This is a past event.

Critic's Choice Early Warnings (Music) Recommended The List (Music)
Aventura

When: Fri., Nov. 20, 9 p.m. 2009
Phone: 847-635-6601 or 312-559-1212
Price: $50-$125

Latin pop inhabits a kind of parallel universe in the U.S., under the radar of the English-language media, but whether you've heard of them or not, Aventura are filling arenas around the country. The bilingual Bronx quartet formed in the mid-90s, and within a few years they'd become international stars. They play bachata—the slinky, guitar-driven romantic music of the Dominican Republic—kissed with contemporary R & B, and their latest full-length, The Last (Premium Latin Music), spent 15 weeks atop Billboard's Latin album charts this summer, selling more than 200,000 copies and going double platinum. Still, most Americans have no idea they exist. On The Last Aventura further urbanize the sound of bachata, retaining the fluid acoustic-guitar patterns and hand percussion from the music's rural past but adding glossy radio-ready production, breathy teen-idol singing from 28-year-old front man Anthony "Romeo" Santos (complete with the occasional lick of Auto-Tune), and impossibly sweet vocal harmonies from his bandmates. (In traditional bachata there's usually only one singer at a time.) Aventura's urban-pop trappings have earned them the epithet "Dominicano 'N Sync," and a few of the tunes on The Last are blatant crossover stabs—"All Up 2 You" has jacked-up beats and a cameo from Akon—but most of the group's output rests on a recognizable foundation of bachata. It's not for listeners who like their traditional sounds uncut—this is unquestionably mainstream stuff—but it's absurdly catchy, confident, and accomplished. —Peter Margasak