All this week, the Song of the Day will feature artists performing at this Saturday’s Pachanga Fest
Sitting on the eastern edge of the Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico is a rich cultural crossroads. West Africa, South America, and North America all converge on this tiny island nation, making for some unique musical hybrids over the years–think ’60s pop reshaped by Jose Feliciano or chart-topping reggaeton. AJ Dávila brings this mentality to his own music. The frontman for Dávila 666 released his solo debut, Terror Amor, earlier this year, and its drawing praise for stepping outside of some limiting boxes.
With his band, Dávila crafts party-ready garage rock that never lets up the throttle. But on Terror Amor, the singer brings in some new sounds: hip-hop beats played at punk speed, glam rock submerged under psychedelic atmospherics. He easily ping-pongs between the words in the title–terror on the one hand, love on the other. Where a song like “Salvajes” could have just been a messy garage banger, Dávila turns it into an anthemic blast.
Catch AJ Dávila on the Panamérika Patio at 3:30pm
