Manu Chao: Clandestino

LP Record At first listen, the record seems like background music drifting in from the next room, but on a second listen, it reveals itself as a dark piece of work. It’s built from minimal Latin and roots loops, an acoustic guitar, and the voice of Manu Chao, whom some might remember as the singer of the French-Spanish agitprop group Mano Negra. On his hard drive, Miguel Matamoros, Bob Marley, and Subcomandante Marcos meet over a bag of summer grass. The mood shifts, however, as their heads grow heavy with the misery of their nations. @Normal: Manu Chao is gallant, singing about the exiled and the exploited as if they were a beautiful woman he wants to ask for a dance.