VA - Haiti Direct: Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twoubadou Sounds, ,1960-1978 / VA - Peru Maravilloso: Vintage Latin, Tropical and Cumbia

Enlisting the respective ears of Sofrito's Hugo Mendez and Martin Morales of the Ceviche restaurant and its new Tiger's Milk imprint offshoot, Strut yet again does a fantastic job of looking out from its present-day London vantage point to the heyday of tropical hybrid musics made for the dancefloor, whether then or now.

"Haiti Direct's intent is to shine a spotlight on the sounds that go beyond the regular Voodoo stereotypes of the country. While Cuba was refining salsa and Jamaica was staking its claim on reggae back in the 1960s, Haiti was instead twisting meringue into fresh sound compas direct. Big band rivals Nemours Jean-Baptiste and Webert Sicot were the genre's initial pioneers, but towards the end of the 1960s, the genre made room for a handful of smaller, more urgent outfits that blended electric guitars and paved the way for the 70s. As the 70s took hold, the Haitian sounds spread rapidly through South America and France, and had a resounding influence on zouk in the 1980s." - FACT

"The 1960s were a pivotal era not only for young Americans in the U.S. but also for their counterparts in Peru. The country’s music scene also underwent a pivotal shift from classic, traditional sounds to the new sounds of tropical and psychedelic music. Peru Maravilloso collects a number of these songs from a variety of influential artists of that era in one neat compilation, chosen by Duncan Ballantyne, Martin Morales and Andres Tapia (of Resychled Records). The trio had one mission in mind when choosing the songs for the record: 'rooting and unearthing tracks that take the listener by surprise whilst avoiding the more mainstream sounds of cumbia and chicha prevalent at the time.'" - Huffington Post