Bio Ritmo is the antidote to the typical pop salsa, which often comes smothered in a thick coating of sonic syrup.  Lean and rhythm-driven, the band plays music stripped to the essentials, losing nothing in the process.

In the five years since “Rumba Baby Rumba,” the band’s last release, Latin music has become ever more mainstream.  The heavily produced pop tracks of Ricky Martin and Shakira may have whetted the public appetite for the undiluted Cuban forms that are Bio Ritmo’s specialty.  The current lineup is a return to the band’s roots, with the long-absent Rei Alvarez back as lead singer.  The music is unadorned salsa, but recorded with the primal immediacy of rock ‘n’ roll.

The nonet, featuring two trombones, two trumpets, two percussionists, piano, bass and singer, gets a big sound out of the twinned instruments.  Alvarez’s Spanish vocals float above the Afro-Cuban rhythms, with a jazzlike relationship.  One of the pleasures of this music is the dynamic between the crystalline complexities of the groove and the rubbery freedom of the soloists.

The songs are all originals with idiosyncratic harmonies, though they have the timeless quality of traditional music.  Only a few swashes of electronic textures give any clue to when it was recorded.  The driving percussion, massed horns and insouciant singing add up to a CD that is fundamentally, authentically danceable.              

 –Peter McElhinney