Paul Marmota, "Zona"

Blade Runner reggaeton for bass heads and basement raves

Latin America’s reggaetoneros (and reggaetoneras) owe a number of debts to the sounds and stylings of dancehall reggae, but they also deserve credit for taking its rhythms to grittier territory than their Jamaica-based forebears would regularly venture. Paul Marmota’s “Zona” series in particular has been consistently committed to fleshing out these rhythms’ potential in more sinister-sounding productions. The Chilean producer is now on to Zona 3, but I’ve chosen here to feature the original Zona, which still holds up as one of the best examples of what a dembow can do in darker climes. Although there’s plenty of Caribbean riddims on Zona, there are no beach vibes - unless you’re visiting that beach at 2am with strobe lights and a subwoofer. 

However, the beats on Zona are equally at home in more industrial atmospheres, not unlike the dystopian urban landscape featured on the album’s cover. This is appropriate, since the album’s island influences include equal nods to the UK’s constellation of heavier bass styles (which, in fairness, were also shaped by the UK’s Jamaican diaspora). These can be heard most clearly on grime-tinged tracks like No Te Asustes and Por Bien o Mal, the latter of which is further elevated by a stellar contribution by Spanish-American songstress La Favi. Channeling some unearthly mixture of Grimes and la llorona, La Favi’s vocals swell to fill out Marmota’s ominous production, drifting over the track like mist across the face of a full moon.

Latin music is finally beginning to command more attention from major Western media outlets, and long-time followers of trends there likely won’t be surprised to see Marmota’s name. Zona has already been identified as a seminal album in the neoperreo cannon (for good reason - Tomasa Del Real features on two of its best songs), but it might easily also be associated with the new wave of Latin-influenced house tracks that have swept through clubs over the past few years. If that wave continues, it’s not crazy to think that Zona could be retroactively recognized as one of its first ripples.