Olmeca - “La Balacera”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 4

Pairs Well With…Ozuna, Maluma, Bad Bunny

There’s been plenty of Latin/trap hybrids birthed over the past half-decade, but few blending those influences so expertly as on Olmeca’s 2019 record Define. It’s a mysterious album, going for lush soundscapes versus straight pop rhythms, letting bass beats be just one element of Olmeca’s complex and serious sound. Reverberating keyboard melodies burst in the title track’s wall-of-noise chorus, before adding Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Mexican traditions to the exciting, fusion-minding introduction. A bilingual performer, Olmeca embodies the Cali-Mexicano sound (he now resides in Las Vegas) by pulling from influences from both sides of the border. There are some pop-trap elements in tracks like “The Hope” and “The Message”, but Olmeca more often dips into psychedelic rap territory both in his synthed out music and Olmeca’s unique rap tone, where even when at its quickest and most intense, it still has a pleasing, weird edge to his sung/rapped melodies. Define is exciting, ever-changing, and fiercely creative, setting the stage for the longtime artist (debut Semillas Rebeldes came out in 2006) to lead a musical lane with this enhanced and robust sound. (Kevin McStravick)