Artist: Hector Buitrago
Album: Conector
Country of Origin: Colombia

Ah, Colombia. Home to fictional coffee farmer Juan Valdez, his mule, a 40-year-long civil war and the U.S-backed regime of President Álvaro Uribe, which was recently implicated by the U.N. in the killings of 29 civilians — including pregnant women and children — in the last year and a half.

How such a truly screwed-up country could produce an artist as genuinely gifted as Hector Buitrago is a question better left to future, more evolved, generations. In the meantime, let's all just kick back and enjoy the first (of what we can only hope will be many more) solo project from the co-leader of acclaimed rock duo Aterciopelados. (Google 'em.) Conector (it's a pun on "with Hector" and the only thing even remotely corny about this release on the Nacional Records label) leaves you with the impression that Buitrago is one of those rare individuals smart enough to carefully ponder the placement of each individual note, yet ballsy enough to mix together Andean panpipes, electronic tonalities and Tuvan throat singing (Google that, too) and, against all odds, make it work. While Buitrago may never get to order a cheesesteak at Geno's, he can go to sleep tonight knowing that he's done well, provided the constant gunfire and the screams of pregnant women and children don't keep him awake.