This month, we’re celebrating the Latinx artists transforming house and techno music as we know it. Artists on this list originate from Lima, Guadalajara, and Bogota to name a few, but their music transcends borders and even genres. 

These 10 musicians are purveyors of new flavors of house and techno, inspiring their peers in the genre to experiment with sounds, sin miedo. These artists are tastemakers and community builders—working to keep the music scene thriving in their respective cities like Los Angeles and Mexico City, after the past two harrowing years. 

Their projects are infused with the vibrant sounds of colorful indigenous instruments, lyrics of cultural lore, and ancestral wisdom. Get to know these 10 Latinx producers and musicians, you’re sure to see them on the main stage at a festival near you soon enough! 

Sofia Kourtesis 

Born in Lima, Peru, Sofia Kourtesis had a trans-Atlantic education between New York and Hamburg. After organizing many university parties in Berlin, the young jetsetter aptly became a club booker, working some of Hamburg's most renowned clubs such as Prinzenbar, Docks, and Große Freiheit 36. Kourtesis eventually graduated to the mixing deck in Berlin’s Funkhaus and caught the attention of several high-profile fashion houses, like Levis and Adidas. Since then, Kourtesis has played at several festivals and released widely acclaimed projects. Her first two EPs, the 2019 self-titled Sofia Kourtesis and last year’s Sarita Colonia, were both deemed cult hits. Kourtesis’ brand of house music is so uniquely and distinctly hers—much of her work features distorted, harmonized vocals and splintered film samples, expertly weaved into joyful, buoyant house music that only Kourtesis can create. Her latest EP, Fresia Magdalena, is as pulsing as her previous EPs, though more meditative and reflective.

Follow Sofia Kortesis on Instagram | Facebook | Soundcloud

SandJake 

After spending a few years creating and djing independently around Spain, Sandro Merlucci and Jacobo Morata decided to meld their professional projects into one musical persona—Sandjake. The Madrid duo’s discography hovers over tech-house territory, though many of their latest drops have a classic house sound, heavy on drums and synths. 

Follow SandJake on Instagram | Facebook | Soundcloud

Ela Minus 

The Colombian composer is finishing up her BBC Radio 1 residency this Thursday and has recently announced she’ll be supporting Caribou on his 2022 tour. Her work has a consistent theme, that dissent is vital and necessary.  “I want people to feel like they have the power to change the world,” she recently told Pitchfork. The techno producer believes that small acts can lead to big changes. Her debut album, acts of rebellion, is as jarring as it is hopeful. Minus creates powerfully evocative techno that is layered and driving with breathy, minimalistic vocals—it’s a beautiful combination and a unique one at that.

Follow Ela Minus on Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud

Suricata

26-year-old Mexican musician Suricata, produces house music, big-room, and electronic dance music in Mexico City. He incorporates indigenous sounds into the context of rave culture in Mexico City’s electronic music landscape through his work. “Music is not the expression of ideas but the experience of ideas, that same fact has always made sound the perfect tool for self-transformation,” said the house artist. He works with Drecords.mx in the neighborhood of La Doctores in México City, whose current roster includes other Latinx techno and house acts, Kitschy Kitsch, Prudd, and CasaNegra.

Follow Suricata on Instagram | Soundcloud

Prudd

Prudd has DJed in clubs all around Mexico City, London, Palma de Mallorca, and Tulum within the past decade. His projects are hypnotic, filled with plenty of layers of oscillating deep chords and rhythms. This Latinx DJ, hailing from Guadalajara, México, doesn’t shy away from experimenting slightly into the realms of dub techno and minimal house. His latest EP features expertly integrated sequencers and intensive drum machines to create these warm, memorable techno tracks you won’t readily forget. 

 Follow Prudd on Instagram | Soundcloud

Leimantour 

Born in Monterrey, Mexico, the LA-based producer known as Leimantour brings live instruments to his mixes and does his own vocals and live percussion. Leimantour’s latest projects fluctuate between melodic house & techno, and progressive house. His work is powered by driving basslines and vibrant sounds and melodies that ricochet throughout his projects, inspiring a fresh take on techno and house music, ultimately honing his unique recipe of music. Leimantour is a tour de force, and one musical act not to be missed.

Follow Leimantour on Instagram | Soundcloud

El Irreal Veintiuno

Bryan Dálvez is a Latinx producer and visual designer based in Mexico City. His musical endeavor, El Irreal Veintiuno, hybridizes euphoric sounds with peripheral tribal rhythms to explore new possibilities within contemporary Latinx club music. Dálvez’s music strikes perfectly between ancestral spirit and electronic dance music. He regularly DJs throughout Mexico City and is highly active within the capital’s electronic music scene. His latest releases are introspective and incredibly danceable. Tracks dropped within the last year have ranged from footwork-cumbia anthems to dance-floor ready tribal house cuts, intense and full of personal and mythological narratives.

Follow El Irreal Veintiuno on Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud

Kaleema

Argentinian violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Heidi Lewandowski, known in the Latinx electronic music scene as Kaleema, produces uplifting, experimental electronic music. The classically trained artist released her debut album in 2017, Nómada, which was positively received, in large part for her seamless execution of pairing irresistible hypnotic electronic elements with traditional Latin American instrumentals. Kaleema’s latest studio album, Útera, is an immersive experience—one that is full of sophisticated electronic arrangements that merge into downtempo and elegant, electronic ambient sounds.

Follow Kaleema on Instagram | Twitter

Pelada

Pelada is a Montreal-based electronic duo that produces a blend of techno and club music featuring themes of power, gender, and environmental politics. The duo consists of Tobias Rochman, who produces for the duo, and vocalist Chris Vargas. Their work as Palada spans various styles of dance music from house to cumbia. Vargas’ cutting vocals and biting lyrics sung in Spanish, paired alongside Rochman’s pulsing techno music, create a dynamic listening experience. 

Follow Pelada on Instagram | Twitter

Mitú

Mitú is Colombia’s best electronic music act. The duo, formed by Julián Salazar on synths, and Franklin Tejedor on percussions, create techno with a primal flavor. Salazar played guitar for Bomba Estéreo for over a decade and Tejedor comes from a lineage of San Basilio de Palenque musicians—the town was the first free black town of the new world, and as such was classified by UNESCO as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Tejedor previously played drums with Las Alegres Ambulancias, San Basilio de Palenque's most iconic band. The history of their lives and careers have inspired their latest works, which contain overarching punk themes reflective of society’s oppressive structures.

Follow Mitú on Instagram | Twitter



10 Hispanic House & Techno Artists to Watch

Columbian-born Gabriela Jimeno, better known as her artist name Ela Minus, is a multi-instrumentalist producer and DJ. Unlike most electronic producers, Jimeno doesn't use a laptop in any part of her production or live performances. Instead, she uses only hardware machines and her voice, creating everything from scratch herself.

Now based in Brooklyn, New York, the nearly lifelong musician began playing instruments at 11 years old, starting with the drums and eventually playing in emo and hardcore bands. At age 18, Jimeno moved to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music, double minoring in jazz drumming and synthesizer design. This is where she fell in love with electronic sounds and improvisational jazz; and where she began learning new ways to create music.

Taking inspiration from Kraftwerk and early Daft Punk, she focuses on analog machines such as synthesizers and makes it her challenge to not use a single computer-generated sound. And she does exactly that with all of her music and live performances.

Her early work, dating back to 2017, put her name out there, but the release of her debut full-length project in October 2020 solidified her place in electronic music. During such a politically tense time, 

 speaks to and for minorities, standing up and advocating for the oppressed, herself included. She shares messages of self-love, resistance, and empowerment. Though her topics are serious and emotionally fueled, she has a vibrant sound that follows her mantra, ‘bright music for dark times.’

Ela Minus has performed her analog-driven arrangements across the world, including at Coachella, Primavera Sound, III Points, Pitchfork, and Lollapalooza. She is currently on a Summer 2022 tour, hitting festivals and venues across the United States and Europe, including Lost Village in the UK and Lowlands in the Netherlands.

Ela Minus

Articles

Melisa Yuriar