haiti, Iran, Ireland, Jamaica, Madagascar, Mexico, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Philippines, Reunion Island, Scotland, and Tunisia.
Music by: Amamere, Baklava & Elena Baklava, beabadoobee, BIRCH, Brighde Chaimbeul, Elana Sasson & Kaveh Sarvarian, Emel & Nayomi, Farnaz Ohadi, Femi Kuti, Kanazoé Orkestra, Loko Gasy, Mari Kalkun & National Male Choir of Estonia, Maurice Louca, MEUTE, Millie Small, Natalia Lafourcade, René Lacaille, Tiny Magnetic Pets, Trish Toledo, Värttinä, Wesli, Xiomara Alfaro, and Zar Electrik
Featured Album: Boleros Psicodélicos II by Adrian Quesada
Adrian Quesada, Angélica Garcia - No Juego
This week’s spotlight falls on Adrian Quesada’s Boleros Psicodélicos II, a lush sequel that reimagines the romantic Latin ballads through a psychedelic, modern lens.
Adrian Quesada is an Austin-based multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer, best known as co-founder and guitarist of Black Pumas. He’s an eight-time Grammy nominee and won Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album with Grupo Fantasma in 2011.
I remember hearing an interview with Adrian Questada when the forerunner to this album was released. He talked about trying to emulate the music he would hear as a child from Mexican radio stations beaming shows across the border. He pointed to those late-’70s/early-’80s AM radio’s beaming sound across the Rio Grande when he was growing up in Laredo, he’d scan the dial until he landed on Mexican stations spinning ranchera, mariachi and, crucially, balada hits.
Boleros Psicodélicos II is not the same album repeated. This time it is produced by Alex Goose who has worked with Childish Gambino, Aaron Frazer. For Quesada and many border-town kids, Mexican radio wasn’t just background noise—it was a lifeline to a musical heritage largely absent from U.S. airwaves, and it became the foundation upon which he built his psychedelic reimagining of the Latin ballad. Adrian Quesada grew up on the Texas–Mexico border in Laredo, soaking in punk, hip-hop, Tex-Mex and the Golden Age of Latin ballads.
Adrian Quesada enlisted eleven collaborators, each bringing a distinct voice or instrumental flair. Here’s who they are and why they matter:
Cuco (Ojos Secos) Los Angeles–based indie-pop singer.
iLe (Bravo) Puerto Rican vocalist, linking bolero tradition to today’s Latin alternative scene.
Angélica García (No Juego) California-born singer-songwriter.
Mireya Ramos (Cuatro Vidas) Flautist and vocalist from all-female mariachi Flor de Toloache.
Ed Maverick (Afuera) Mexican musician whose vocals underscore a cross-border cultural resilience theme on “Afuera”.
Hermanos Gutiérrez (Primos) Swiss-Ecuadorian guitar duo.
Trish Toledo (Hoy Que Llueve) Argentine singer.
Monsieur Periné (Agonía) Colombian duo known for jazz-inflected Latin pop.
Gepe (Te Vas Y Yo Te Dejo) Chilean singer-songwriter.
Natalia Clavier (Tu Poder) Venezuelan artist.
Daymé Arocena (No Temeré) Cuban jazz singer.
Each guest was chosen not just for name recognition but for their ability to bridge the roots of bolero with genres—from trip-hop to spaghetti-western guitars and Afro-Cuban jazz—making Boleros Psicodélicos II a truly genre-defying, collaborative statement.
Released on June 27, 2025 - ATO Records
Sources: KUTX - adrianquesada.bandcamp.com - www.billboard.com - www.jambase.com - tapeop.com - www.upandcomingmagazine.com - www.last.fm
MEUTE - Aurora
Hamburg’s MEUTE describe themselves as a self-styled “Techno Marching Band,” re-working DJs’ techno, house, and deep-house hits for brass and drums. Their 2023 single “Aurora” layers hypnotic sousaphone bass, marimba, marching percussion, and brassy stabs to detonate dancefloors from city streets to concert halls, detaching electronic music from the DJ desk.
Mari Kalkun - Tõistmuudu (live with Estonian National Male Choir)
Stories of Stonia Live is a concert album capturing Mari Kalkun’s studio repertoire as it evolved on stage during performances in 20 countries.
In her liner notes Mari describes these recordings as “documents from my travels,” where singing becomes meditation and repetitive runosong melodies unite audience and artist in joy, sorrow, trance and euphoria.
Mari is from the forested Vōrumaa region of southeastern Estonia. She grew up immersed in Võro and Estonian runosong traditions, studied cultural management at Viljandi Culture Academy, and earned a master’s in traditional singing from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre—complemented by exchange studies at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy.
Her music is intimate and unhurried, interweaving vocals, kannel (Estonian zither), piano, accordion and guitar with field recordings and electronic drones. Sparse arrangements let emotions surface, drawing listeners into landscapes of bogs, birdsong and ancient myth.
Sources: realworldrecords.com - en.wikipedia.org - www.marikalkun.com
LOW PLACES - Tiny Magnetic Pets
Described here in my research notes as “Dublin’s darkwave trio” they are Paula Gilmer – vocals, analogue synths, Seán Quinn – synths, programming, sequencing, and Eugene Somers – drums, percussion, electronic textures. All three share song writing, production, and mixing duties in their home studio.
I think Low Places is one of the best things they’ve done in a while. It is the lead single from their Harmonious Grey EP released in May and only just found by me this week.
I hear that Tiny Magnetic Pets are eyeing a full-length album with Gareth Jones who has worked with Depeche Mode, Wire and Erasure. That’s promising.
Where and when to hear Around the World
Thursday:
LIVE DRN1 Perth Western Australia - 9:00 p.m. local time (2:00 pm CET)
Friday:
Akaroa World Radio 2:00 pm local New Zealand Time (3:00 am GMT 4:00 am CET)
NAR-GROUP Germany – 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m (CET)
Mosel Radio – 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m (CET)
NAR-Alf – 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m (CET)
Waterwaves Radio: 9:00 pm GMT (22:00 CET)
Saturday:
Power 101FM Malawi: 11:00 local time
Flirt FM (Galway's Community of Interest & Student Station) 101.3 10:45 am - 12 45 pm
Best City Radio (Belfast) 3:00 pm
RCFM (Radio City FM) Duisburg, Germany 3:00 – 5:00 pm CET
U Radio - Sri Lanka 8:00pm - 10:00 pm local time
World FM 10:00 pm local New Zealand Time (11:00 am GMT, 12:00 noon CET)
Essential Radio Midnight to 2:00 am GMT (1:00 am CET)
Sunday:
West Coast FM Namibia 10:00 pm to 12:00 noon Central Africa Time (2:00 to 4:00 GMT)
Power 101FM Malawi: 12:00 local time
NFRS Osaka Japan: 12:00 noon local time (3:00 am UK time 4:00 am CET)
973FM in Singapore and 11:00 pm local time (3:00 pm/15:00 hours UTC – Universal Time).
Circl8 Chester: 12:00 noon
Websound Radio (Larne) 11:00 pm
Slice Audio 10:00 pm local time (11:00 pm CET)
Monday:
Armagh City Radio 00:00 pm local time (01:00 pm CET)
SparkFlame Radio: 00:00 am GMT (01:00 CET)
Circl8 Chester: 12:00 noon
Stirling Community Radio 8:00 pm GMT (9:00 pm CET)
Waterwaves Radio: 9:00 pm GMT (22:00 CET)
BR2 Pure Gold Radio – Costa Blanca, Spain 10:00 pm local time (CET)
Akaroa World Radio 10:00 pm local New Zealand Time (11:00 am GMT, 12:00 noon CET)
World FM 10:00 pm local New Zealand Time (11:00 am GMT, 12:00 noon CET)
Tuesday:
Shire Extra: 8:00 pm GMT (21:00 CET)
Waterwaves Radio: 9:00 pm GMT (22:00 CET)
Wednesday:
World FM 4:00 am local New Zealand Time (5:00 pm Tuesday GMT, 6:00 pm CET)
Slice Audio 4:00 am local time GMT (5:00 am CET)
Life Right Radio (London) 7:00 pm
Best City Radio (Belfast) 10:00 pm
Radio Skye (Radio Garden) 10:00 pm GMT (11:00 pm CET)
Thursday:
Waterwaves Radio: 9:00 pm GMT (22:00 CET)
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