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DePedro is Jairo Zavala and you might wonder why he should choose such an alias. Well, he claims it’s because DePedro sounds a bit Spanish/Mediterranean and indeed it does but so doesn’t Jairo Zavala? Anyway, Jairo is better known as the guitarist in Arizona’s indie, tex-mex, folk, group Calexico.

Calexico were a huge hit at Big Chill this year (I managed to catch a little of their set on the way to see Fink) but I think this album is better than anything they’ve done. O.K. the Jazzanova remix of ‘Black Heart’ was a big tune but the mix of Jairo’s Madrid upbringing and Peruvian father have helped influence the 11 tracks on this album that is suitably released on Nation Geographic’s’ record label.

Produced by Jario and Joey Burrns (Calexico, Giant Sand et al), fans of lo-fi, jazzy, tex-mix, rock-a-billy will love this, especially the first half of the album, particularly ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ (a track co-written with Amparo Sánchez who you may recall from Federico Aubele’s album Panamerican that also featured a track with Joey Burns guesting).

For leftfield, big horn, Latin jazz dancers, the cover of Jorge Ben’s ‘Comanche’ is a monster track that could easily be the tune of the night at the upcoming Dingwalls reunion gig (with Gilles Peterson at the helm as usual). Normally, a repeat of ‘La, la, la, la’ would have put me off this one but the guitar fade-out at the end comes far too soon.

But better than that is the Spanish swamp blues harp Vox Continental organ of ‘Qué Puedo Hacer Por Ti?’ and it doesn’t stop there. Regular readers will know that I’m a bit of a fan of the mariachi horn and ‘Equivocado’ contains a great solo on a downempo ballad.

Most of the lyrics are sung in Spanish but half of ‘Tomorrow’ is in English and its a bit slushy with added tinkering piano before the horn of Jacob Valenzuela warms us up with a change from English to Spanish lyrics. And it’s a bit of the shame that the album ends with a track of pure slush but we can over look that one as it’s a great album.

On a quick note about the label, the international institution that is the National Geographic magazine foray into the record label business is obvious move and long overdue. It’s a credit to them that they they’ve taken this step (in such difficult times) and that in Jairo, they’ve found an artist with international appeal with original material to support. Their next release is by Forro In The Dark (remember we reviewed the 12” with Seu Jorge back in 2006, see review HERE) so I’m hopeful that I’ll get my hands on that one the review as soon as.

Reviewed: DePedro - DePedro (Nat Geo Music) Cat. No. NGM002 Release date: 14th September 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Como El Viento (4:00)
2 Don’t Leave Me Now (3:58)
3 La Memoria (3:56)
4 Two Parts In One (3:59)
5 Llorona (4:41)
6 Te Sigo Soñando (3:35)
7 Comanche (3:57)
8 Qué Puedo Hacer Por Ti? (3:57)
9 Equivocado (4:24)
10 Tomorrow (5:09)
11 Miguelito (4:03)

Links:
www.myspace.com/myspacedepedro
www.natgeomusic.net
www.myspace.com/natgeomusicus