Austin, Texas-based keyboardist Michael Ramos is best known for his accordion work with Patty Griffin and John Mellencamp, along with collaborations with Paul Simmon. But away from his session work and touring, he’s Charanga Cakewalk, a one-man operation named after a sign spotted by a friend in a Texas church parking lot.

On this debut, he skillfully combines influences of Mexican cumbia and the music of his ethnic background with his father’s Beatles, Stones and Dave Clark Five records he listened to while growing up.

Ramos plays all electric and acoustic keyboards, electronic effects and percussion to create more than an hour’s worth of rhythm-soaked  ambient pop, Latin hip-hop, laid-back electronic grooves, Mexican pop and lounge jazz. It’s a multilayered work full of drifting voices, guitars, haunting melodica and sound effects to create an infectious, subtle opus that slowly shimmies itself into the brain and feet. There’s swaying, romantic melodies, sultry cumbia dance rhythms and introspective Latin grooves. Many times the songs resemble soundtracks in search of films.

This is not an album that leaps out of the speakers. It’s music that sneaks into one’s consciousness and creates one heck of a late-night groove.

-Eric Feber