Nunca Tarde – a round-up of recent new albums (The Waitiki 7, Harold López-Nussa, Trio Mocotó, Joana de Diego, Silvana Estrada, Lívia Mattos, Jatun Mama and many more)

No, it’s not possible; it can’t be. Two months since the last “Nunca Tarde”? In that case, I’d better stop beating around the bush and get right down to the real nitty gritty…

Da Lata: Edge of Blue (Da Lata Music)

I think Prezident Markon probably said quite enough in his recent review of new singles. “Arena”, the single in question, is representative of this fine album, which is a fitting monument to the North London pair’s 25 years in the business of putting Brazil in London. It’s one of their best in my ‘umble, the ideal material for the UK tour that they’ve just embarked on. Here’s the second single from the new album and here’s to another quarter of a century. Well, if Keith Richards can clock up 60 years in the business…

The Waitiki 7: Exotica Reborn: In Studio and Live at House Without A Key (Self-released)

Here’s one from left-field – and a positive delight it is, too. Recorded in Honolulu’s Island Sound Studios and captured live at the House Without A Key restaurant in Waikiki on this hybrid album, the Waitiki 7 have dedicated the last two decades to keeping Exotica alive, a somewhat cheesy music that drew its inspiration from the diverse ethnic influences of post-war Hawai’i. It was pioneered by pianist Martin Denny and vibraphonist Arthur Lyman, who briefly reached a global audience during the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. The septet’s pianist is none other than Zaccai Curtis, whose marvellous Cubop Lives! won the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz album of 2025, and he helps to accentuate the musical links between Exotica and clave-based Afro-Cuban jazz and cha-cha-cha. The interplay between Curtis and violinist Helen Liu and vibraphonist Jim Benoit is just one of the album’s many pleasures.

Duo Réflections: La Tregua (Filibusta Records)

The duo in question are French pianist Sylvain Rey and guitarist Léandro López-Nussa, heir to the Cuban musical dynasty and (I imagine but can’t confirm for sure) some kind of relative of pianist Harold. It’s their second album together following their eponymous debut in 2020 and was recorded here in my home department of the Lot during one day, with one reel of analogue tape and a single stereo microphone, and with no edits and no overdubs. As you can image, and will hear, it’s a meditative, impressionistic affair that demands a certain patience and concentration and willingness to immerse oneself in the duo’s musical universe. To do so, though, is to reap La Tregua’s rewards.

Harold López-Nussa: Nueva Timba (Blue Note)

And here is that putative piano-playing relative. Harold López-Nussa is seemingly now an established Blue Note artist after 2023’s Timba à la Americana. It’s more in a similar vein this time, even down to the distinctive sound of Grégoire Maret’s harmonica. Luques Curtis (Zaccai’s sibling) is once more at the double bass and Harold’s brother Ruy Adrian occupies the drum seat. Like the Waitiki 7 album, it’s a live/studio hybrid, with some of the tracks, including the evergreen Cuban classic “El Manisero”, recorded in the celebrated Parisian jazz club, Le Duc des Lombards. The album mirrors his own experience of an expat adapting to a new life (in France), of a young father finding his parental feet, and of a son mourning the death of his mother. It’s a typically classy affair.

La Sonora Dinamita de Lucho Argain: Cumbia Sin Fronteras (Self-released?)

Time, I hear you clamour, for some cumbia. And who better in some respects than the Mexican big band, here in collaboration with celebrated artists from the native music scene? Slick and polished as you might expect from a band with six decades of experience, the album is a vibrant mix of traditional rhythms and modern arrangements that’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face as you lace-up your dancing shoes.

Gio Chamba: Tropidelicos (MixtoRecords)

Far be it from me to pre-empt my forthcoming review for Songlines and thus incur the ire of the wrathful Russ Slater Johnson (late of this parish), let me at the very least flag up this new release from Houston as an example of small-group retro cumbia redolent of 1970s Peru that’s well worth your consideration.

Various Artists: El Bailador de la Esquina (Vampisoul)

You just can’t keep the Madrid label’s thieving hands out of the Discos Fuentes vaults, can you? Mind you, it does result in some splendid compilations. This one’s no exception: golden age 45rpms that have become increasingly hard to find over time. It’s full of treasures like Super Combo “Los Famosos”’s title track and cuts by Fruko, the Latin Brothers, La Integración and more. Ten of Colombia’s best, in fact.

Trio Mocotó: Muita Zorra! (Vampisoul)

The Madrid label’s other speciality of course is to revive old classic releases by artists past and present. Anything by Jorge Ben’s old backing band, those trusty harmonious samba-funksters, is going to be of interest to anyone with an historical bent, and their debut album from 1971 is of particular note. It’s a first-time official reissue and simply not to be missed, what with gems like the first of this pair of numbers.

Joana de Diego: De cuando era viento (Segell Microscopi)

Joana de Diego is a Barcelona-born singer, composer and flautist, daughter of the renowned Argentine artist Elba Picó. That certainly qualifies her for this column, particularly as her latest album is a thoroughbred, rooted in her jazz, folk and singer-songwriter background. There are only five numbers – four based on poems set to music and one original composition – but they are beautifully sung and performed. This song, based on a poem by another Argentine, Juan Gelman, is a personal favourite.

Silvana Estrada: Vendrán Suaves Lluvias (Glassnote Records)

I took this one to bed with me the other night, really just to confirm that it was as beautiful and as striking an album as I had initially thought. It is. Its quiet drama is affecting even when you don’t understand what she’s singing about. Her self-produced second studio album was recorded between Montreal, Barcelona and Mexico, where she was brought up and “steeped in Mexican son jarocho, baroque choir music, and jazz,” she reveals. The title translates as “Soft rains will come”, and she made it “with absolute love and total dedication. And I hope that after listening to it, you can trust that the soft rains will come. That peace and joy will return.” At the very least, it certainly lulled me gently to sleep.

Marcos Jobim: Singelinha (Self-released)

Now here’s a famous name, although I don’t believe that Marcos is related to Tom. Mind you, his music displays certain similarities, along with hints of Milton Nascimento, Nick Drake and even the minimalist’s minimalist, Mark Hollis. The album follows his critically acclaimed Ensaio Sobre a Vida e o Tempo and took three years in the crafting. It was conceived in partnership with producer and cellist Pablo Schinke and recorded with a small ensemble of strings, winds, brass and percussion. It’s subtle, delicate and rather lovely. What’s more, in these days of shorter-than-short releases, the 13 numbers assembled over these last three years give it real substance. What’s even more, its release was delayed because Jobim and crew helped out with the relief efforts following the devastating floods in Rio Grande do Sul, where this was recorded.

Lívia Mattos: Verve (YB Music)

She sings, she plays accordion, she defies convention! Historically, the accordion has been seen as a male instrument in Brazilian music. Lívia Mattos demonstrates otherwise – as befits an artist with the defiantly independent YB Music label. Verve follows Ida and Apneia as the third in a trilogy of albums in which the accordion becomes “a tool of freedom and resistance.” On it, she invites musicians from India and Senegal to collaborate: indigenous forró, choro and frevo traditions blend with West African kora music, Indian vocal improvisation and other international influences to create something dynamic, experimental and original. And it’s all done with genuine verve.

Jatun Mama: Ura Uku (Eck Echo Records/Kimchi Records)

It’s not every month we have a new album from Ecuador to crow about, so let’s relish the opportunity – because this is a belter. Jatun Mama is a project by Jésus Atzil Bonilla, a Kichwa musician and producer based in Cotacachi, Ecuador. This debut album was conceived, composed and produced in the Kichwa Tukuru community at the foot of two mountains, Mama Cotacachi and Tayta Imbabura. Jatun Mama describe themselves as a neo-traditional duo, which just about sums up their music perfectly: traditional voices and instruments animated by electronic beats. Such pairings can sometimes prove awkward bedfellows, but the electronic elements are subtle and subservient to the traditional sounds of rural Ecuador. It’s a fascinating and stimulating listen.

Sueño Púrpura: Souvenir (Buh Records)

Ecuador and Peru are geographically quite close, but Jatun Mama and Sueño Púrpura are musically poles apart. The Peruvian group, doyens of the Lima indie scene, fuse shoegaze, post-rock and psychedelia in their music, which rings with the twin guitar sound of Rodolfo Ontaneda and Christian Ortega. The five-piece cite My Bloody Valentine and Yo La Tengo among their influences and the album builds over six numbers to the final epic 13-minute-plus “Mora”, founded on hypnotic repetition over two movements. Shoegaze goes prog in Peru, perhaps.

manny moura: a crush is a creative act (GRRRL Music)

Ms. moura seems to be as resolutely lower case as k.d. lang and e.e. cummings, so let me start by reassuring you that neither the name nor the title is a misprint. It’s a great title, in fact, even if the nine numbers within are not really my cup of tea. It’s all a little bit what I imagine Taylor Swift’s music must be like – and the mega star is in fact one of the Rio-born and LA-based singer-songwriter’s principal influences. I guess you could say that her music inhabits the twilight zone between folk and pop, although the subject matter of the songs lean more towards the latter: her debut is the story of a heartbreak, processed over the three years it took to write and record. See what you think…

On that note, I shall draw a line in the sand, to be crossed once more, all things being equal, towards the end of November. Ta ta for now.

(Cover photo: Joana de Diego)

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