This Is What #FutureRoots Sounds Like [Video]

July 12, 2013— -- During this week of the annual Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) in New York City, indie rock, hip hop and folk music from Latin America and the Latino diaspora find themselves at the center stage of the music industry through showcases, panels and parties.

In addition to official LAMC programming, in the periphery of the conference #FutureRoots sounds are also blasting all the way from Lower Manhattan to across the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn. Nati Linares , music programmer, artist manager, and wearer of many other musical hats, was one of the co-hosts of #FutureRoots showcase at Public Assembly on Wednesday night, where the gothic cumbia group La MiniTK del Miedo made its NYC debut. Also providing their beats were the LA-based global bass DJ Gozar from the Subsuelo crew, SF emcee Mandeep Sethi and DJ duo Maracuyeah from Washington DC.

Linares started the #FutureRoots series in 2011 because she felt that a lot of smaller, independent and international artists "were missing the opportunity to play in NYC because they couldn't navigate the tough landscape of NYC live music venues," she says. "So the series was conceived really just to provide a platform for the artists and to imagine some line-ups that might bend people's minds and ears."

The Public Assembly show was co-hosed by other hybrid music and culture enthusiasts such as Toronto-based Dos Mundos radio and with support from Mexico City's New Weird Latin America blog.

"We don't relate to "World Music" - because all music is of the world music," says Linares. "But there is new world world music being made on laptops, using computer programs, traditional instruments but also sampling online across eras and styles of music using youtube. This is what I like to call, future-rooted music. It's a little bit of everything."