All the info you need on this one is right in the title: hand-picked by those crafty Soundway folks (who did that cool Panama comp last year), this import-only 2LP features 17 gems from the vaults of Colombia's largest and longest-running record label, Discos Fuentes. Just like the label, this comp contains a wide variety of Latin styles (cumbia, salsa, calypso, gaita, etc.), but there are outside influences popping up all over - just check the psychedelic harmonies on Frunk y Sus Tesos' "Improvisando." Los Corraleros de Majagual's 10+ minute descarga take on "El Mondongo" is pretty spicy, but nothing here begs to be chopped by a DJ like Pedro Laza's horn-heavy "La Picua." Also check Michi Sarmiento's "Hong Kong" and the wild cumbia of "La Piojosa" - "The Flea-Bitten Woman." This is the type of thing we could throw on all day long in the office and nobody would complain. Recommended.

• music label: Soundway 2007

reviewed by: Chris Lemon-Red 04/2007