Almas Fronterizas

Almas Fronterizas reflects the streets of Latin-Soul, Blues and Indigenous Psychedelia forming a hard-edged sound coming out of the San Francisco, Bay Area. Led by cousins Gilberto Rodriguez and Karin Rodriguez, the sound is as raw as it is live becoming a unique voice among musical contemporaries.

The group’s first several releases, via their own imprint Discos Pistolas y Saguaros, solidified their space in a wide encompassing and constant changing West Coast music scene, yet stood out with an experimental freedom and independent hustle that found kindred spirits in New York City record label Names You Can Trust. Now, after a suitable time together with NYCT, a natural continuation of the group’s ethos is presented in the form of two new songs on 7-inch vinyl. Featuring a third cousin in Carlos Rodriguez on trumpet, plus percussive powerhouse Ahkeel Mestayer on timbales, conga and maracas, Brian Tuley on flute, Devin Hollister on bass and horn arrangements by La Doña’s Cecilia Peña-Govea, the tracks were recorded in Berkeley by Mike Walti and mixed down in Brooklyn for a true coast to coast collaboration. -Eric Banta, NYCT