Playlists

Sorted by when you would put them on

A playlist page answers a different question from a mix note. Not what is this music, but what room is it for. All thirteen of these addresses existed on the previous version of this site and are rebuilt exactly where they were.

• Latin Salsa Tropical Mix

  When: A bar or a lounge with people talking over it, a cocktail hour, or a kitchen at the start of an evening.

  Percussion forward Afro-Cuban salsa for bars, lounges and cocktail hours. What it suits, what it does to a room, and what to listen for in the drums.

• Latin Jazz Background

  When: Reading, writing, coding, a cafe in the afternoon, or a dinner where the music is meant to be furniture.

  Mid tempo instrumental Latin jazz for working, studying and cafes. Why it holds a room without taking it over, and how to choose between the tracks in it.

• Four Hour Latin Mix

  When: A party from arrival to close, a long working session, or a shop or restaurant that needs a whole service covered.

  The long form set: salsa, bachata and cumbia sequenced in energy blocks for parties, events and long working sessions. How it is ordered and how to use it.

• Afro-Cuban Percussion Mix

  When: Focused work where melody would distract, a warm up, or listening properly with headphones on.

  Rumba and salsa percussion with guaguanco, tribal drums and the quinto improvising on top. What each drum is doing and how to listen to percussion only music.

• Fiesta Cubana

  When: A party that is already warm, a Cuban themed evening, or any point where a room needs lifting quickly.

  Four Cuban styles in one set: salsa, timba, guaracha and son mambo. What separates them, and where each one belongs in an evening.

• Salsa y Cumbia Mix

  When: A long social evening, a family gathering, or anywhere a room needs to keep moving without being pushed.

  Salsa and cumbia alternating: why the tempo gap between them is an asset, how the transitions work, and when to use each.

• Cha Cha Cha

  When: Dance practice, a dinner party, or any setting that wants movement without high energy.

  Cha-cha-cha, the rhythm named after the sound of dancers' feet. Charanga instrumentation, where the triple step falls, and why jazz musicians took to it.

• Merengue Instrumental

  When: The peak of a party, a workout, or any moment that needs energy immediately.

  Instrumental merengue with accordion, tambora and guira. Where merengue belongs in an evening and why the blocks should stay short.

• Son Cubano Instrumental

  When: Early in an evening, a long lunch, or listening while doing something else that needs half your attention.

  Instrumental son cubano with tres guitar, anticipated bass and the montuno structure that salsa grew out of. Light, transparent and easy to live with.

• Salsa Jazz Instrumental

  When: Listening properly, a bar with an attentive room, or work that benefits from something more interesting than ambient.

  Where dance salsa meets jazz improvisation: extended solos over a montuno, harmony a dance band would avoid, and how to tell the two traditions apart.

• Salsa Hits Mashup

  When: A dance floor, a practice session at home, or a party that has passed its warm up.

  Salsa built for dancing: stable clave direction, an audible bell at the montuno, consistent tempo and signalled section entries.

• Christmas Latin Mix

  When: December, from decorating through cooking to the party itself.

  Latin Christmas music across salsa, bachata, cumbia, rumba and bolero. The parranda and aguinaldo traditions behind it, and how to sequence a December set.

• Spanish Guitar Flamenco

  When: A quiet room, a meal, or late in an evening when the party has thinned out.

  Flamenco and Spanish guitar for lounge settings: rasgueado, picado and golpe technique, the Andalusian cadence, and why flamenco is not Latin American.