Gotcha  (Audio CD) 
by DLG [Dark Latin Groove]

By anyone's estimation, 1999 was the year that Latin music hit the mainstream. Or at least Latin musicians did. Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Enrique Iglesias sold millions of English-language albums - recordings by and large neutered of Latin rhythm and tradition - and carved out a place for gorgeous, bilingual Latino stars on the pop charts. On the other side stood the senior citizens of the Buena Vista Social Club, who upheld the music's Cuban roots while at the same time minting vintage Latin music as a lifestyle accessory. And into the breach created by the Latin Explosion of '99 tumbled most of Latin dance music's heavy hitters and respective veterans. Ironically, with the flurry of attention directed toward crossover stars, modern Latin music was more than ever speaking the wrong language. So you can be forgiven for missing DLG's third album, even though, like La Lopez and friends, DLG's Huey, James, and Fraga are representative young, urban Latinos. And you may not have realized that, like the Buena Vista Social Club, Gotcha honors the roots of Latin music, be they in Cuban son, rumba, or Dominican bachata. Gotcha's tracks unfold along the patterns of Latin dance music, but each song takes the music in another direction. Producer Sergio George folds reggae beats into the polyrhythms, introduces rustic elements like bachata guitars atop retro-kitsch synthesizers, sets drum machines to chatter amid a huge tropical percussion section. Even the overpowering electronic beats of Latin house are shown up by George's own vampy piano and live drumming. DLG has been a work in progress for George, Latin music's most innovative producer, who first conceived of the group as an audacious urban Latino hybrid. George punched up the drums, hip-hop style, added a bilingual dancehall rapper, and a histrionic singer who could melt into Mariah Carey-style melismas as well as improvise in the Latin cantante tradition. DLG's self-titled debut featured chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter songs that veered between salsa and rap. But over the course of another album and continuous touring - not to mention George's experiments becoming co-opted by everyone in the business - the elements fused. On Gotcha, the boys tellingly cover the 1966 classic "Boogaloo Blues," harking back to the last time Latin and pop music danced so close. "Got a Hook on You (DLG Blues)" is a bilingual, house-inflected, send-up of retro styles and street beats that DLG tear into with glee. The Latin-soul moment of the late '60s was short-lived, unplugged by salsa artists threatened by singing in English and swinging the clave. As DLG's Gotcha demonstrates, that doesn't seem to be the case this time, and we can only wait to see where the dance goes from here.

--Mark Schwartz, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.