Section 01 · 080–130 BPM
The Spine
The histories, arguments and long reads that explain where Latin American electronic music came from and what holds it together.
- 080What Is Left of a Cumbia When You Take Twelve BPM Off ItSlow a cumbia digital track by twelve BPM and you have not made a slower version of the same thing — you have made a different object.
- 088Cumbia Is the One Rhythm Everyone Already KnowsThe groove functions as the shared rhythmic reference point across Latin American electronic music — not because it is universal, but because it is everywhere.
- 092The Long Way Round: Miami Bass and the Río de la PlataThe bass arrived before anyone knew where it had come from.
- 110Before the Rave, There Was Already a Sound SystemWhen Brazilian electronic music gets historicized, the story typically begins somewhere in the early 1990s: imported gear, São Paulo warehouse parties, a generation discovering house…
- 130Funk Carioca Did Not Happen by AccidentThe music that came out of Rio's favelas had the shape it had because of where it was made, who controlled the spaces, and what equipment cost.
5 pieces in this section, filed slowest to fastest. Browse every section.