Adrian Quesada Revives Dramatic Vintage Latin Pop, With Guest Vocalists

Soundcheck | Aug 28, 2025

Adrian Quesada is probably best known as one of the two co-founders of the psychedelic soul band Black Pumas, but the guitarist and producer has also been part of Grupo Fantasma, Brownout and Ocote Soul Sounds.  Lately, he’s also been pursuing another musical project called  Boleros Psicodélicos, an homage to the phenomenon of balada music that blossomed throughout Latin America between the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Balada is “a refined collision of bossa nova smoothness, Beatlesque psychedelia and torrid boleropathos” which “used art-pop instrumentation (mostly strings and harpsichords)”, and “employed songs about heartbreak and longing as a means to transport the listener to an opulent, cinematic fantasy world”, (Bandcamp). Quesada has recently released the second volume of these modern takes on vintage Latin pop sounds, all featuring some of the leading voices in modern Latin alternative music. Quesada, his band, and guest artists -L.A. singer and producer Angélica Garcia, Grammy-winning Puerto Rican singer-songwriter iLe (Ileana Cabra), and violinist and vocalist Mireya Ramos (of the all-female Mariachi band Flor de Toloache) – all perform in-studio. 

Set list: 1. Tus Tormentas with Mireya Ramos 2. No Juego with Angelica Garcia 3. Mentiras con Cariño with iLe 

WNYC Homepage - Top Stories

Jack Schlossberg, the Kennedy Running for Congress in New York. Plus, the Astronaut Reid Wiseman

NJ Gov. Sherrill: If state police were too aggressive at Delaney Hall, we'll look into it

I.C.E.'s "Wartime Recruitment" Campaign

Ask the Mayor Recap and More News From City Hall

YOU ARE ONLINE