Listening to MATANZA elicits a desire to move to some incredibly sweaty place, eat only from farmer’s markets and adopt a shoulder monkey named Tom Bomberdash to feed banana slices to with your newfound machete skills.

This genius meld of street house and South American folk is the result of two Chilean hip-hop DJs,Spec and Rodrigo Gallardo, meeting up with one infinitely savvy folk musician Vincente Bassquez and deciding that their individual styles should meet and make beautifully groovy sound babies.

The trio now offers the world seductively catchy House beats layered with, of course, pan flutes, hand drums, which mix the two in ways never seen before.

Although the group has only released a smattering of EP-esque works, their limited repertoire easily holds its own against even the catchiest of current iTunes chart toppers.

If the joy derived from Gaga’s “Applause” or Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” is not unlike a few rounds of quality cocktails, Matanza’s work is like an absinthe induced beach-rave. According to the trio, they strive to produce tracks that would, “make even the dead dance.”

The group seems to be gaining ground within hip South American circles and generally establishes a sort of performance atmosphere that involves a gallon drum fire pit, a very loose conceptualization of a stage and a general understanding that fans are there to dance until they fall.

Given its collaborative infancy, Matanza seems to have a very humble and laid back way of simply offering up what they do best without any pompous posturing. They’re not rock stars; they’re just way cooler than any of us will ever be.

Key Tracks: “Temazcal”, “Puya” and “Los Mapuches”

Alina Hagar can be reached at [email protected]