A brief list with some incredible gems and treasures from our Latin indie scene (check out 33 Artists from Latin America!)
OK, OK… I know it’s hard to summarize something so diverse and vast, especially if we’re talking about all the countries with Latin roots or languages, but we research this every day. We’re always looking for new bands, we watch shows, we go to festivals, we travel the world filtering and selecting the best bands to present to our audience.
Here’s a brief list of the best new acts (classic or current) from each country. Some countries may have more than one nomination, this will depend on the strength and prominence of each scene and the quality of each artist (and also, to a certain extent, on our personal taste).
So, let’s see what’s happening around us! Check out 20 new artists from Latin America!
Argentina’s music scene is one of the richest in South America, with bands of different styles and musical styles, ranging from shoegaze to post-rock, punk, indie lo-fi, and much more. We highlight some bands that are worth listening to, such as:
Four girls combined their experiences from previous work and formed one of the most interesting and promising bands on the current Argentine scene. Fin del Mundo has quickly won over audiences in Europe, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina with their powerful show and spontaneous charisma. Everything about Fin del Mundo is fresh, new, and is about now!
The band will release a new album, Hicimos crecer un bosque, on October 18th, 2024.
“Thinking of a good vampire conjures up images from a Tim Burton movie: gloomy but good-hearted characters; romantic in their own way; adorable and remorseful. Buenos Vampiros, the band, fits in perfectly. Now, for example, on the Uniclub stage, while the Mar del Plata band plays dressed to the nines, there are dresses and shirts, laced corsets, chokers, tulle and jackets with shoulder pads. (…) The gothic-new romantic aesthetic projects hostile ways, but the set moves between a dream pop and a post-punk that tells love stories with melancholy or sings directly to sadness (their most listened to song says: “Demotivated, sad and bored, all the time waiting for death”).” (source: Rolling Stone ARG)
The quartet from Mar del Plata has just released their third studio album Entre Sombras (July 18, 2024, via Casa Del Puente Discos).
Mujer Cebra was formed in 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina by Santiago Piedra on guitar and vocals, Gonzalo Muhape on bass, and Patricio García Seminara on drums. The trio released their first self-titled LP at the end of 2021, establishing themselves as one of the main references of the new alternative scene.
After touring all over Argentina and having performances in Chile, Uruguay, and a tour in Mexico, in October 2023 they released their second LP “CLASE B”, an avant-garde album that has positioned them as one of the bands of the moment.
In 2024, they have been nominated for the Gardel Awards for Best Alternative Rock Album (‘CLASE B’), Best Rock Song (“Y No Me Digan Nada”), and Best New Artist!
This KEXP special playlist features 12 more artists (including Juana Molina, Nicki Nikole, Bandalos Chinos, Fin del Mundo, which is where I discovered them). It is curated by our friend Albina Cabrera, KEXP’s Latin content director. The project was called “KEXP Live from Argentina”, and was recorded in the city of Buenos Aires, in 2022.
Brazilian indie music goes far beyond the boring “lo-fi MPB” of artists like Ana Frango Elétrico, Tim Bernardes, and Céu. We have innovative artists who don’t make the cut in Brazilian music editorials but have a loyal underground following.
We will mention some of them below, they are our choices (what are yours?):
From promise to reality, BIKE climbed all the ladders within the Brazilian underground. Establishing itself as one of the great bands of Brazilian neo-psychedelia and releasing records with different aesthetics and strategies.
1943 (2015) and Em Busca da Viagem Eterna (2017) bringing the frying and youthful spirit to the epidermis; already in Their Shamanic Majesties Third Request (2018) the approach with references from northeastern psychedelia was more latent, a rhythmic record and showing more about where there is firepower, calmness can also coexist. But it was with Quarto Templo (2019) which had a dynamic of launches spread across rooms that the approach to the foreign market and consolidation came.
Having caught the attention of none other than producer Danger Mouse, famous for his extensive research into music beyond the mainstream (see their wonderful playlist).
With the new album Arte Bruta (2023), BIKE returned to the road and went on a grand music tour that has already passed through the United States, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic and the United Kingdom promoting the new album.
They also recorded an exclusive session at KEXP studios in Seattle, as well as performing a sold-out show in the city at the Ilegal Mezcal party. BIKE also played 13 concerts at SXSW (in Austin, TX) and 03 concerts and a radio Session at Treefort Music Fest (in Boise, ID).
“Those who know how to do, do it live”… and EMA STONED know how to do it!! The three members of the band created their own sound, called “disgressive rock”, where they go beyond all possible barriers, experimenting with psychedelic sounds that transport the listener to dreamlike worlds, spectacular landscapes that we create with our own imagination, guided by the ethereal sounds of EMA STONED‘s songs.
EMA STONED‘s music is like a mantra that takes us to places that we create along the way, the fruit of our own feelings and emotions. It is an absolute musical witchcraft, which enchants audiences wherever they perform.
Imagine yourself in a movie, sitting on the tail of a giant winged being, traveling through space until you reach the stars. That’s what you can find in EMA STONED‘s music. Get ready to travel beyond your imagination!
One of the biggest new acts on the Brazilian indie scene right now, the Santa Catarina-based EXCLUSIVE OS CABIDES present an uncomplicated, fun, outrageous rock that connects directly with the TikTok generation.
Drinking from the source of the 60s vibes with a musical style that includes influences from artists such as Mac DeMarco, Oasis, Pavement, all of this mixed in the band’s blender of sick ideas. EXCLUSIVE OS CABIDES is the band you need to hear!
Boogarins is a Brazilian psychedelic rock and neopsychedelia band formed in 2012 in Goiânia by Fernando “Dinho” Almeida (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Benke Ferraz (lead guitar). The band has performed at several music festivals around the world, such as Rock in Rio Lisboa, Primavera Sound, Porão do Rock, Coquetel Molotov, Coachella, Primavera Sound BCN, Lollapalooza and South by Southwest.
Dinho and Benke, childhood friends, recorded their first album Plantas que curam in their bedroom, where they also rehearsed when the band was first starting out. Later, they were joined by bassist Fefel and drummer Ynaiã Bertholdo.
With huge numbers in countries such as the United States, Mexico, and Brazil, Glue Trip is a rock band formed in João Pessoa, Paraíba, by guitarist/music producer Lucas Moura, who makes psychedelic music with influences from Brazilian popular music. Glue Trip has over 120 thousand subscribers on YouTube!
Another independent artist with great numbers, Cidade Dormitório is a lo-fi rock band, with influences from post-punk, psychedelic and experimental rock. Their lyrics talk about existentialism, reverse psychology and social confrontations. They have a strong fan base among young people, who love their music and sell out their shows.
One of the Brazilian bands that has been most internationally known, touring continuously in the United States, opening for Built To Spill and performing residencies in cities such as Portland, Los Angeles and Boise, Idaho. Oruã‘s leader, Lê Almeida, also has a solo career and runs the music label Transfusão Noise Records, which releases several other independent artists from Brazil.
Formed by the couple Leo Gurdan and Gabriela Zaith, White Canyon and 5th Dimension is a Brazilian band with the look and sound of a foreign band, flirting a lot with psych rock and. They call themselves an Extraterrestrial Psychedelic Rock band from Sao Thome das Letras, MG Brazil. Their latest album, Gardeners of the Earth, was released in 2023.
Tangolo Mangos are a band from Salvador, Bahia that identifies with different musical genres, highlighting classic rock, MPB and regional northeastern music, in addition to a sound aesthetic linked to psychedelia.
Led by Felipe Puperi, Tagua Tagua is the continuation of the work he did in the band Wannabe Jalva. In Tagua Tagua, Felipe explores various elements of Brazilian music, mainly percussive, and combines them with electronic music, soul and rock and roll.
She does almost everything herself, travels with her own equipment, stage set and travels the world taking her music marked by the fusion of indie rock, magic, mysticism and feminism. She’s one of the most active independent artists and has continued to stand out in the independent scene.
PAPISA is Rita Oliva, Brazilian musician, singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist. She presenter her debut EP released in 2016 in some of the main stages in Brazil as well at SXSW in Austin-TX. The first LP, Fenda (read more), was released in 2019, with songs that bring to the surface themes like impermanence and the cycles of death and rebirth. In 2023, she releases a new record Amor Delírio (Read More) (Costa Futuro). After this, in 2024, she started touring to promote the album around the United States (SXSW, Treefort Music Fest) and Europe.
The Chilean band La Ciencia Simple is a post-rock and ambient group characterized by exploring the comparison of rhythmic patterns and the development of atmospheric structures.
La Ciencia Simple presents its overwhelming and penetrating mix of post-rock, math rock, instrumental music, and layers of effects that enchant audiences without saying a single word.
If you like bands such as MOGWAI, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, God Is An Astronaut… La Ciencia Simple is your perfect new discovery!!!
BONUS: Want to know more about La Ciencia Simple? Read the interview!
This is not just another shoegaze band from Chile. This is the right band for true shoegaze lovers, that dirty and true shoegaze, made by a bunch of kids who love pedals and distorted guitars, stuck in layers and layers of effects of all kinds.
Trementina is highly recommended for those who like My Bloody Valentine, Ride (from the old days), Swervedriver, Swirlies, Lush, and many other similar bands.
Writer’s note: The band is in hibernation, with no plans for a return.
SISTEMAS INESTABLES is an instrumental trio from Santiago, Chile. Their music is characterized by being progressive and complex in structure, along with layers of noise and ambient textures. Clear melodies and defined sections emerge from this soundscape, creating an evolution in the musical journey and narrating through different environments.
Javier, Santiago, and José Tomás operate (to the limit of their capabilities) a hybrid set that contrasts the use of traditional jazz and rock instruments with an electronic set of keyboards, synthesizers, drum machines, and analog effects that give them a unique and vibrant sound. All these resources are synchronized with an abstract visual proposal to create a minimalist but powerful live experience. In S/I there are no images or representations, it is a concrete and elemental journey.
From Colombia, we chose two completely different bands that are excellent in their own right. The psychedelic soul music inspired by African, Arabic, and Turkish music, and fusions of sounds inspired by the tradition of Colombian music and cumbia from the trio BALTHVS.
Today, BALTHVS is an independent artist of great importance in Colombia’s musical scene, with an international career that is already consolidating.
In 2024, the band participated for the third consecutive time at SXSW and start a series of other important North American festivals, such as Outside Lands (San Francisco, CA), Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA), Austin City Limits (Austin, TX), Also recently announced in Lollapalooza Chile and Lollapalooza Argentina and in Estereo Picnic, in Colombia. In November 2024, the band travels to Europe to perform its second tour with a series of shows in various countries across the old continent.
They already recorded a live session at KEXP‘s Studios. Check below:
And the screamo noisy math-punk rock of Basuraastillada, who make songs full of distortion, screamed or shrill vocals, spectacular turns, and a contagious energy that takes over the listener.
Their first album Muchas Formas de Decir Casa is an overwhelming sonic blast, an avalanche of guitars, screams and whispers, wrapped in strong layers of math rock, post-punk and art noise.
Formed in 2009 in San Jose, Costa Rica, Las Robertas has gone through several lineups before arriving at the current one: Mercedes Oller (guitar and vocals), Russell Davis (guitar), Felipe Oller (bass), Daniela García (keyboard and percussion) and Fabrizio Duran (drums).
A classic psychedelic rock combo led by singer/guitarist Mercedes Oller, the band Las Robertas has a sound inspired by Britpop, Shoegaze, Psychedelic Rock, and the sound of the 60s, from bands like The Velvet Underground.
With a very active international career, Las Robertas has played at Coachella (being the first band from Costa Rica to achieve this feat), Primavera Sound, KEXP and many other venues around the world.
With a sound inspired by Shoegaze and Dreampop, the band Adiós Cometa calls itself: “Mucho chorus y reverb desde San José, Costa Rica.” something like “Lots of chorus and reverb from San José, Costa Rica.”
Hailing from San José, Costa Rica, alternative rock four-piece Adiós Cometa, made up of Jonathan Villalobos (guitar, vox), Emanuel Mora (guitar, vox), Mark Murillo (bass, vox) and Pablo Matamoros (drums), whose friendship and common musical experiences brought them to form the band in 2019 with the aim of creating, through ‘mucho reverb, chorus y delay’, an equally melodious, introspective and melancholic sound, that joins the dots between shoegaze, dream pop and post-punk.
MINIPONY is an Ecuadorian experimental metal project influenced by math, breakcore and Latin music, which combines polyrhythmic structures with minimalist guitar riffs and female screams/yells. The group consists of Amadeus Galiano (guitar), Emilia Moncayo (vocals/samplers/noise) and Carlos Sanches (drums).
Initially formed by Amadeus and Emilia, who came together in Bologna (ITA) in 2012, the original idea was to create a thrash/metal group, but they ended up evolving into something different. Complicated grooves coupled with aggressive and frenetic vocal lines result in an expression of extreme metal in its most brutal form. The project is essentially a mix of thrash, djent and experimental metal.
In 2013, the group released an EP along with a stop motion music video for the track “MilkWithSilk”, in collaboration with Federico Giammattei, a renowned Italian photographer. The music video received a positive response from international artists such as Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jens Kidman (Meshuggah), Justin Preston (The Locust), Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3), among others.
The debut album, “Imago” was released in 2017 by the Italian label Subsound Records. The new album, “Ajna”, was recorded at Gojira’s Silver Cord Studios (Brooklyn NY). The album was released on June 11, 2022 at MINIPONY FEST in Quito, Ecuador, with a high level of execution and visual impact.
Four young teenagers from Guatemala create the band ASIMOV, where they distill a post-rock shoegaze dreampop sound with dark atmospheres, buried vocals and a frightening maturity for such a young band.
For those who like bands like Slowdive, Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai, The Cure.
Mathy screamo with some traditional Peruvian flavor. Imagine chilled-out intricate, yet harmonious Peruvian rock reminiscent of a more accessible The Mars Volta with dual male/female vocalists. This is Fiesta Bizarra!!
Cecimonster vs Donka is a Peruvian rock band formed in 2010, by Sergio Saba and Sebastian Kouri in Lima, Peru. Their music contains a range of elements, including indie rock, post-rock, punk rock, and post-hardcore.
As of 2024 they have 5 studios albums: Solara in 2011, which their song Nieve Nieve won best Rock act in the Country. Adentro Afuera In 2012, from which they were nominated for the best rock act in the country by El Comercio, Empty Beaches in 2015 the band’s 3rd album titled released by Anti-Rudo records.,A Big House By The Lakein 2019 with Mario Acuna and Danny Wilson now on the band. In 2024 the band released their fifth album titled Delilah with their new bassist Richard Gutierrez from El Hombre Misterioso, 3 videos are being released to promote the album.
They have shared stages with important musicians such as Pixies, Él Mató a un Policía Motorizado, Title Fight, Japandroids, Julian Casablancas, Boom Boom Kid, The Joy Formidable and Placebo.
Kinder is a Peruvian instrumental rock band that mixes indie rock, math rock and post rock. The group has four full-length albums – Kinder (2010), Archipiélago (2012), Migraciones (2016), Desastres Naturales Para Niños (2023) – and several singles released from 2018 onwards. Their latest album, Desastres Naturales Para Niños, is a commitment to the combination of analog and digital instruments, always accompanied by melodic layers that remain as guides within a controlled ‘chaos’.
Austin TV is an instrumental post-rock band formed in 2001 in Mexico City. Austin TV creates sonic landscapes with their music without lyrics. The group usually performs on stage with masks, disguises, and uniforms. Concealing their identity in this way personifies their motto: “Your face is not important. The truth is inside”.
The band released 4 albums in its first phase: La última noche del mundo (2003), Asrael (B-sides and live tracks) (2004), Fontana Bella (2007) e Caballeros del Albedrio (2011).
After a 12-year hiatus, they returned in 2023, with a new album Rizoma and recorded a super special Session for KEXP (watch below).
One of our favorites, this band from Sonora (a desert region of Mexico), presents us with the best grunge rock. It’s like they were frozen in time, and now they’re waking up doing the same raw, honest grunge that delighted us in the 90s. Voices are screamed, guitars are distorted with pedal effects, the drums sound like a machine gun, the bass is loud and Margaritas Podridas‘ music is like a natural force that can’t be contained.
A sonorous convulsion that overwhelms audiences worldwide with sick concerts that bring everyone to mosh and dance full of pure energy.
I don’t know what the band’s name means, but it sounds really fun: El Shirota!
Guitar-heavy quartet El Shirota calls on the influence of ’90s alt-rock songwriting and high-volume shoegaze production, resulting in a sound that quickly turns from dreamy textures to noisy chaos. The band took their time developing, releasing only a few raw EPs in the seven years between forming and completing their debut album, 2020’s Tiempos Raros.
El Shirota was formed in 2013 in a suburb of Mexico City by friends Alonso Salamanca, Jose Ignacio Gómez, Mauricio Avendaño, and David Yaneli. The quartet quickly recorded and self-released their Chiluca No Es Satélite EP, a four-song collection of abrasive, punky demos released the same year the band formed.
New music came slowly for El Shirota, and the band’s lineup shuffled often. In 2016 they released a self-titled 12″ EP with a more refined sound somewhere between post-punk and shoegaze, following with another self-titled EP in the same vein two years later. By the time of their 2020 full-length debut Tiempos Raros, the band’s personnel had changed again and their music was leaning more heavily on the influence of ’90s alternative rock sounds like Weezer and Sonic Youth. ~ Fred Thomas
In 2023, they released their second album Ni siquiera estamos listos para hablar (Devil in the Woods).
The Mexican Art-Punk Noise band MENGERS is asking for space in the world to show their power, either in concerts or through their very energetic music. Formed in 2018 by brothers Carlos and Pablo Calderon, who take guitar and drums respectively, along with longtime friend Mauricio Suárez, Mengers released their first album GOLLY in the middle of 2019-COVID pandemic. Armed with 12 songs full of punk and psychedelia and making a complex critique and chronicle of life in Mexico City, GOLLY was named one of the yearʼs best by local underground blogs.
It was in 2019 that the group began sharing their songs on streaming platforms, releasing a self-titled EP. Led by “Rufis”, Películas Geniales arrives with its garage rock and melancholy to remind you of your worth.
This four-song album is about taking a risk with that special person. It also addresses those moments of loneliness, where we feel calm, but after a while we get desperate and start complaining. It ends with a song that narrates the desperation of not being reciprocated, as well as the frustration of perhaps not being that important to other people.
Valgur is a psychedelic-pop / indie-pop band hailing from the town of Juchitán de Zaragoza in Oaxaca, Mexico. The band is comprised of Elizabeth and Hugo Valdivieso. They currently perform out of Mexico City, Mexico.
Valgur has grown into one of the most exciting and unpredictable bands currently working in Mexico’s evergreen indie scene. Listen to the album “Armageddon” which is an indie-pop gem. VALGUR is an artist we cannot let pass by unnoticed.
But, if you’re still unsatisfied with the list above, we have a playlist with more than 500 songs and sounds that can please different tastes.
The Playlist below refers to our research that is done weekly for the program INDIEAMÉRICA radio show, where we play the best of Latin indie, every Tuesday, on the Mutante Radio website. You can subscribe to my Substack clicking here!
This post was published on 26 de setembro de 2024 10:00 am
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