The Beat Surrender

Oh wow this is quite possibly one of the best albums i’ve heard this year, strange really for me to say that when in truth it doesn’t contain one new song in it’s 16 tracks. To worry about that though is to miss the point of what Rhythms Del Mundo Cuba is all about.

This is popular, fairly mainstream indie music given a gentle and sophisticated makeover with a foundation of music and vocals from musicians from The Buena Vista Social Club, it’s all done with so much class, so much style and with such light grace that you can’t help but love every single song on here.

That goes as much for the songs that don’t include the Western bands and instead feature the Cubans on their own such as Killing Me Softly and Hotel Buena Vista by Omara Portuondo and Aquila Rose & Idana Valdes respectively.

Of course over here in Blighty the majority of people will want to know how the dulcit Yorkshire tones of Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys fuse with a bit of Latin flava on Modern Way and Dancing Shoes more than anything. In my eyes a lot of these songs that you’ve loved and then become slightly fed up with through repetition are revitalised here.

The album is out now and at least £2 from the sale of each one will be donated to the Artistic Project Earth’s Natural Disaster Relief and Climate Change Awareness programmes.