Sotomayor's Wabi Sabi is the most purely fun record to surface in 2026. The duo, siblings Raul and Paulina Sotomayor from Mexico City, released it as their first album since 2020's Origenes, and it lands as a direct contrast to the somber, cerebral catalog most music writers have been pushing lately.
The record is chaotic and dance-floor-ready. The recommendation came from a reader comment, not a PR campaign, which tells you something about how this one is traveling. The full review traces how a short documentary was the only prior exposure the writer had to the group before this album created an obsession.
The case for reading the full piece is not the verdict. It is the framing: what it means when a record built around fun cuts through a year of serious listening, and whether Wabi Sabi earns that distinction across a full runtime.
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