Gifted & Blessed to release Frankie Reyes LP

Gabriel Reyes-Whittaker joins Stones Throw for an album reimagining Puerto Rican Boleros using his Oberheim synthesizer.

Los Angeles-based composer and sound artist Gabriel Reyes-Whittaker is a man that always brings an element of deep thought and consideration to his music, no matter the name it appears under. Pictured above in a rather dashing hat, Reyes-Whittaker is best known for his Gifted & Blessed output (sometimes shortened to GB) with the Emotional Topography album for the Modern New Age series for Matthewdavid’s Leaving Records. News now arrives Reyes-Whittaker is revisiting the ‘technoindigenous studies’ of his Frankie Reyes alias for a new album on LA beat kingpins Stones Throw.

The Frankie Reyes name was first unveiled back in 2014 with a Technoindigenous Studies 7″ released through Reyes-Whittaker’s own Gifted & Blessed label. The opportunity to work on the project more extensively came after he participated in an event hosted by Dublab themed specifically around Latin American modernism. This inspired him to reimagine a series of Latin standards using his Oberheim synthesizer with the results set for release later this month on Stones Throw under the name Boleros Valses y Mas.

You can hear a track from the album below, whilst Reyes-Whittaker is on hand to explain his motivations behind Boleros Valses y Mas as follows: “I thought about how I might capture the essence of this theme (of Latin American modernism) using my instrument of choice, the synthesizer. What came to mind was to cover some of the classic Latin American compositions that I grew up hearing around me and have grown to love as I’ve gotten older, most of them in the bolero style but a few in the waltz, son, and even mariachi style.”

Stones Throw will release Boleros Valses y Mas by Frankie Reyes on July 29.

Track Listing

1. Alma, Corazón y Vida
2. Noche de Ronda
3. Flor de Azalea
4. Alma Adentro
5. La Flor de la Canela
6. La Bikina
7. Qué Saves Tú?
8. Lamento Borincano
9. La Puerta
10. Aquel Señor
11. Espinita
12. La Comparsa

Stones Throw on Juno