MOLI VIEW™

My favorite musical moments are the ones where I say: What the hell is this? Too often this happens when I am driving. I remember nearly swerving off the road when I first heard Wyclf Jean hip-hop up "Guantanamera." I came to a complete standstill in the middle of the street the first time I heard Animal Collective.

Luckily I was safely off the streets when I heard two new artists who would otherwise have severely impaired my ability to drive. Well, new to me, anyway. (Warning: When you click the links below, the music you hear may short circuit your brain.)

Mercedes Peon, apparently a revered world music singer and gaitera (pipe) player from Spain, slayed me with her third disc, Siha. The 41-year-old Peon has dedicated nearly two decades to studying and collecting the traditional music of her native Galicia, reinventing that tradition with electronic and rock elements that draw listeners into a far-away, alternative galaxy.

She doesn't stop there. Peon's velvet voice wraps around rhythms from Turkey and North Africa. She loops Galician chants and wails around driving trance beats. She embroiders a hurdy-gurdy accordion with lush strings. There is so much happening at every moment and all of it is stunning.

Jorge Sepulveda has been kicking around the Colombian jazz scene for the past 10 years, prepping him for the mind-bending fusion of traditional music from his country's Pacific coast and some seriously bent jazz improvisations on the debut album from his septet, Caída Libre (Free Fall).

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