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RIONEGRO album debut in which Cómeme All-stars (Sano, Matias Aguayo and Gladkazuka) join forces for modern nocturnal tropical psychedelia - Includes cover versions of tropical classics by Los Mirlos, Willie Colón and Afrosound. - Designed for both home listening and sound system. - Rhythms you can dance house steps as well as salsa to. - Will appeal to fans of Fania, Bunker records, Discos Fuentes, Nu Groove, and Cómeme.

"The night came and with it, Aguardiente and smoke. We listened to salsa records and played along on the MPC. Wilson the dog saw us working, dancing and singing. A little more than a month went by. We were joined by a piano player, some singers, a percussionist, and recorded day and night, with more Aguardiente. We recorded, with delay and distortion, adding layers of melodies and rhythm. We call it RIONEGRO, like the place where it was created, like the river that flows down and crosses Medellín on its way to the ocean"

Liner Notes: Sebastian "Sano" Hoyos.

In January 2013 Sebastián "Sano" Hoyos, Gregorio "Gladkazuka" Gomez, Natalia Valencia, and Matias Aguayo set out to gather at Rionegro, a town on the outskirts of Medellín, Colombia. Others, like Byron Idárraga, Natalia Lara, Luis Miguel Jaramillo, and more, would join the sessions. In this project, a musical spirit was followed, initiated by Sano's inspiration in playing the rhythms of Salsa, Descarga, Boogaloo, Merengue, and so on, using the machines of today.

Together, all were conscious about the aim not to make a fusion of styles but rather an authentic delivery of their love for music, and something to which you could dance the same steps as the great Salsa classics.

They performed these grooves in a house by the mountains, and everything was about the love for the music they grew up with and about playing it today with their own means. Recordings were made during long lasting, late night jams, in-and-around the house (that's why you can sometimes hear barking dogs and other background noises on the record).

Gladkazuka worked drum machines and sequencers; recorded, and played his distinct minimalist electric guitar riffs of dark Latin psychedelia, reminding us of moments when Beat and Rock'n Roll embraced Cumbia.

Sano is a Salsa lover, a salsa dancer, as well as a House and Salsa DJ. Being a lover of Nuyorican takes on House music- where rhythms stand as close to tropical music as they do to disco and funk. He continues in this vein by translating those hard rhythms of the past, reinventing the dirty distorted Salsa – cowbells, the conga cascades of the energetic "Descargas", and the aggressive trombones hearable on old vinyl.

Modern Salsa has become "romántica," cheesy and clean, and not as wild and edgy as its ancestors. Sano was helped to realize his musical vision with the production skills of Gregorio Gomez and Matias Aguayo. The latter programmed drum machines, played rhythms and guitar, and wrote lyrics in this project. He especially focused on recording the singers- joining in only for background vocals.

Natalia Valencia is a composer who was also present for the whole project and appears on several tracks playing the keyboards, by which another level of ghostly and magic notes and colours were added to the production.

Luis Miguel "Cuchara" Jaramillo is a young percussionist from Medellín. Coming from a family deeply rooted in salsa, he participated in a majority of songs with his playfulness and groove.

Byron Idárraga again is something of a musical mentor to all, being not only a living encyclopaedia of salsa, house music and new wave, but also a great rhythm programmer, especially on the 707.

After the recordings, the RIONEGRO crew set out to play in Medellín and Bogotá testing out their tracks on soundsystem and dancefloor. The young house and techno-loving audience that grew up with Salsa, embraced the tracks immediately. The track "Descarga" for instance, with its technoid sound but salsa rhythm, was identified immediately as what it is, a Salsa riddim, and was therefore danced to in a salsa way. People would also join in the chants of repetitive choirs in the recordings, while Luismi Cuchara Jaramillo would be discharging his tropical rhythms on electronic drum pads.

RIONEGRO is another instalment in Cómeme's quest to create music for the dancers, who will be able to do their steps at RIONEGRO nights, at home, on the road, in togetherness in front of a boombox, sound system or their own personal subwoofer.