CD Review - Navegante, Microcosmos

Another happy accident. I recently heard about about the band Navegante and got the chance to hear their upcoming release of Microcosmos, which is due out officially on June 19. The band has been compared to a "Latin Gnarls Barkley". They've also garnered praise from Carlos Santana, which gives them some serious cred but the key, as always, is in the music.

And Microcosmos is a great collection of music, with the main influences coming from Latin R&B and various styles of dance music, like trance and electronica. Many of the songs would easily fit on one of Santana's more recent albums but the dance influence twists it into something a little different. The Gnarls Barkley reference fits because of the vocal delivery style and some of the backing keyboard work, but it also reminds me of some of Sting's solo work. Beyond that, I can hear som African and reggae influences hiding in the background. Overall, Microcosmos offers a lot of what I really enjoy: great beats, a serious groove, and enough underlying complexity to make it really interesting. The complexity is a pleasant surprise from a trio like this. Playing live must be their true showcase but the CD shows a pretty nice range.

One caveat: be prepared, the songs are all in Spanish. On the other hand, the delivery and vocabulary are fairly straightforward. I was able to understand most of it without much effort and I am definitely not fluent.

The album has matching bookends with the song Apariencias ("Appearances"). The closer is a remix of the first song. Initially, I preferred the remix; it has a heavier groove and more synthesizer and echoing guitars. After a few listens though, the mix is a little better on the first one. Speaking of mixes, if I have to find fault with anything with this CD, it's the engineering work. The mixes are compressed and muddy, which makes it hard to hear the separation between the instruments. Little tricks, like varying the EQ and reverb of the various parts, would have made this easier to listen to and would have helped emphasize the bottom end bounce and the shimmery synth washes.

The second song is one of my three favorites off the disc. Todo o Nada ("All or nothing") starts out with a Moorish/mideastern feel with syncopation and a reedy, processed chant in the intro. The beat drives the song but the syncopation balances it into a looser groove. The underlying fill music plays some very interesting scales that take it beyond Latin into a North African/world beat sound. The spoken/sung vocal delivery is typical for the album, contributing to the laid back feel. The only thing this lacks is a heavier bottom end to the groove to take it more into a club beat. The song has a number of sections that all fit together and keep it interesting. This is heavy in my current rotation.

Ya Verás ("Really!") is another of my favorite tracks. It starts with a simple drum beat but there's an underlying sixteenth note guitar ticka-ticka that comes up a little like the verse in Another Brick in the Wall, but this is no Pink Floyd thing. Once again, there's some wonderful complexity between the beat, the guitars, and synths that really catch my ear. Unfortunately, this is where the mix doesn't really deliver on what the song could be. I want a serious thumping bass here with walls of guitar and some cutting synthesizer. The parts are all there but they all smoosh together.

My third pick (and favorite) is Tú, which starts out as a simple ballad, with some trance-like touches. The psychedelic feel comes from echoed shimmery synth washes, the sound of static, and some intensely layered vocals. This is mellow and emotional. There are touches of Beatles influence (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds) but nothing overt. Even though a cleaner mix would have helped, the overall engineering here is better than the other tracks I mentioned.

There are plenty of other standout tracks on this album: La Optimista reminds me of some Journey song I can't quite name, Cameron brings Johnny Clegg and Savuka to mind, and Calor has a great electronic R&B feel with a hint of trance. This last track is a good example of what I meant by reggae influence -- it's not the beat, it's the dub-style of the arrangement, with instruments dropping out once in a while to add emphasis to the remaining parts. The live version, which is also included, has more jam to it. I'd love to catch this live in person. The irony is that the trance groove adds a cooler distance that belies the title ("Heat").

All together, this is a good example of Latin club music that's worth checking out. My first thought for a pairing was rum and Coke but a nice sipping rum like Cacique from Venezuela would be even better.