Prezident Markon’s New Singles Round-Up: (Allexa Nava, André Ubilla, Zemmoa, Leo Santi, Mantena®, Ships of the Pharoahs and many more)

Welcome to autumn – and what a relief it is to say that after summer’s scorchio. Hopefully, normal service shall now be resumed; I shall endeavour to make these singles round-ups monthly, at least until I’m directed otherwise by my team of advisors.

Joyce Moreno: “Aldeia de Ogum”

Joyce and Tutti again. This one comes not from the Jazz Is Dead album of August, but from her new album for her trusty label, Far Out Recordings, which comes out at the end of next month. It’s a re-working of one of the stand-out tracks from her classic 1980 recording, Feminina. It’s become a bit of a club favourite in recent times and here Joyce & co. breathe new life into the song with a distinctive horn and reed arrangement by Nailor Proveta. Still well and truly gorgeous!

Owerá & Lozk: “Jaxy”

Here’s one I missed by awarding myself the month of August off (despite the urgent warnings of my advisors). It’s a collaboration between the indigenous Guarani artist Owerá and the Colombian producer, Lozk. The titular Jaxy is the moon, treated by the Guarani people as not just a planet but a living spiritual presence, the guardian of the night, protector of animals and children and messenger of dreams and love. The two have collaborated before, but as Lozk reveals “Jaxy is more than a musical collaboration—it is a cultural exchange that honours diversity while discovering shared connections through art and storytelling.”

Tavo Paez: “Sobrepensando”

My aversion to Autotune has been well documented, but this is quite a sweet song that seems to be about young love, and señor Paez sent me a nice e-mail – at least, I think it is. It’s in Spanish, but I can manage to deduce that this is the first single from his next album, Tu Playlist Favorita, which comes out at the end of the year. I hope the driver and the Lady in Lilac will be very happy together.

Ely Combo: “Tema de Shaft”

I do love a nice wacky version of the Isaac Hayes classic and while this slice of Mexican reggae doesn’t scale the same heights as Malik Adouane’s extraordinary interpretation, it certainly is one of Vampisoul’s craziest 45rpm reissues. The band was one of the first apparently to incorporate ska and reggae into their repertoire – in the early ’70s. The B-side is an equally bonkers reggae reinterpretation, this time of Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band’s soul smash, “Express Yourself”.

Louie el Ser: “sex drugs reggaeton”

Another echo from the past, but of a very different genre. It’s a new collaboration with Marchante that takes the old cliché and re-purposes it for a pulsating Latin club. The publicist describes it as “a hypnotic late-night collision of reggaeton and electronic club music”, which says it all very succintly.

Allexa Nava: “To Nostalgia & Explorations”

The single by the Peruvian saxophonist, flautist and composer now based in London is really a three-piece suite – or an EP by any other name. It draws from both the music Allexa grew up with and what she listens to now. “It’s a mixture of my past and my future,” she suggests. “After reconnecting with the music I grew up with, but implementing elements of what I listen to every day and what has become my inspiration in writing as an adult.” Her alto sax melds deftly with acoustic guitar in this strikingly confident Afro-Peruvian opener that suggests why she’ll be headlining a show at the Elgar Rooms in the Royal Albert Hall on 22nd October.

André Ubilla: “Vientos de la Cordillera”

From a London-based Peruvian to a Chilean artist based in Berlin. It’s a single taken from his forthcoming fourth album, (Algunas) Formas de Amor, which marks the final chapter of his Prisma trilogy. While the video was filmed in the German Alps (by film-maker, Felipe Herrera), the song draws on the Chilean cordillera as a metaphor for memory, distance and heartbreak. There’s a suitable note of wistful yearning in this artist’s voice that makes for an affecting audio-visual experience.

Cosme: “No Tengo Duda (Versión Bolero)”

This Puerto Rican singer-songwriter had the interesting idea of releasing a new interpretation of one of the most personal songs on BRUJO, his debut album, to give it “a more mature touch”. Having listened to both, he succeeds in adding artistic gravitas to his reflections on his romantic partnership and a certainty that he had found the person he wanted to be with him for the rest of his life. And isn’t that lovely?

Zemmoa: “Mi Dolor Un Artiste”

The transgender Mexican artist’s fifth single from her album Un Abrazo came out a day before her exhibition at the Museo de Arte Transfemenino (Transfeminine Art Museum) in Mexico City. The single echoes the Mexican tradition of singing about pain in order to keep living after it – or at least to try. ZEMMOA: 20 Years of Fashion Victims, is an exhibition that brings together photographs, clothing, objects, archives and audiovisual material from a career spanning music, nightlife, fashion and digital culture. Zemmoa recalls how back then “the night was my first refuge. There, I could wear a miniskirt, dance, and be myself with a little more freedom than during the day. I never missed a party. Music came later, as a way to turn that refuge into a language.”

Leo Santi: “Cores No Jardim”

The Brazilian singer-songwriter is a devotee of Gilberto Gil and his debt to his hero and Tropicália in general is evident here in his first single – and incredibly his first-ever song – from a forthcoming debut from that estimable European label with a predilection for Brazilian artists, Ajabu! It was conceived and created on a 10-day holiday in Ubatuba, a coastal region in São Paulo. Santi has in fact been a musician and a producer for many years, but the single betrays what must have been a long-hidden talent for songwriting that bodes well for the album to come. It’s all about the colours he saw in a garden, “the details of everyday life that, when you stop to notice them, turn ordinary days into something worth singing about”. Quite so.

Mantena®: “Araújo”

I rather like this Brazilian group’s conceit of using the registered trademark symbol with their band name. I can’t, however, tell you a great deal about them or their brand of “chaotic samba rock” because the information I received is in Portuguese, but the single is quite original and it has a tongue-in-cheek quality that I like. They would appear to be a quintet from Belo Horizonte and this seems to be the first single from their first album, Samba Esquema Noia. Keep an eye out for them.

Karen y Los Remedios: “Ninfa”

Described as “a ballad with a trip hop sensibility”, I felt compelled to listen (having just watched an old Portishead DVD of the group in concert in New York). It’s the second single from Karen and the trio’s forthcoming new album, Bestiaria. And I guess that’s Karen herself acting the mythological figure of the water nymph somewhere perhaps in the Mexican jungle – if there’s anything left of it. The 12 tracks of the album, I’m told, present 12 such figures revealing different facets of a single universe. The single and the other tracks function “as a portal into stories where magic, nature, and human experience exist in a constant balance between light and shadow”. A long way from the aesthetic of Portishead perhaps, but if you like this, check out her new single “Curandera“, which is just out. (I know, I know…)

Ships of the Pharoahs: “Joys”

I would have featured the new EP from this London-based group, but it’s more like a long player, so I couldn’t justify the space in this particular slot. Even though it’s a bit late in the day, I’ll highlight instead just one of the numbers, which came out as a single around the beginning of August. “Joys” is a plural joy, and it spotlights clearly how bossa nova is a facet of the group’s infectious sound. The group is led by the producer Last Nubian, whose touch is light but sure. I particularly like Achanté’s breezy, understated vocal.

Mystérika, F.A.V. & Tino Amor: “La María”

It’s not every time we have something from Costa Rica, one of the world’s more intelligent nations, and certainly not a chunk of pumping Latin house crossed with electronic merengue. It’s a collaboration between the DJ and producer Mystérika and the experimental cumbia duo F.A.V. and Tino Amor that’s bound to have a club full of dancers waving their arms in the air like they just don’t care.

La Pirámide: “Pirámide”

Let’s draw the proceedings to a close with some weird and wacky experimental Mexican music from another era. This beguiling single comes courtesy of Light in the Attic and Discos Carbon. It’s taken from a compilation and a celebration of innovative Mexican musicians who merged electronic and indigenous instruments with an ambient, minimalist, jazz and New Age aesthetic. It’s entitled A LA ALTURA: VISIONARY MEXICAN MUSIC 1977-1999, and will be released in two volumes, the first of which arrives at the end of next month. If this is anything to go by, it’ll be something to look forward to.

It only remains for me and my advisors to wish you all a very happy and healthy autumn. Until we meet again…

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