9. Héctor LavoeDe Ti Depende
Lavoe is one of the salsa masters – he and Willie Colón were very close, they wrote some of the biggest salsa hits. This record has a very particular sound. It’s a little dark. The title track made me feel really connected to the music, and there’s a funny song called ‘Periódico De Ayer’ – yesterday’s news – and the lyrics are like, “your love is yesterday’s news … no one wants to read yesterday’s news”. Salsa is super complex music, but it’s so easygoing on your ear – the perfect balance of complexity and good music means you’re not thinking about how the harmonies are made, you’re just enjoying them. You go with the flow even if it’s very complex.
