DOWNLOAD THEN SEE: Las Rubias Del Norte

By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 1, 2010 7:30PM

Some music begs to be heard in nice weather. We've been listening to Ziguala, the latest album by Brooklyn-based Las Rubias del Norte for about a month now, and it just didn't seem complete without a warm breeze tickling our kicked-up feet. Finally, though, the gods have intervened, cranking the temperature for the band's first Chicago visit tonight at Morseland.

Las Rubias del Norte plays Latin music, but it's by no means an unadulterated folk product. They take the melding even farther on Ziguala, which they say was an attempt to create an album of what pop music might sound like if rock never came along to displace Latin music from the center of worldwide fascination. The source material of Ziguala is a fascinating global mix, with songs by Bollywood composer Sachin Dev Burman, Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen," Kurt Weill's musical "Marie Galante," and Greek rebetiko composer Manolis Chiotis. All this disparate music fits together surprisingly cohesively, united by the septet's Latin-tinged sound and uncomplicated, tight arrangements and orchestrations. The band's vocalists, Emily Hurst and Allysa Lamb, are classically-trained former members of the New York Choral Society, although on Ziguala their vibrato flattens out and hearing their sweet-as-honey voices is less like going to the opera and much more like overhearing the cute girl next door sing to herself.

The resulting music is relaxing and hummable, and is best consumed while wearing short sleeves and holding a cocktail. Pour yourself a drink, if the boss doesn't mind, and check out the group's heart string-pulling version of the Jeanette/José Luis Perales song "Porque te Vas."

MP3: Las Rubias del Norte "Porque te Vas"

Tonight at 9:00 p.m., Morseland, 1218 W. Morse Ave., $10