One of the questions we get asked most often is “where do you find your music?” Over time Felix and I have developed several methods for finding new material. In addition to going through a huge stack of new releases every week, we have our favorite blogs and know venues that always feature artists who bring down the house.

But an important pieciof the equation is our roster of favorite record labels, the ones we can always count on to send us artists who rock our world. We often mention these labels on Alt.Latino, but today we are dedicating the entire show to sharing them with you. For example, when I need to get my Brazilian grunge and lo-fi fix, I know to head over to Transfusão Noise Records. If it’s Chilean folk rock i’m craving, i’ll generally get what I need from at Sello Azul. And Felix is like a kid in a candy store when the vintage record specialists over at Vampisoul Records have a new release.

We also discuss how some of these record labels where started, some of which are truly amazing stories, of entrepreneurs who dared to dream big. One label i’m personally obsessed with, ZZK Records, was started off by Texas native Grant C. Dull and his associates. Dull fell in love with Argentina and wanted to develop a label; today ZZK is ushering in a new era of Argentine music in. And you can’t really discuss Latin Alternative labels without mentioning Nacional Records: CEO Tomas Cookman was born in Puerto Rico, raised in the NY Projects, and went from managing artists to building a Latin Alternative empire in the United States.

Read more at Alt Latino