The 48-year-old Puerto Rican superstar has released a special “Headphone Edition” re-release of his latest album Pausa, which was originally released in May.
The new version, complete with a new cover, features a new audio technique called “Orbital Audio.”
The patent-pending audio technique, developed by Martin with mix engineer Jaycen Joshua, creates an immersive headphone listening experience, that’s supposed to allow the listener to “engulf listeners within the complexities of a particular track for a true musical journey you can feel.”
The album features an enhanced surround sound, where each musical layer can be clearly heard and picked apart, even as it becomes part of a whole.
In the headphone mix, “Recuerdo,” featuring Carla Morrison, starts with Morrison’s voice on the left headphone, and it gradually engulfs the entire sound before Martin comes in on the right.
But the instrumental layering is most impressive, with the listener able to extrapolate every element of sound. It’s indeed a very different experience from the original recording; almost like listening in 3D.
“This new ‘Orbital Audio’ technique has enabled me to deliver an extra layer of richness and immersion that enhances and enriches the tracks and the way fans can experience music via headphones — which is especially important in this time where fans can’t share the magic of being in a live concert setting,” said Martin in a statement.
Joshua added, “What Ricky and I did was set out to solve something that’s been bothering us as well as fellow musicians for a while. We wanted to find a new way for fans to be realistically deeply entrenched in the music.”
The new version of Pausa includes a new unreleased track, “Mi Sangre” featuring Bollywood star Neha Mahajan — produced using “Orbital Audio.”
Pausafeatures collaborations with Sting, Morrison, Residente, Bad Bunny, Diego El Cigala and Pedro Capó.
The 48-year-old Puerto Rican superstar surprised fans on Thursday, May 28 with new music… a new EP titled Pausa, his first collective set since 2015’s A Quien Quiera Escuchar.
Martin’s new album features collaborations with Sting, Carla Morrison, Pedro Capó, Diego El Cigala, Bad Bunny, and more.
Packed with introspective, poignant and melancholic lyrics, the six-track set is born from a state of vulnerability and the need to heal through music.
“[Through this music] I share my fears, my insecurities, my moments of panic that I’ve felt throughout this quarantine,” Martin tells Billboard.
In times of turmoil, Martin offers Pausa in lieu of a different album slated to be released called Movimiento.
“I like to party but it’s not the moment for that. We had to change the concept and I’ve created two separate albums. Pausais more chill and relaxed and hopefully in September we can release the second one called Play with more upbeat music,” he says.
All songs on the EP, except for previously released “Tiburones,” are collaborations with artists Martin had never collaborated with before, including Mexican singer-songwriter Morrison.
“I’m obsessed with Carlita’s voice and I’m obsessed with the way she tells a story. So, I called her. Initially, she thought I was asking her to write a song for my album and I said, ‘No, I want to sing with you,'” Martin recalls.
From Martin and Morrison’s “Recuerdo” to the Sting-assisted “Simple,” the “She Bangs” singer opens up to Billboard about all of the collaborations featured on Pausa:
“Simple” with Sting The stunning collaboration with Sting, who sings in Spanish, sets the tone for the rest of the album: simple yet forceful and grand. “The big things are always simple, like the love there is in a sigh and reminds me why I’m alive,” Martin sings. About how the song and the melody were created, Martin says. “I called Sting and told him, ‘Something beautiful has to come out of this moment and that has to be music.’ I called him stepping out of my comfort zone because I don’t really like asking people and he said yes, to send him whatever I had and he liked what I sent him. And, he didn’t mind singing in Spanish. It’s a dream come true.”
“Recuerdo” with Carla Morrison Possibly one of the most beautiful ballads released this year (so far), the heart-wrenching lyrics in this emotional track call for an introspection of the mind and soul. “This is a special song and it’s born out of the sadness I was feeling. Carla was also going through a rough moment and we had this urge to write again. We wanted to make sure that we each didn’t lose our essence when creating this fusion and it was born very organically.”
“Cae de Una” with Pedro Capó As a true testament to Martin and Capó’s ability to turn heartbreak song into a bright melodic tune, “Cae de Una” becomes an instant hit with its infectious beat and the two Puerto Rican powerhouses trading cheeky verses. “You’re probably in a bar dancing without me. Don’t know whose skin you’re touching to forget the love you have for me,” they sing.
“Quiéreme” with Diego El Cigala Martin and Spanish singer Diego El Cigala join forces for this flamenco-tinged pop song that is a standout duet in the EP. “We sent this song to producer Raul Refree in Barcelona because I wanted to see what he could do with this song. I didn’t say anything to him because I didn’t want to have any sort of influence on him and I’m now presenting you the end result,” Martin says. The result is an explosion of sounds and an exchange of dramatic and powerful vocals.
“Cántalo” with Residente & Bad Bunny The previously released “Cántalo,” featuring fellow Puerto Rican hitmakers Residente and Bad Bunny, is a hybrid of sounds and genres including tambora, trumpet, salsa and trap. The thought-provoking track born post the #RickyRenuncia movement, calling for the removal of the now former Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rosselló, some of the lyrics include: “Hoy no nos paran ni con tranquilizante de elefante/ El dinero, aunque sea abundante, no vale” (Nobody stops us today/ Not even with elephant soothing/ Money, although abundant, it is not worth).
Chucho Valdés is preparing to honor his late father…
Renowned Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés would’ve turned 100 this coming October. His son, Chucho, of Irakere fame, and Diego El Cigala, the flamenco singer with whom Bebo recorded the remarkable 2003 album Lagrimas Negras, are among the artists who will pay homage to one of Cuba’s most celebrated musicians at this fall’s Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival.
Cigala will honor both Bebo’s centennial and the 15th anniversary of the Grammy-winning album, performing the evergreen boleros and Cuban classics he piercingly inflected with Spanish song on the recording, on which he was accompanied by Bebo’s timeless stylings. The album by the unexpected pair — which reached no. 4 on the Billboard Latin Pop Albums chart — vaulted Cigala to international stages, and was the centerpiece of Bebo’s fabulous late career comeback. He was 84 years old when Lagrimas Negras was released. Bebo died in 2013.
At the just-announced concert on November 14 at Barcelona’s Palau de la Música, Cigala will perform with Jaime Calabuch, known as Jumitus, on piano. Cigala and Jumitus have also been announced for U.S. concerts at the Fillmore Miami Beach (November 9), and at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex in Los Angeles (March 2019).
Chucho Valdés, who was named the Barcelona Festival’s “godfather” in 2014, will open the festival October 26 with music from his 1972 vanguard Cuban jazz album, Jazz Batá, which was influenced by Bebo’s earlier experiments with the sacred Afro-Cuban batá drums. In 1952 in Havana, Bebo premiered his new rhythm called batangá, featuring the batá, which at that time had yet to make the jump from their hallowed place in religious ceremonies to popular music stages. The combination of ritual rhythms and Cuban orchestral arrangements was before its time.
Chucho will perform with a group of next-generation musicians: Yaroldi Abreu y Dreiser Durruthy Bambolé and Yelsy Heredia, whose playing carries on the innovation characterized by both Chucho and Bebo throughout their careers.
Chucho and his band will also perform Jazz Batá in other European cities this fall, and on a jazz cruise from Ft. Lauderdale scheduled for January 2019.
Bassist Javier Colina, who recorded a live album with Bebo at New York’s Village Vanguard in 2005, and Cuban pianist Harold Lopez Nussa, are also part of the jazz festival’s Bebo Valdés tribute, which is a piece of the extensive program of the festival’s 50th anniversary edition. Flamenco guitarist Tomatito, Brazil’s Tribalistas, bassist Avishai Cohen, Malian music duo Amadou & Mariam, jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux, the John Scofield Combo, the Bad Plus and Grupo Compay Segundo are among artists on the event’s October-December concert schedule.
