De Natalia Lafourcade

Having trimmed most of the synths and samples from 2015’s Hasta la Raíz, offbeat Mexican singer/songwriter Natalia Lafourcade gets truly intimate on the hushed and haunting Musas. Collaborating with Los Macorinos, a virtuoso guitar duo who spin impossibly gorgeous melodies throughout, Lafourcade once again blends dreamy indie pop (“Te Vi Pasar”) with swooning bossa nova (“Soledad y el Mar”). But she also strips her style down to the acoustic essentials, building many arrangements around her angelic voice and little else. Always charming, occasionally heartbreaking, Musas is another unexpected twist from a deceptively sweet and decidedly ambitious artist. Musas received a Latin Grammy Award nomination for Album of the Year at the 18th Annual Latin Grammy Awards.

At the height of her decade-long rise to fame, Julieta Venegas released her first live album, MTV Unplugged, a star-studded and meticulously arranged performance recorded before 450 adoring fans in Mexico City. She performs her greatest hits, of course, but she also adds to her set list relatively obscure songs – most delightfully "Esta Vez," a ballad from her debut album, Aquí (1998) – and several new songs, including the international chart-topping lead single, "El Presente." As with many MTV Unplugged albums, guest stars are featured throughout; most noteworthy among them here are Spanish rapper Mala Rodríguez, who performs in the place of Chilean rapper Anita Tijoux on "Eres Para Mí," and Brazilian superstar Marisa Monte, who duets in Portuguese on "Ilusión" (a new song written by Venegas, Monte, and Arnaldo Antunes). Guest star or not, the performances are each interesting in their arrangements, which are generally quite different from their studio original counterparts.