Pablo Montero

Mexican crooner Pablo Montero has managed something quite extraordinary: he's made a 21st century album that sounds 30-years-old. And that's awesome: this classic Mexican music gets the full treatment. On songs like "Que Bonita Es Mi Tierra," Montero's silken voice soars over an old-fashioned chorus of male singers, while the strings take on a life of their own, dueling with the sparkling horns or seesawing like choppy water (on "Vereda Tropical") before a bastardized 1940s swing takes over. Sure, there's a whiff of the elevator about this music, but that's part of its aggressively retro charm.