“When many people think of Salsa and NYC, the places that come to mind are Manhattan and the Bronx. We are a Brooklyn- and Queens-based band, hence the album title: ‘From the other side of the East River’.”
George Vélez Junior
Band Leader

Grupo Arcano have achieved something rare in any musical genre: an album where every single track is a powerful dancefloor stormer, with no filler material at all!

While undoubtedly influenced by the salsa dura orchestras of the 70s, Grupo Arcano is an unmistakably modern band with their own distinctive style. The group is the brainchild of saxophonist, composer and band leader George Vélez Jr and his father George Sr, a trombonist for over 40 years. That coming together of generations is evident throughout the 13-piece orchestra, nowhere more so than in lead singers George Vélez Sr and Anthony Almonte, who were 60 and 20 years old when the album was released. You can really feel those different influences coming together, with the singers using their vocal range to sweeten some songs and add aggression to others. With the addition of two saxophones to the four-piece brass section, there’s plenty of punch available as well!

Each song takes you on a real journey, with energy always building up and releasing, thanks to the innovative arrangements of co-directors Harold Gutierrez and George Vélez Jr. Just when you think you know what’s coming next, they manage to prolong the tension for just a bit longer before going into interesting breaks that are a treat for dancers and musicians alike. That journey continues across the album as well, with sound changing with each song and lyrics that deal with lots of different topics, many of which arose from the personal experiences of the musicians.

The first track, Lluvia Viene, is a deceptively mellow opener that talks about karma and “what goes around, comes around” according to songwriter George Sr. Then the punchy and uptempo Preguntale really gets the heart pumping before my personal favourite track comes up next – El Travieso Mayor – with a truly sublime intro that I can just listen to on its own over and over again. Check it out:

Love and heartbreak are tackled by Ary and the lighter-sounding Esa Mujer respectively. Right in the middle is La Maya, a fantastic son montuno with a forboding tone and lyrics that speak of a locally feared man overcoming his own inner fears. Un Tipo Sala’o is a rich, mid-tempo number before the album finishes on a high with the percussion-heavy Rumba En Mi Barrio.

The album drips with authenticity and attention to detail, from the crowd-funding of the project on Kickstarter to the use of a real piano instead of an electric one. The eight tracks were lavished with over two years of production and recording time before the band was happy. They did all the hard work themselves, with no session musicians: the guys you hear on the CD are the same guys you’ll see on stage at a Grupo Arcano gig. Each band section was recorded together instead of the more common method of recording each instrument separately. That way, the musicians could play off each other and the recordings kept that ‘live’ feel, complete with those few little ‘mistakes’ that add a certain grit and flavour to live music.

‘Desde el otro lado del East River’ is available at all your favourite digital stores and also on CD, so make sure you pick up this gem of an album. Grupo Arcano’s second album is due for release in the Spring of 2015, and I can’t wait to see where they take us next!

… and finally, here they are doing a cover of ‘Cuando Te Vea’. Even though this is not on the album, I loved it so much I just had to share it. Enjoy!