I may have spent my formative years, 16-32, in the DC area, but I spent the last 15 years in Florida and being a teacher of students from Peru, Venezeula, Cuba and Puerto Rico, to name just a few, I developed a richer and deeper understanding of Latin music. As such from the moment I hit play on “Maria” by Ritmo Lokura I was immediately hit with the Latin fusion in this rad as fuck ska band. I’m really more used to hearing soul, funk and R&B influences, so it was really sick to hear them bring the Latin fully to the front.

This is the short of shit that just gets me up there skanking and dancing away. I don’t need to understand the words to understand the musical language being put out. But per the band the song is about an “unwanted love affair” and strives to capture “the pain and confusion of a relationship that ebbs and flows without any regard for the heart it toys with” as it “portrays the anguish of being ensnared in a love that is as unpredictable as it is unreciprocated.”

Great Latin rhythms with ska upstrokes and horns a plenty. I could dance to this all night long. And that rapid fire ending was fucking dope.

If this is what Houston is putting out, I’m for sure picking it up, and I hope they come out to the Hudson Valley on tour sooner rather than leter.

Listen on their Spotify or my Ska Playlist

Check them out on TikTok, IG , FB , YouTube, and their Website

Need a song or album reviewed? Contact me using the link below (Keep in mind, I only review bands I actually like; you can go elsewhere for insincere or negative reviews.) https://app.musosoup.com/submit/DCxPCLive

Want to mail a vinyl for review? Message me at dcpcbooking@gmail.com for the address

No tapes and no CDs, I can’t play either of them.

Also make sure to check out DCxPC Live’s store where I have vinyl release of live albums by amazing hardcore, punk, ska and metal bands! We are a small DIY record label doing our best to document the scene we love in the way we love it most—LIVE!

If you dig this, I’d check out our albums by The Phensic, Skappository or The Ratchet Boys