The first compilation from Zizek Records, the recently founded label attached to the weekly Buenos Aires institution Zizek Urban Beats Club, brings together artists at the forefront of Argentina’s digital cumbia scene.

Cumbia may have its beginnings in Colombia but in Argentina it found a second home where it was adapted and mutated into a unique style; cumbia villera. This gritty offshoot, often lyrically dark and seedy first appeared in the poorer barrios of Buenos Aires in the wake of the 2001 economic crash. Once again, Argentine musicians are taking cumbia in a new direction as artists mix traditional cumbia rhythms and vocals with dancehall, hip hop and electronica.

While some of the artists, such as Axel K Soundsystem, remain more faithful to their cumbia roots, others such as The Peronists take the style to pieces and reconstruct a minimal, spacious, experimental sound incorporating and morphing the traditional rhythms to a barely recognisable form. Zizek signed and Mendoza based Fauna, give us a taster of their La Manita del Fauna album, with non-album track ‘Canibal’, a dancehall, cumbia mash up worthy of dismantling a dancefloor. The compilation also features tracks by one of the original innovators of digital cumbia, San Francisco based honorary porteño Oro 11 alongside exciting new artists such as El Remolón and El Hijo de la Cumbia.

Zizek Sound Volume 1 is a glimpse into an evolving scene of formerly underrepresented young artists experimenting with styles and sounds and finding new ways of expression in a city alive with creativity. Zizek will be bringing their sound to the world with forthcoming showcase tours of Europe and the US planned. Watch this space.